2005 Salary Survey Results: Outpatient surgery employees want honest, communicative, and responsive leaders
2005 Salary Survey Results
Outpatient surgery employees want honest, communicative, and responsive leaders
Listen and respond to concerns to keep employee satisfaction high in your program
Three of the top five issues identified by more than 102,000 health care employees surveyed by Press Ganey, a South Bend, IN-based satisfaction survey company, related to the effectiveness of communication between employees and senior leadership.
"We defined senior leadership as anyone responsible for decisions related to an organization’s mission or goals," explains Monica Locker, MPPA, director of Press Ganey’s employee perspectives division. Depending on the size and structure of the organization, this can be a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer, an administrator, a director, or a manager, she points out.
More than 87% of the respondents to the 2005 Same-Day Surgery Salary Survey place themselves in the category of senior leadership. (See chart with respondents’ titles.) Each leader should pay attention to communication because satisfied employees mean fewer turnovers and a positive image in the community, and those situations lead to easier recruitment of new employees, Locker points out.
"This is the first time that senior leadership’s involvement in communication was identified at this high level of importance for employees," she says. Specifically, employees said that they wanted organizational leaders to "listen to employees, be trustworthy, and to respond to employee concerns," she explains.
More than 68% of respondents to the SDS Salary Survey report salaries of $70,000 or more, and almost 38% of respondents report an increase of 4%-6% in the past year. (See charts on salaries and increases.) However, salaries are at the bottom of the list for employees rating issues that affect their job satisfaction, Locker says. "It’s obvious that salaries may affect an employee’s decision to choose one employer over another, but money does not affect overall job satisfaction," she adds.
Because communication is more important than money to improving job satisfaction, there are several techniques that effective leaders use to communicate with employees, says Locker. "While specific activities differ from organization to organization, they need to be frequent and be designed to keep employees up-to-date on organizational issues," she says. "Town hall meetings, newsletters, intranet sites, and suggestion boxes can all be effective, but they need to fit your organization’s culture and they need to be consistent."
At Vail (CO) Valley Surgery Center, the interim administrator prefers using regular staff meetings to discuss issues that have been identified by employees. "I believe that the face-to-face conversations give you an opportunity to listen and discuss the problems, and to come up with solutions together," says Carol Turrin, RN, MBA, interim administrator.
One problem for the surgery center is transportation, she says. "Our surgery center is located at the medical center, and there is limited parking and it is expensive," she says. "During ski season, it becomes more of a challenge because Vail’s population increases and limits parking even more."
Several years ago, based on employee feedback from surgery center and hospital employees, a shuttle service was established. It goes to specific park-and-ride locations in communities around the perimeter of Vail and takes employees to work. While the shuttles run in the morning, late afternoon, and early evening hours, they are not always convenient for some employees who have to arrive before 7 a.m. or stay after 8 p.m., admits Turrin. "We are now discussing this issue and coming up with suggestions of other times that might work well for some shift employees," she adds.
The hospital and surgery center offer free lunch coupons as an incentive to use the shuttle, but as gasoline prices rise and ski season approaches, Turrin contends that that more employees will use the shuttle anyway.
Suggestion boxes work well
At Monterey (CA) Peninsula Surgery Center, a combination of a suggestion box and staff meetings is how Stacy Robinson, RN, clinical director, listens to employees.
"Once each month we have a housekeeping meeting’ at which we review all the suggestions placed in the suggestion box," explains Robinson. "I read the suggestions, then open up the floor for conversation."
A recent note in the suggestion box complained about how often the center ran low on linens. "We talked about it in the meeting, and one nurse’s aide offered to be responsible for monitoring the linens each day and calling our linen supplier when we ran low," Robinson says. The combination of the suggestion box that enabled an employee to identify the issue anonymously and the group discussion at the meeting led to a solution that is working, she adds.
Sometimes you can’t always say yes to the solutions devised by employees, but you have to be ready to show that you listened and took the suggestions seriously, says Angela Richberg, RN, CASC, director of ASC Durango (CO).
"There may be financial, contractual, or policy-related issues that prevent you from implementing the suggestion, but your employees don’t know about these issues," she says. You still can maintain your credibility and let employees know that you’re listening by explaining some of the background issues, if you are in a position to do so, and ask for suggestions that will help you solve the problem without violating any policies or contracts, she advises.
"When a suggestion box note recommended that a center I previously managed buy more scrubs because we were always running out, I was hesitant to spend the money until we tried to recover the scrubs that I knew we had purchased," she says. At a staff meeting, she explained how many scrubs had been purchased and asked for ideas on how to get them back into the center and keep them there, she says.
"We developed a scavenger hunt for missing scrubs with movie tickets awarded to people who found missing scrubs, and we also began a sign-out sheet so we could track scrubs," Richberg says. "The last step will be to offer an amnesty day’ when employees and physicians can bring in scrubs with no explanation."
Note your response to suggestions
In addition to presenting suggestion box issues at staff meetings, Richberg posts the suggestions and actions taken to address each suggestion on a spreadsheet in the employee lounge. "Even if the suggestion is one that we can’t implement, I include a note of the actions I took to evaluate the suggestion," says Richberg. "I let the person that submitted the idea, as well as all other employees, see that I didn’t dismiss the idea and that I did take it seriously."
While almost 53% of salary survey respondents report over 10 years in the outpatient surgery field and more than 96% report over 10 years in health care, experience alone is not an indicator of how well a leader will communicate, says Richberg. (See charts on experience in current position and in health care.) "Experience does add credibility, but I believe that personality is a greater indicator of how effectively a leader will communicate," she says. You have to be able to admit that you are not always right, and you have to be humble, Richberg says. "I’m very comfortable introducing an issue for discussion, then sitting down to listen to what others say," she explains. Sitting down as opposed to continuing to stand at the front of the room shows that you are putting yourself on the same level as everyone in the meeting and that you are not the "ruler," Richberg says.
In addition, "rounding with a purpose" is an excellent way to increase visibility of your senior leadership and get feedback from employees, suggests Locker. "You walk around with the intention of asking employees about specific issues or asking for general feedback," she explains.
Administrator has a role
While an administrator may not be the person to address concerns, it is important that the administrator to whom the employee reported the concern be sure that the correct person addresses the problem and that the administrator communicate results, Locker says. "This is the best way to show that a leader not only listens but will also take action," she adds.
It is easier to communicate in a smaller program, but larger organizations can use technology, such as an intranet, to reach all employees, says Locker. "In a larger organization, senior leaders may communicate more through department managers, but they still need to be visible," she adds.
No matter what issue you are addressing, it is important to show employees that you value them, says Robinson. For example, there are times that procedures run later than expected, she says. "Instead of always having the same people stay late, or having employees who must make last-minute child care or carpool arrangements because they find out at 2 p.m. that they will have to stay late, we set up a sign-up sheet for employees to choose days that they are available to stay late to cover cases that run longer than expected," Robinson says. "This [sign-up sheet] works well for everyone because they can make plans for after-work hours without worrying about changing them at the last minute," she adds.
This solution is a good example of listening to employee concerns and taking a proactive step to address the problem, Robinson says. "This showed our staff that we value their time and that we recognize that they are more than our employees," she says. "They have family members, children, and others in the community that depend on them as well."
Resources
For more information about communicating effectively with employees, contact:
- Monica Locker, MPPA, Director of Employee Perspectives Division, Press Ganey, 404 Columbia Place, South Bend, IN 45501. Telephone: (800) 449-9519 or (708) 799-9278. Fax: (574) 232-3485. E-mail: [email protected].
- Angela Richberg, RN, CASC, Director, ASC Durango. Phone: (970) 759-2734. E-mail: [email protected].
- Stacy Robinson, RN, Clinical Director, Monterey Peninsula Surgical Center, 966 Cass St., Suite 50, Monterey, CA 93940. Telephone: (831) 372-5813. Fax: (831) 643-0910. E-mail: [email protected].
- Carol Turrin, RN, MBA, Interim Administrator, Vail Valley Surgery Center, 181 W. Meadow Drive, Suite 100, Vail, CO 81657. Telephone: (970) 477-8202. E-mail: [email protected].
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