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Jennings Center for Older Adults

Winning Year: 2007
Industry: Hospitals/Healthcare
Location: Garfield Heights, OH
URL: www.jenningscenter.org

Highlights of 2007 Winning Strategies

Recognizing the need to eliminate staff injuries from lifting patients, Jennings Center for Older Adults partnered with Kent State University to eliminate manual lifting and transferring and promote "Safe Movement" programs. Overhead traverse-lift system technology and electric hi-lo beds were purchased to alleviate the problem. Although Jennings does not have a formal phased retirement program, staff members are offered part-time work with flexible hours if positions are available.

Additional Policies and Practices:

• Recruiting: Jennings uses senior placement agencies to target mature workers and retirees. In addition, Jennings encourages retirees to work part-time after retirement and assists those interested in finding positions.
• Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: Jennings offers these learning and development programs to full- and part-time employees: in-house classroom training, on-line training, and certification classes. Tuition reimbursement is offered exclusively to those working at least 35 hours per week. In the past 12 months, 52% of Jennings employees participated in at least one of these training opportunities with an average of 5.7 hours spent in training. Due to employee requests, many benefit improvements have been made, including: increased flexible scheduling and added 12-hour shift options, enhanced on-boarding process with additional training and mentors, developed and implemented a goal-planning process, implemented appreciative leadership philosophy, and provided department training which focused on team-building and communication and relationships. Employees gain new experiences by working on temporary assignments in other departments and on team projects. A new program, "The Sacred Art of Living and Dying," is offered to all staff and provides new skills and tools to support the living and dying process.
• Benefits/Health: Employees working at least 21 hours a week receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription drug coverage, and individual and family vision and dental insurance. All employees receive individual and family long-term care insurance and short- and long-term disability. Health benefits for retirees pre-65 and 65+ include individual and spouse medical and drug coverage, vision and dental insurance, long-term care insurance, and life insurance or other death benefit coverage. New hires are eligible for all these benefits upon retirement. Jennings offers an FSA plan to employees to assist with out-of-pocket health care costs and also provides resource information on Healthy Start, a government program offering free benefits to children of lower-income families.
• Benefits/Financial: Jennings offers a 403(b) retirement savings plan and a defined-benefit plan to its full- and part-time employees. Employees may invest in lifecycle funds, and employees 50+ can make catch-up contributions. Employees receive financial planning information from the firm that administers their 403(b) plan and from external experts not associated with the 403(b) plan. Program providers facilitate a portion of the monthly benefits meetings, attend the annual benefits fair, and offer one-on-one appointments for individual financial planning. Jennings offers short-term time off without pay as well as long-term leaves of absence without pay for caregiving. Full- and part-time employees are offered these wellness programs: flu shots, health screenings, smoking cessation programs, health club discounts, physical activity/exercise programs, weight loss programs, stress management training, and an on site wellness center and on site massage therapy. Forty-nine percent of employees have utilized at least one of these wellness benefits in the past 12 months. These dependent care benefits are offered to full- and part-time employees: on site (grand)childcare/eldercare, backup care for (grand)childcare/eldercare, and referral services to assist with childcare/care for grandchildren/eldercare. In addition, a weekly on site program is offered to all staff to help find childcare and/or resolve childcare challenges.
• Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: Jennings offers the following alternative work arrangements to its full- and part-time employees: flex-time, compressed work schedules, job sharing, and telecommuting. Full-time employees are eligible to move to part-time work on a permanent and temporary basis.
• Opportunities for Retirees: Jennings currently has 48 retirees and has an individual directly responsible for retiree relations. Jennings stays connected with its retirees by communicating regularly, inviting retirees to organization events/celebrations, and formally acknowledging them when they retire. Retirees may also work as volunteers and are encouraged to take advantage of various educational programs Jennings offers such as computer classes and in-services on such topics as dementia and aging and health. Retirees are offered temporary work assignments, consulting/contract work, telecommuting, and full- and part-time work.
• Age of Workforce: Thirty-two percent of Jennings employees are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 7 years.