No Work/Life Balance for the Frontline Manager- ideas/work stolen by middle mangers and poor increases except for RNs.
Pros
CEO Nancy Schlichting is a great healthcare visionary and in her early years really transformed the corporate culture at HFHS in very positve way. When you listen to her, you understand what you need to do in your job, you feel hopeful about the future and proud to be a part of the organization. She has put together a good senior leadership team and they develop strategic plans that are the envey of many a healthcare system. I always look forward to the annual meetings when frontline managers get to hear them directly. This is a nursing dominated management system, a plus for them. They usually get 2-3 times the salary increase as compared to other personnel. (recently 6-8% vs. 2.5% this was after 2 1/2 years of no increases the previous increase was 6-8 % vs. 2%) They also get 100% tuition reimbursment to complete BSN & MS. They can be promoted to management with little or no management experience. In fact they have a new course for RNs that teaches them how be managers while they are managers. HFHS has some of the best dedicated, compassionate frontline staff that I have ever worked with.
Cons
I write the following after and indepth discussion with several of my peers. There is a disconnect between senior management and middle management, and a very large disparity between of the nursing frontline managers and other professionals. I would advise other professionals to go elsewhere. HFHS is not the place for you, little respect for any other type of work. No chance for advancement in this nursing dominated system, even if the position is for operations management with no actual nursing skills needed. Middle managers are a blast from the past. They think hoarding information gives them super powers over you when we all know it really just makes it much harder for you to do your job I have personnaly experienced and heard horror stories of them taking credit for frontline managers work. You are afraid to say anything for fear of being fired, no protection. You are often threaten with the idea of the Hunter Group returning to downsize or they tell you about the 250,000.+ people applying online for your job so you better behave. Okay, they don't say you better behave but it is implied. We do have a employee survey through Gallop but most frontline managers could be singled out so you do not dare speak your mind. Often you are asked your opinion in meetings but if you disagree or do not echo back their opinions you are shut down and humiliated. They don't really want to hear you. It is better to just parrot or do not say anything. Much of the work is past on to the frontline to the point where there is no longer any work/life balance. Sixty + hours a week is average which would not be so bad but we do not make the salary to pay for services to balance our homelife requirements. So, by the time you get a vacation you really just spend it trying to recover or catching up at home. You are expected to answer your blackberry 24/7.