How CHG slashed its employee turnover from 49% to 14.5%
In 2002, CHG Healthcare Services was a regular healthcare staffing company with average sales and revenue figures, average growth rates, and average employee turnover.
And the company didn't want to settle for average.
They wanted to become the nation's biggest and best healthcare staffing company. CHG realized that its bland corporate culture was stumping its growth, and the 49% turnover rate made it challenging to recruit and train employees fast enough to support rapid expansion.
Back then, CHG had a stereotypical corporate culture similar to most companies. Top-down communication, varying team cultures, and an HR team that only focused on general and administrative (G&A) practices. Although it was called a "good place to work," it was just that, good. Very few employees were passionate about their work or working at CHG.
That year, CHG's Sr. Vice President of Talent Management, Kevin Ricklefs , was tasked with reducing turnover. Realizing that leaders were unsure of how to address the issue, Ricklefs turned to employees for ideas. Through focus groups, employees expressed concerns like worn-out furniture and poor leadership as reasons for people leaving.
The leadership issue would naturally be a more complex and long-term fix, and Ricklefs wanted employees to know that their opinion mattered, as soon as possible. CHG looked for immediate action and decided to get new chairs for every employee who had old chairs right away. This simple gesture communicated that feedback mattered.
CHG continued this approach, addressing one “hot-button” issue every year, with employee-suggested perks and benefits like on-site healthcare services, wellness programs, fitness facilities, up to $5250 tuition reimbursement, fully equipped break rooms, flexible schedules, lactation rooms, telecommuting, comprehensive health insurance, and generous maternity leave.
In 2003, CHG initiated its first employee satisfaction survey, yielding around 3000 comments, all of which were read by top leaders and fed directly into executive decisions, programs, and policies.
The change strategy blended top-down and bottom-up approaches, with leadership initiating and sustaining change while involving employees in decision-making.
Through these efforts, CHG cultivated a "people-first" culture, which in turn improved accountability and trust. Employees understood that their feedback was heard, valued, and acted upon.
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CHG's leaders started considering its employees as their strategic advantage, with "Putting People First" as the core organizational value that impacted every decision. Employees were not just happy about their jobs, they started raving about it.
In 2020, CHG was recognized for its efforts and ranked #3 on Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list.
The employees were so proud of this achievement, they even got together on a Saturday, wrote, and produced a music video called?"Three Is Our Magic Number" , without the management's knowledge.
CHG's engaged employees created engaged customers.
As their turnover dropped to 14.5% (less than half the industry average) on one hand, and the company managed to grow revenue and profits, even during the 2008-2011 recession, on the other.
Companies like CHG understand that business success starts with employee success.
To create a sustainable, world-class customer experience, an organization must first establish a sustainable, world-class employee experience. It all starts with the employees.
This is an excerpt from?the Day1 newsletter , where we curate our favorite employee experience transformation stories. Subscribe here to read more inspiring journeys of companies and leaders who revolutionized their employee experience and in turn, their businesses.