Strategy at Work MedStar Health Engaging people, improving performance
About MedStar Health A $3.1 billion nonprofit health care organization formed in 1998 Headquartered in Columbia, MD Operates eight hospitals, plus nursing homes, senior housing, adult day care, rehabilitation and ambulatory centers, and offers a comprehensive physician network Approximately 25,000 employees; 5,000 affiliated physicians Treats more than 1.5 million individuals annually MedStar Health s vision is simple: Be the trusted leader in caring for people and advancing health. Realizing this vision isn t quite as simple, thanks to constant financial pressures, escalating consumer demand and workforce shortages. Despite these challenges, MedStar Health is succeeding. Last year, five of its eight hospitals ranked among the best in the nation in U.S. News & World Report s hospital review. The system s annual net operating revenue topped $3.1 billion in 2007, with earnings rising each of the past three years. Wall Street also has signaled its confidence: It boosted MedStar Health s bond rating to A earlier this year. Survey drives success Kenneth A. Samet, president and chief executive officer of MedStar Health, points to the biennial employee survey as an important driver of the organization s strong performance. Conducted in partnership with Towers Watson since 2000, the survey helps MedStar Health measure and improve employee engagement while serving as a tool for integration across a system with many moving parts. Towers Watson research validates the power of employee engagement. The most recent WorkUSA survey found that total returns to shareholders at companies with high employee engagement are twice as high as those at companies with lower engagement. As Samet knows from experience, employee engagement is a leading indicator of financial performance it doesn t result from strong performance, it helps drive it. MedStar Health s employee survey does more than provide critical data about employee attitudes. Through the survey, employees in all facilities better understand and feel more connected to the larger organization. The cross-system task force approach serves as a model for other important systemwide initiatives, such as improving patient satisfaction. And, because both system and individual entity results are reported, the survey spurs healthy competition among the entities to develop effective approaches to organizational improvement. Valued at the top Why does MedStar Health get so much from its employee survey? First, its executives put employee engagement on par with other important measures. The employee survey results are just as important to us as critical financial and customer satisfaction measures. [The survey is] a barometer over time for whether our strategic choices are making a difference, Samet says. Consider just the single question, Would you recommend us to family and friends as a place to get health care? The answer is influenced by employee perceptions of both our business strategies and our people strategies. With twentyfive thousand employees, that s a big sphere of influence in our very competitive market, so the answer is important, Samet says. Committed to action A second differentiator? MedStar Health acts on its survey results. Towers Watson consultant Jennifer Meder explains, Too many organizations just check the box to say they did a survey. We work with MedStar Health to develop comprehensive action plans in response to results, and people are held accountable for executing them. Employees see that the process works, so they want to participate. This article was originally published by Towers Watson. Towers Watson 2010. 2 willistowerswatson.com
Our message to employees is that their opinions drive change, says Margery Zylich, MedStar Health s assistant vice president for operational communications and special projects. We make it very clear that their voice has a huge impact. Samet, accompanied by Meder and Zylich, personally delivers the survey results to managers at every entity across the system. It s very high-touch. Many CEOs don t spend the time to prepare and deliver employee engagement survey results personally. Ken s outreach sends a great message, Meder says. These meetings also give Samet and his team opportunities to address issues unlikely to be remedied. We help employees see the issues in the larger context of our business strategy so they understand what is actually feasible for the organization, he says. After receiving the results, executives and managers develop action plans to address specific areas. Systemwide, we pick one or two areas to target based on the results. For example, after receiving relatively low scores two years in a row for pay and benefits, we partnered with Towers Watson on a total rewards initiative that improved pay and benefits satisfaction by 34 percentage points over a six-year period. We achieved this improved satisfaction even though we did not improve our actual pay and benefit platform during the same period, Zylich says. Department, entity and system-level action plans are tracked through an online database. Every manager within the system can access the plans and obtain best-practice and progress information. The idea is to build collaborative approaches to common issues, Zylich says. Samet and the executive team review the action plans quarterly. Asking people to take ownership for outcomes helps ensure there will be positive outcomes. Efficient management process A third critical differentiator is MedStar Health s survey management process. Chaired by two hospital presidents on a rotating basis, along with Zylich, the MedStar Health Survey Task Force includes senior-level representatives from each organization within the system, plus a Towers Watson consultant. The task force meets monthly during the survey cycle and provides guidance in every area, including survey development, rollout, evaluation, reporting and action planning. Impressive improvement Those who are skeptical about the power of employee surveys can look at MedStar Health s numbers. In just six years, the system saw the engagement level of their employees climb 10 percentage points to 66%. This puts the system on par with best-in-class organizations, making MedStar Health a rarity in the health care sector. Looking ahead, MedStar Health will continue to aim high. We have a 10-year goal for our systemwide survey results. Some of our entities are already there, and we are looking for Towers Watson to help us continue to raise the bar, Zylich says. It gets harder the higher you go, but our employees trust us. Our vision is to be the trusted leader in caring for people and advancing health. Being trusted by employees is helping us get there, Zylich says. Taking action on total rewards In 2000, only 26% of MedStar Health employees viewed their pay and benefits favorably. Even though we were paying at or above market rates, our pay and benefits satisfaction levels were below Towers Watson s health care industry norms, Zylich says. In 2003, Towers Watson helped us launch a total rewards program that transformed the way people think about their pay and benefits. By 2004, satisfaction had nearly doubled to 51%, and by 2006 it reached 60%, putting MedStar Health well above the health care norms, Zylich says. The total rewards initiative includes branding all pay and benefit communication, moving benefit communication from episodic to continuous, providing quarterly leadership and communication toolkits, and preparing personalized total rewards summaries for all employees. The consultants aren t surprised by MedStar Health s results. Towers Watson research shows that if an organization dedicates just one-hundredth of 1% of their benefits spending to communication, satisfaction goes up. 3 Strategy at Work
Lessons Learned The MedStar Health Survey Task Force offers several tips for organizations beginning or improving an employee survey: Tie the survey to the strategic and operating plans. Showing employees a direct link between their opinions and the action steps an organization takes reinforces the importance of the survey. A MedStar Health executive recently created a report showing every capital expense for one entity over the past six years and its link to survey feedback. Showing this linkage makes a difference in participation more than 90% of MedStar Health s employees responded to the most recent survey, up from 47% when the systemwide survey was introduced in 2000. Create inclusive teams. One of the reasons MedStar Health s task force is so successful is its composition. Because it includes representatives from every entity as well as individuals with both line management and human resource responsibilities, the task force is able to address the needs of multiple constituencies. Delve into the results. MedStar Health always asks employees to provide additional written comments at the end of the survey. Employees know this is their opportunity to improve their workplace. Frequently, themes emerge once all the written comments are compiled, Zylich says. Embrace the negative. Prepare people for the emotion of negative results, and teach managers how to communicate them. You may not always like what you hear, but negative feedback allows you to address the issue. Questions shouldn t be designed to bring about good results but rather to elicit real perceptions so they can be adjusted, says Kenneth A. Samet, president and CEO of MedStar Health. Fight complacency. MedStar Health doesn t rest on its laurels when it comes to the employee survey. Each survey cycle brings new ideas and a fresh look to keep interest high. We re succeeding because we didn t get serious about this just for a little while, ramp up and then have it fade away. It s a great example of carrying an initiative across the system and making it last, Samet says. 4 willistowerswatson.com
About the survey MedStar Health s employee survey covers 12 dimensions, including total rewards, performance management, communication and cross-department effectiveness. Separate analyses are conducted for individual questions, and results are provided at the system, individual entity and department levels. Employee demographic information also is included. Towers Watson compares MedStar Health s survey results with the larger health care industry and other norms, a step that is especially useful given the stiff competition for health care employees. Towers Watson has done an excellent job helping us refine the norms so we can compare ourselves against our competition for critical talent, says Margery Zylich, MedStar Health s assistant vice president for operational communications and special projects. Towers Watson is more than MedStar Health s vendor. They re our partner in making this work, Zylich says. About Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW) is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 39,000 employees in more than 120 countries. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com. Copyright 2016 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved. WTW-NA-16-SAL-4010 willistowerswatson.com