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The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Winning years: 2007, 2006, 2005
Industry:  Hospitals/Healthcare
Location:  Houston, TX
URL:  www.mdanderson.org

Highlights of 2007 Winning Strategies

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center offers extensive benefits such as: comprehensive health care insurance for individuals and spouses/dependents, childcare and eldercare discounts, massage therapy, health club discounts, tuition reimbursement, on-line training, financial planning and pre-retirement seminars, lunch-and-learns, and a mentoring program. The Center's paid time-off program gives employee's flexibility for caregiving options, parent/teacher conferences, and other school-related activities.

Additional Policies and Practices

• Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: To its full- and part-time employees, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center provides these learning and development programs: tuition reimbursement, in-house classroom training, on-line training, and certification classes. Part-time employees must work 20+ hrs/week to be eligible for the tuition reimbursement program and the certification classes. In the past 12 months, 98% of M. D. Anderson employees participated in at least one of these training opportunities with an average of 2.9 hours spent in training. Employees can select the training they want to attend, or managers may direct them to particular training courses. An on-line education center is a comprehensive information source for all types of training courses, and an institution-wide "Education Week" highlights the many available training opportunities. A formal mentoring program allows employees to facilitate their personal growth, professional development, organizational learning, and shared knowledge.
• Benefits/Health: Full- and part-time employees (working at least 20 hrs/week) receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription drug coverage, individual and family vision and dental insurance, 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, EAP services, and life insurance or other death benefit coverage. New hires are eligible for all these benefits upon retirement. Free basic life insurance is offered to retirees if medical coverage is elected. M. D. Anderson offers an FSA plan to assist employees with out-of-pocket health care costs.
• Benefits/Financial: M. D. Anderson Cancer Center offers a 403(b) plan and a defined benefit plan to its full- and part-time employees. Employees may invest in lifecycle funds, and employees ages 50+ can make catch-up contributions to their 403(b) plan. Employees receive financial planning information from staff members and from the firm that administers their 403(b). Retirement seminars are offered by HR Benefits, HR Employee Wellness, and the Organization for Women. In 2006, the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center also began offering a pre-retirement class to all employees in which they gain financial planning information and build plans around the social and wellness aspects of retirement. The Center also offers a Roth 403(b) Tax Sheltered Annuity plan. M. D. Anderson offers paid time off specifically designated for caregiving, short-term time off without pay, and long-term leaves of absence without pay for caregiving. All employees are offered these wellness programs: flu shots; health screenings; health risk appraisals; smoking cessation programs; health club discounts; physical activity/exercise programs; weight loss programs; stress management training; and courses such as "Healthy Back," "Aging Well," and "Healthy Living." M. D. Anderson offers health club membership discounts through 24 Hour Fitness and to the University of Texas Health Science Center Gym and Recreation Center. Massage therapy is offered three days a week. The Office of Institutional Diversity offers "Older Adult Sensitivity Training," which is interactive, to all employees. Participants explore the aging process, older adult interaction, and methods to improve interactions with older adults. Sixty-nine percent of M. D. Anderson's employees have utilized at least one of these wellness benefits in the past 12 months. M. D. Anderson offers backup care for childcare/care for grandchildren, and referral services to assist with childcare and eldercare to its full- and part-time employees. Local organizations offer childcare and eldercare discounts to M. D. Anderson employees. M. D. Anderson also offers pre-tax flexible dependent care for benefit-eligible employees who meet IRS requirements.
• Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: M. D. Anderson offers these 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. Formalized phased-retirement options are not available but individual plans can be arranged depending on the department's and individual's needs.
• Opportunities for Retirees: M. D. Anderson currently has 1,978 retirees and has an individual directly responsible for retiree relations. M. D. Anderson stays connected with its retirees by communicating regularly, inviting retirees to organization events/celebrations, providing retirement planning workshops/information, and formally acknowledging retirees when they retire. Retirees can join the voluntary retiree association, which meets quarterly for informational meetings, general interest sessions, and an annual banquet. Retirees are offered temporary work assignments, consulting/contract work, telecommuting, and full-time and part-time work.
• Age of Workforce: Twenty-five percent of M. D. Anderson employees are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 10.6 years.

Winning Strategies 2006

Twenty-four percent of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center’s total employees are ages 50+. Ten percent of the center’s past twelve month new hires were 50+.  The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 10.5 years.

Various employee programs, employment strategies, benefits and offerings target the needs and interests of this special population. They include:

• Recruiting:  The center has used senior placement agencies to hire mature workers and retirees.
• Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: The center offers the following learning and development programs to its full and part-time employees:  tuition reimbursement (8.5% used past 12 months), in-house classroom training (92% used past 12 months, on-line training (70% used past 12 months), and certification classes. Part-time employees must work 20 hours per week to be eligible for the tuition reimbursement and certification classes training.  An annual institution-wide Education Week is held to highlight the many training opportunities available to its employees.  Long-service anniversaries are celebrated with announcements, parties, gifts and awards. Various recognition programs are offered to acknowledge a job well done, including both monetary and non-monetary programs.
• Benefits/Health: Full and part-time employees (working at least 20 hrs/week) receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription drug coverage, individual and family vision insurance, individual and family dental insurance, individual and family long-term care insurance as well as short and long-term disability.  The PPO health plan is covered in full, by the center, for employee-only coverage. 53% of employees are enrolled in the individual medical and prescription drug plan while 44% are enrolled in the employee and family medical and prescription drug plan.  32% of employees are enrolled in the individual vision plan, 31% in the employee and family vision plan, 41% in the individual dental plan, 43% in the employee and family dental plan, 6% in the individual and family long-term care plan, 15% in the short-term disability plan, and 59% in the long-term disability plan.  Retiree’s pre-65 and 65+ receive individual and spouse medical and prescription drug coverage, vision, dental, long-term care, EAP services and life insurance.  All of the above retiree benefits are available to new hires upon retirement.  The center also offers a health flexible spending account.
• Benefits/Financial: The center offers a defined benefit and a define contribution [403(b)] retirement savings plan to its full and part-time employees.  Employees age 50+ can make ‘catch-up’ contributions and invest in lifecycle funds for their 403(b) account.  The center offers referral services to assist with child and elder care, and back-up care for child care.  The child care services are offered to employees to care for their grandchildren.  The following wellness programs are offered to full and part-time employees:  flu shots, health screenings, health risk appraisals, smoking cessation programs, health club discounts, exercise programs, stress management training, and weight loss programs.  71% of employees have utilized at least one of the above wellness benefits in the past 12 months.
• Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: The center 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.  The center offers paid time off that is specifically designated for care giving.
• Opportunities for Retirees: The center currently has 1735 retirees. There is an individual who has a direct responsibility for retiree relations.  The center stays connected with its retirees by communicating on a regular basis with the retirees, inviting retirees to organization events, providing retirees with ongoing access to retirement planning workshops, and formally acknowledging retirees on the occasion of their retirement.  Retirees are offered the following work arrangements:  temporary work assignments, consulting/contract work, telecommuting, part-time work (51 used in past 12 months), and full-time work (6 used in past 12 months). Retirees can join the Voluntary Retiree Association which holds quarterly meetings and an annual banquet.

Winning Strategies 2005

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center stresses diversity. It says that because of the rapid changes occurring in clinical medicine, academic health care institutions must be continually changing old concepts, coming up with innovative and provocative hypotheses, and converting positive results into definitive action. This is possible only if the people who staff the organization have a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and training.

New employees develop a better understanding of cancer, so that they can relate to the experiences of their patients, by attending a day-and-a-half session that includes an overview of the institution. Employees learn about numerous training opportunities through various venues, including an annual company-wide education week.

Because 70 percent of M.D. Anderson’s employees are female and over 40 percent are of child bearing age, each year employees have between 300 to 600 babies. Four rooms are set up for returning moms to use for lactation. Wellness programs focus on helping employees keep their children healthy.

Benefits:

• Both full- and part-time employees have access to health benefits. Family policyholders pay 30 percent of the premium. Part-time employees must work at least 20 hours a week to get health benefits.
• M.D. Anderson provides both a defined benefit program as well as a 403(b) plan for its employees. Part-time employees must work at least 20 hours a week to be eligible for the defined benefit plan, and work a minimum of one hour per week for the 403(b) program.

Twenty-four percent of the company’s employees are 50+. Nine percent of employees hired over the past year are 50+.