Cook Children's Earns Number 3 Spot on Forbes Best List

February 2024 | Cook Children's Health Care System earned a top spot on Forbes's list of America's Best Large Employers for 2024, coming in at No. 3 out of a lineup of 500. In addition, Cook Children's also No. 1 on the “health care and social” industry sub-category. These rankings acknowledge that Cook Children's is one of the best places to work among all large businesses across all industries nationwide.

Rankings are determined by a survey of thousands of Americans working for large companies defined as having more than 5,000 employees. The survey was administered by a national market research firm. Respondents remain anonymous and the companies on the list do not pay a fee to be included.

“It's a huge honor to be recognized in this way on such a national level because it speaks directly to the culture we are working so hard to build here. One where our employees feel valued, supported and connected to our Promise, to our patients and to each other,” said Rick Merrill, Cook Children's president and CEO. “It's our people that make this place magical, and now the entire country is getting a glimpse of that magic.”

A number of criteria was used in the survey to evaluate companies, including working hours, gender pay equity, opportunities for training and promotion, workload expectations, parental leave benefits, the degree of diversity on the management team and whether or not employees would recommend the company to their friends and family, according to Forbes.

In recent years, Cook Children's launched a number of initiatives to promote many of these gold standards for growing a healthy and happy workforce.

“Our listening strategy is an investment in our people. Honest feedback helps us discover opportunities to improve and helps bring together leaders and teams to collaborate on solutions. No matter what your role is at Cook Children's, your well-being matters,” said Kathy McLean, Cook Children's Vice President of Brand and Team Experience.

In response, we are making meaningful changes and developing programs that reduce stress, support employee well-being both on and off the job, and cultivate a culture where employees feel like family.

“When we use our culture to build everything – from system strategies to our day-to-day work – we can deliver care that puts our employees and the children at the forefront of everything we do,” McLean said.

Healthy and happy employees lead to excellence

The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on health care workers across the globe, and exposed the burnout weighing on physicians, nurses and staff. Several internal surveys and listening sessions shed light on the burnout Cook Children's employees at all levels of the organization were experiencing. In response, the health system is making meaningful changes and developing programs to reduce stress, support employee well-being both on and off the job, and cultivate a culture where employees feel like family.

It all starts with seeing the world through the eyes of others, be them patients, family or staff. This perspective reveals what is working, as well as opportunities to grow and evolve. Lessons learned from employee feedback have led to initiatives such as the creation of Employee Resource Groups supporting the many faces and voices within Cook Children's, and an effort to reduce waste through a program called LESS: Let's Eliminate Senseless Stuff, to name a few.

The idea of LESS is to identify processes within the business of health care that do not add value to patient care or to the workday and should therefore be eliminated. It can be an outdated process, an unnecessary step in documentation in the medical record, or anything that does not benefit the patient or staff.

“We want every individual and leader to feel empowered to eliminate waste and make every precious action meaningful,” said Megan Chavez, Cook Children's vice president of Experience.

In addition, Cook Children's offers a robust employee benefits program — from providing free or low-cost primary care and mental health counseling for staff and their families, to supporting employee career development through tuition reimbursement, to expanded parental leave, and much more. With all of our benefit offerings, Cook Children's goal is to connect the dots between employee well-being and how it paves the way for the safe, kind, respectful, collaborative, generous and imaginative care of our patients and their families. We know that a healthy, valued and supported workforce allows us to deliver on our Promise to improve the health and well-being of every child in our care and the communities we serve.

“You cannot pour from an empty cup,” Chavez said. “We believe in protecting the noble profession of caring for others by protecting our staff's well-being and allowing them the autonomy they need to bring their best self to the job. We have the honor of caring for families often on their worst day. That can take a toll, and we recognize and support the healing needed to continue to be present for the next situation we will encounter.”

A place where magic happens

Rick Merrill knows first-hand how connecting the dots leads to magical experiences for staff and patients. Years ago, a chance encounter with a 10-year-old patient during rounds on the cancer unit led to Merrill becoming a camp buddy to that patient during a week of organized camp-like activities on the unit. The friendship that emerged with the patient and his family made an indelible impact on Merrill and the significance he finds in his work at Cook Children's. When the patient passed away after a long and brave fight with a rare disease, the family even asked Merrill to speak at their child's memorial.

A painting of a beautiful underwater seascape created by this patient, who was also a talented artist, now hangs in Cook Children's Infusion Center. The patient named everything in the painting, portraying himself as a smiling dolphin breaching the water. The whales are his doctors, the sun is God, the schools of fish, his nurses. At the center of the painting is a clam with a pearl inside. The pearl is Cook Children's and the clam is Merrill because, as the patient once told his nurses, “Mr. Merrill is the protector of Cook Children's.”

“That is about as meaningful and fulfilling as it gets in any career or job that you could choose,” Merrill said. “It really illustrates the power of connection, and the profound impact we have in pediatric health care. The truth is, every employee here is a protector of Cook Children's. I know these magical moments are happening day in and day out all throughout our organization. It's what makes this place special, and we'll continue working to make this a place that our employees are proud to come to every day.”

Read the Forbes article here

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