Scripps Health Named to FORTUNE Magazine’s National “100 Best Companies to Work For” List in 2013

Open to employees and family members, the Scripps Wellness Program is designed to create and maintain a healthy workforce while reducing health plan and workers’ compensation expenses. The program provides resources, education, screenings and on-site activities that offer employees an integrated approach to good health. Employees earn incentives toward insurance premium reductions when they fully participate in the program.

“The Scripps Wellness Program is an innovative workforce practice that counters rising health plan expenses while enhancing employee satisfaction and commitment,” said Vic Buzachero, corporate senior vice president of innovation, human resources and performance management for Scripps. “The program also serves as a model for health care reform, with an emphasis on quality preventive care and proactively keeping people healthy.”

Erin Newton, a nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, credits the Scripps Wellness Program with turning her life around.

“My weight had been creeping up over the years to the point where I stopped getting physicals because I didn’t want to face it. Yet, as a nurse on a post-surgical unit, I saw the reality every day of patients dealing with weight-related issues: diabetes, back and joint problems, heart disease, stroke,” said Newton.

Newton decided to get to work, and used some of the Scripps Wellness challenges and resources to ultimately lose 70 pounds. “The payoff was fabulous! I feel great, I sleep much better and I’m more productive in every aspect of my life,” said Newton. “I am now a better nurse and have greater job satisfaction because I know my patients are hearing what I have to say. I’m no longer just telling them how to be healthy. I look healthy and I am healthy, and I have the Scripps Wellness program to thank for it.”

Scripps was also named one of San Diego’s Healthiest Employers by the San Diego Business Journal last year, due to the success of its wellness program.

In keeping with the philosophy of caring for its employees, Scripps places great importance on strategic learning and professional development, as well as “re-recruiting” them through a life cycle employment and career path process.

“The organization focuses employee learning on Scripps’ strategic goals and operational objectives. We offer many opportunities for employees to achieve their professional career goals while working at Scripps,” said Buzachero. “We invest in learning for employees so they can grow with the organization and meet the community’s health needs.”

Scripps’ strategic learning umbrella, the Center for Learning & Innovation (CFLI), offers a full range of career enhancing courses and services, clinical training, and leadership education programs. Scripps invests $30 million annually on employee learning and development and was named one of the top companies nationally in 2011 and 2012 for outstanding learning performance by the E-Learning Media Group. Scripps was the only healthcare system recognized out of the top five.

“At Scripps, we offer our employees a wide range of development and learning opportunities, so they can build their skills and advance their careers while improving the organization at the same time,” said Buzachero.

The list will appear in the Feb. 4 issue of FORTUNE and is available online now at www.fortune.com. To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, FORTUNE partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America; 259 firms participated in this year’s survey. More than 277,000 employees at those companies responded to a survey created by the institute, a global research and consulting firm operating in 45 countries around the world.

The FORTUNE magazine ranking comes on the heels of four other national accolades Scripps Health has received for workplace excellence. In its 2011-13 listing, AARP ranked Scripps at the top employer in the country for its 50 Best Employers for Workers Over 50. This was the seventh consecutive year Scripps was named to this list. Scripps was selected for the eighth year to the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers List 2012 by Working Mother Magazine. Also in 2012, the E-Learning organization named Scripps fifth in the nation for enterprise learning and Becker’s Hospital Review named Scripps among the 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare.