Reliant Medical Group: The potential of a 'thank you'
With 13 primary care offices in Central Massachusetts, Reliant Medical Group is a major provider of primary care in the region. It's also an economic engine, employing 2,170.
Among Reliant's workforce are employees who have been with the organization for decades, said Jessica Massery, Reliant's senior manager of employee and provider engagement. This year, 23 staffers hit the 25-year mark. And Reliant's longest-standing employee celebrated 45 years last year.
“It's always great to see that we have such a large number of employees who have stayed with us 10 years or longer,” said Massery, who has headed up employee recognition efforts since 2003.
She and other administrators attribute longevity in part to Reliant's robust employee rewards and recognition programs, which honor staff members for length of service, work anniversaries and accomplishments. Annual and quarterly awards serve as reminders that employees' hard work doesn't go unseen, while bimonthly breakfast events celebrate work anniversaries of 10 years or more.
“It's the organization's way of just saying to them, 'We thank you for staying with us and continuing your career with us here,'” Massery said.
While physicians receive performance-based incentives, Massery said recognizing other members of the Reliant staff is an important ingredient in keeping morale strong at a time when the health-care industry is under a microscope on quality and cost control. For this reason, physicians don't participate in the majority of Reliant's recognition programs.
And it's easy to forget that there are many different types of positions within a primary-care organization such as Reliant, all of which are vital to success. Massery noted that Reliant's recognition and rewards programs are an opportunity to highlight the contributions of less visible employees, such as those working in human resources and information technology.
“I also think, at an individual level, it's important that we're doing some other things to recognize employees,” Massery said, citing an ongoing practice of managers mailing thank-you notes to the homes of staff members who have worked particularly hard to meet department objectives.
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