Question

What is the status of MAYO CLINIC employee relations? Are they "organized". If so, to what extent? Have they experienced employee strikes?

Answer 1

Encouraging and including contributions from diverse individuals is critical to Mayo Clinic's future. By leveraging the strengths each diverse individual and group brings to the table, Mayo Clinic gains the strategic advantages of accelerated innovation, better problem solving, enhanced productivity and job satisfaction, improved quality, and, most importantly, provides better ways to meet the needs of our patients.

Mayo Clinic has developed these programs to support its mission for a diverse and inclusive work environment:

Continuous professional development
Cultural and linguistic competence in staff and students is supported to ensure culturally sensitive patient care and behavior. All employees and students participate in orientation and annual diversity instruction. Patient care staff receives cultural competency training.

Recruitment and retention
Mayo Clinic recruiting strategies are designed to increase representation of minorities and women in all job categories and training programs where they may be underrepresented. This commitment to fostering greater staff diversity is supported by:

Diversity metrics throughout the organization
Mentoring processes at the work unit level. Annual assessments of success in hiring and retaining a diverse work force.

Mayo Employee Resource Groups (MERGs)

These employee-organized resource groups enable our employees to feel more engaged and involved. MERGs provide a positive support system for new and long-time employees and a mentoring program for professional growth. These groups celebrate, support and encourage diversity among employees.

Perks and Programs
Living Mayo Clinic’s values: Meet any one of Mayo Clinic’s employees and they’ll tell you Mayo’s primary value: the needs of the patient come first. They’ll further describe “RICH TIES” – Mayo’s core values of respect, integrity, compassion, healing, teamwork, innovation, excellence and stewardship. It’s not surprising – Mayo’s values are highlighted in new hire orientation, focused emails, recognition events, and featured stories on our intranet and external blogs. Our environment provides additional reinforcement; walk around our campuses and see prominent posters reflecting our values, along with the values icons on our emails and website. These are constant reminders of what binds us as a community – a shared commitment to our patients.

Collaboration among multidisciplinary teams: From upgrading technology and improving existing processes to finding and implementing life-saving discoveries and medical treatments, Mayo Clinic employees work together. On any given day, multidisciplinary teams collaborate to bring the best ideas and expertise to every situation. For example, while other healthcare companies have approached the implementation of a single electronic health record and revenue cycle management system as an “IT” project, Mayo aligned the project with its clinical priorities, pulling together a core team of more than 450 staff. Those who contribute to this effort tested workflows, created awareness, and made design changes to ensure a smooth transition for those who use or are affected by the technology, including thousands of staff and the 1.3 million patients we serve.

Active employee resource groups: Mayo Employee Resource Groups (MERGs) are employee-organized groups that form around a common dimension of diversity or interest. Now more than ever, our MERGs provide support for employees in response to the nation’s social unrest. The MERGs are the top-of-mind groups from which Mayo’s leaders can gain new insights and test ideas of critical matters for Mayo. Recent accomplishments include expanding from 27 groups to 31 in the past year; launching an enterprise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex Mayo Employee Resource Group intranet site and the debut of the OUTList, a recruitment and retention resource that promotes community, visibility, and mentoring; and the creation of a disability self-disclosure campaign to build a culture of comfort and safety for employees of all abilities.

Innovation: Innovation has long been a hallmark of Mayo Clinic’s culture. One such example open to all employees is the Center for Innovation’s Connect, Design, Enable (CoDE) Innovation Award. The grant program attracts ideas from staff across Mayo to help transform the way health and health care are experienced and delivered. Center for Innovation team members partner with CoDE grant recipients to create prototypes to determine if an idea or solution has value before the project is developed for use at Mayo Clinic. The program began in 2009 and has supported 68 projects to date.

Developing effective leaders: Mayo Clinic’s leaders contribute to our high satisfaction among employees. According to our latest all staff survey, staff responded favorably (75 percent or higher) to questions about their immediate supervisors. They feel empowered to do their job; encouraged to suggest ideas for improvement; treated with respect and dignity; provided with helpful feedback and coaching; recognized for a job well done; and informed about changes taking place at Mayo. After robust new leader training, our leaders receive 360 feedback, participate in targeted development programs, and access online tools to refresh skills. A new, custom leadership development programs is Accelerate!, an invitation-only program for women and ethnic minority high potential leaders. The early results have shown knowledge and skill development, and high retention of participants.

Compassion in action: Inherent in Mayo Clinic’s culture are close connections and compassion among colleagues that unite staff, personally and professionally. Mayo Clinic leaders set the stage, and staff take initiative to contribute in meaningful ways at local levels. In 2016, when Hurricane Matthew threatened our Florida campus and hundreds of employees in its path, 600 staff stayed on campus to continue to provide services. And, in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas and the southern cost, Mayo Clinic donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross, while employees organized food and supply drives within their departments.

Six pillars of well-being: To promote employees’ whole-person care, Mayo Clinic’s wellness strategy focuses on six pillars of well-being: social, physical, emotional, financial, work-life integration, and meaning in work. Programs include virtual resources as well as local events to meet various employees’ needs and interests. Examples include: a new 3.6 mile nature trail on our Phoenix campus; access to the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center in Rochester, Minn., a state-of-the-art facility offering a variety of services such as nutrition programs, wellness consultations, and group training; participation in the American Heart Association's annual First Coast Heart Walk in Florida—which in 2016 included more than 900 Mayo staff; and participation in annual dragon boat races and festivals in Wisconsin, to raise money in support of breast cancer and hospice.

Sharing beyond health care: A source of pride among employees is Mayo Clinic’s commitment to improve the lives not only of patients, but also of our communities and society. Mayo’s newly released Report on Societal Impact details how Mayo provides additional benefits to households, businesses, government and other organizations: generated 167,000 jobs nationwide, contributing $28 billion to the U.S. economy; invested $710 million in research in 2016 to address unmet needs of patients; provided $629.7 million in uncompensated care in 2016; and educated more than 135,000 learners at our five schools. This effect is a result of Mayo's unique structure that integrates practice, research and education. On a team-level, employees organize community service projects, like serving meals at the local Ronald McDonald House and conducting food drives.

Career immersion: Imagine getting a start on your health care career before even graduating from high school. Mayo’s Career Immersion Program launched in 2016 with an aim to develop a diverse and competitive applicant pool for our education programs. The program targets diverse Minnesota high school juniors and seniors and introduces them to different types of healthcare professions over a weeklong program. Mayo also offers, Project Search, a high school transition program in two Midwest locations that offers work experience, training and employability skills to young adults with disabilities to prepare them for competitive employment. In addition, Mayo offers a host of internships, mentorships, open houses, summer camps and programs to reach and train potential employees, and educational scholarships to children of Mayo employees.

Life-long career: At Mayo Clinic, employees can experience a fulfilling, lifelong career, either through a single career path or through new, different roles. Employees are supported through more than 100 online or instructor-led programs in the areas of leadership development, personal development and computer education. Hundreds of additional professional development programs cover topics including information technology, quality and compliance, as well as career-specific topics. In addition, a Professional Development Assistance program and Educational Leave of Absence Policy help those who seek additional training. Physicians and scientists participate in committee assignments and job rotations to prepare for leadership roles; these staff are recognized for their achievements and scholarly activities by an academic appointment through the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.