-Total lack of investment in employees -HR policies (hiring, moving positions within the company) are completely outdated and impose barriers unnecessarily -Pay, benefits are substandard, even for healthcare -Executives are nothing but bags of hot air- all talk of appreciation with no action to prove it. I began at Mercy Springfield as a Unit Secretary at Mercy's minimum wage- $15 hourly. This was the bare minimum I was willing to accept, and had hoped for $17-20 hourly. After being there almost a year and no raise, I was making the same as a cashier in the gift shop. This was especially insulting because I worked on a critical care COVID unit during several of the major spikes. I saw no hazard pay, no increase over someone who wipes trays in the cafeteria. We need food service employees and cashiers- but someone who directly interacts with COVID positive individuals should absolutely receive much higher pay. Mercy is widely known for their lack of investment in employees. You'll find better pay and benefits elsewhere, and bonuses are almost nonexistant unless you're a physician. As an administrative professional, I was totally ignored by company management. If you're not a physician or nurse (RN, not LPN), you are unlikely to receive any kind of bonus, meaningful pay or benefits increase or even words of gratitude in company emails. While nurses saw massive incentive pay during COVID (almost none now, though), admin assistants/clerical individuals got nothing. Most weren't even making $15/hour when the minimum went into effect, so they considered their new "raise" a win. HR policies are very antiquated. While most companies acknowledge that no candidate will likely meet every single requirement- and they acknowledge that the right candidate probably won't- and encourage everyone to apply, Mercy still requires candidates to check. every. box to be eligible for the position. Even if your past career experience proves that you're clearly very qualified, if your education or other qualifications don't meet every requirement in the posting, you'll be ineligible. This same rhetoric goes for moving within the company. I submitted over 25 internal applications for positions, all of which I was more than qualified for, and never got a single interview request. It's not only an outdated way of approaching talent management, but it excludes so many candidates who are qualified, and creates a hostile hiring process that goes on and on. Then the company wonders why their applicant pipeline has dried up. It's because of mismanagement, and the word has gotten out into the community not to bother. Executives would often do their "PR rounds" as I called them- visiting medical units, shaking hands with employees, chatting and telling everyone how much they're appreciated. Never once was this followed up with actions of gratidue-just hot air. Talk is cheap, but actions speak. Enough said. Overall, you're better off going with another health system. It's true that they're all pretty similar- nobody gets into healthcare to get rich. But you deserve to be well compensated for your time and efforts, both physical and emotional. You deserve to be treated with dignity and given the proper resources to do your job well. Mercy isn't the solution for any of those.
