Atlantic Health: 2008 Best Employers

By: AARP.org | Source: AARP.org | September 2008

Highlights of 2008 Winning Strategies

Atlantic Health offers numerous benefits to attract and retain an older workforce. Some examples include a variety of recognition awards, comprehensive Wellness Programs, a ceiling-lift system to move patients (thereby reducing physical strain on employees), mentoring programs, a generous defined benefit/cash-balance pension that is 100 percent employer paid, a voluntary 403(b) plan with enhancements to help employees save tax-deferred dollars for retirement, and flexible ways of phasing into retirement.

Additional Policies and Practices:

Recruiting: Atlantic Health’s 1,000-Hour Club allows retirees the opportunity of returning to work on a limited basis (no more than 999 hours per year) without jeopardizing retirement benefits.

Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: Atlantic Health offers the following learning and development programs to full- and part-time employees: tuition reimbursement, in-house classroom training, online training, and certification classes. It offers tuition reimbursement exclusively to employees working at least 19 hours per week. In the past 12 months, 100 percent of Atlantic Health employees participated in at least one of its training opportunities with an average of 65 hours spent in training.

Atlantic Health provides free Medicare workshops throughout the year. The RN Professional Advancement Clinical Tracks (PACT) program for nurses aims to recognize, reward, and retain experienced nurses with formal recognition and financial rewards.

The hospital celebrates long-service anniversaries with announcements, parties, awards, and gifts after five years. Due to employee requests, many benefit improvements have been made at Atlantic Health, including improved communication with employees via a company intranet, a monthly e-health newsletter for employees, the Passion-in-Action  and Employees Choice awards to reward and recognize employees, a free identity-theft protection program, additional bereavement leave, a new childcare center, enhanced eldercare benefits, and an on-site nurse practitioner for employees.

Employees gain new experiences by working on temporary assignments in other departments, on team projects, and via access to a formal job-rotation program.

Atlantic Health funded a ceiling track lift to move patients and assist older nurses. Other employee accommodations offered at the hospital include workstation evaluations and modifications and transitional duty programs for employees who are initially unable to return to their positions after injury or illness.

Benefits/Health: Employees working at least 22 hours a week receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription-drug coverage, and individual and family vision insurance. Employees working at least 36 hours per week receive individual and family dental insurance and long-term disability.

Atlantic Health offers short-term disability to all employees, with no minimum hours required for eligibility.

Health benefits for retirees under 65 and age 65+ include individual and spousal medical and drug coverage and individual life insurance or other death-benefit coverage. Retirees under 65 also receive individual and spousal vision insurance. Atlantic Health offers flexible-spending accounts to help employees with out-of-pocket health care costs.

 
In addition, the company offers employees free hospital and facility coverage on lab and radiology services, on-site nurse practitioner visits, and disease management and wellness programs.
 

Benefits/Financial: Atlantic Health offers a 403(b) retirement savings plan and a cash-balance plan to its full- and part-time employees. Employees age 50+ can make catch-up contributions to the 403(b) plan.

Atlantic Health’s “Focus on Your Financial Future” workshops are free to all employees and provide information on retirement planning, Social Security benefits, pension plans, IRA considerations, investment planning, debt management, and education-savings plans. In addition, on-site certified financial counselors are available daily.

 
Employees can take advantage of short-term time off without pay and long-term leaves of absence without pay for caregiving. Full- and part-time employees receive the following wellness benefits: flu shots, health screenings, health-risk appraisals, smoking-cessation programs, health club discounts, physical activity and exercise programs, weight loss programs, stress management training, and a “sick call” clinic.

 
Sixty-one percent of Atlantic Health employees have used at least one of its wellness benefits in the past 12 months. The OMS Wellness Center provides services to employees to reduce health care costs and to improve employee health and well-being. The Wellness Rewards Plan is an incentive program that provides rewards to employees who agree to work toward improving their health.

 
The following dependent-care benefits are offered to full- and part-time employees: on-site and backup care for children and grandchildren and referral services help find daycare for children and grandchildren and eldercare.

 
Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: Atlantic Health offers the following alternative work arrangements to its full- and part-time employees: flextime, compressed work schedules, job sharing, and telecommuting.

 
The company also offers a formal phased-retirement program exclusively to full-time employees. The phased-retirement program offers workplace flexibility. Employees can change from full-time to part-time to temporary status before retirement. Full-time employees are eligible to move to part-time work on a permanent or temporary basis.

 
Opportunities for Retirees: Atlantic Health currently has 1,998 retirees and an employee who is directly responsible for retiree relations. The hospital stays connected with its retirees by inviting them to organization events and celebrations and by formally acknowledging them when they retire. It offers retirees temporary work assignments, consulting and contract work, telecommuting, and part-time work.

 
Age of Workforce: Thirty-five percent of Atlantic Health employees are age 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 15 years.