Scripps Health: AARP Best Employers 2008

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

Highlights of 2008 Winning Strategies

One of AARP’s top-10 Best Employers for Workers Over 50 in 2008, Scripps Health places a high value on experience, with a goal to retain and recruit internal talent. The Scripps Alumni Network maintains relationships with former employees and retirees and serves as a foundation to recruit back to the organization. The network has a membership of more than 800. The Scripps Volunteer Program is comprised of more than 1,600 active volunteers who work across the system, providing services to patients, families, hospital staff, and the community. More than 1,100 of the volunteers are retirees, and 90 percent are age 50 and older. The Scripps Return to Work program offers employees individualized managed care with an assigned on-site nurse case manager when returning to work after a job accommodation or job redesign. Thirty-two percent of Scripps employees are age 50+.

Recruiting: Scripps uses placement agencies for older job-seekers to target mature workers and retirees. In addition, Scripps aims at developing current employees and recruiting them into new roles through their life-cycle employment and career-path process. The Scripps Alumni and Retiree Relations programs provide a way for former employees to stay connected with Scripps and potentially to return to new positions within the organization.

Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: Scripps 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 18 hours per week. In the past 12 months, 100 percent of Scripps employees participated in at least one of the learning programs, with an average of 23 hours spent in training.

The Scripps Center for Learning offers a variety of training courses for Scripps employees. The health system celebrates long-service anniversaries with announcements, parties, and awards.

Due to employee requests, Scripps has made many benefit improvements, including: increased paid time off and paid short-term disability for employees who maintain 480 hours of work a year, an enhanced retirement match and an additional one percent retirement contribution, increased gain-sharing, a new adoption-reimbursement benefit, and enhanced tuition reimbursement.

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

Benefits/Health: Employees working at least 20 hours a 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 under age 65 and 65+ include individual and spousal 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 the EAP benefits upon retirement. Scripps offers flexible-spending accounts to employees to help them with out-of-pocket health care costs and a tax-free retiree health-insurance savings account (a feature of the 401(a) retirement plan).

Benefits/Financial: Scripps offers a 403(b) and a 401(a) retirement savings plan with employer match and a money-purchase defined-contribution plan to its full- and part-time employees. All new hires are automatically enrolled in the 403(b) and in the 401(a) plans, employees may invest in lifecycle funds, and employees age 50+ can make catch-up contributions.

Employees receive financial planning information from staff members, from the firm that administers their 403(b) plan, and from external experts not associated with the 403(b) plan. Scripps offers free, year-round seminars and courses on financial planning, retirement, and investing. It offers employees paid time off especially designated for caregiving, and short-term time off without pay and long-term leaves of absence without pay for caregiving.

The health care system offers full- and part-time employees the following wellness programs: 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 onsite massage therapy. Seventy percent of employees have used at least one of these wellness benefits during the past 12 months.

The Scripps Wellness Program is available to employees and family members and offers resources, education, screenings, and interactive programs to encourage good health and well being. Full- and part-time employees receive the following dependent care benefits: on site care for children and grandchildren, backup care for children and grandchildren, and referral services to assist with care for children and grandchildren and for eldercare.

Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: Scripps offers the following alternative work arrangements to its full- and part-time employees: flextime, compressed work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and a formal phased retirement program. Full-time employees are eligible to move to part-time work on a permanent or temporary basis.

Opportunities for Retirees: Scripps currently has 296 retirees and has an employee who is directly responsible for retiree relations. Scripps stays connected with its retirees by communicating regularly, inviting retirees to organization events and celebrations, providing them with ongoing access to retirement planning workshops and information, and by formally acknowledging them when they retire. The health system offers retirees temporary work assignments, consulting and contract work, telecommuting, and full- and part-time work.

Age of Workforce: Thirty-two percent of Scripps employees are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 13.3 years.