SURPRISE, ARIZ., Jan. 28, 2016 – Nonprofit Sun Health has been awarded two best-in-class seals of approval for its outstanding “employee engagement,” a term that has become synonymous with employee commitment to an organization.
Avatar Solutions, a survey research firm used by Sun Health, awards the seals to clients that are in the top 10 percent for employee engagement. Results are based on data from more than 260 engagement surveys done for Avatar’s health care industry customers over the past three years.
For the third consecutive year, Sun Health earned a best-in-class seal from Avatar’s “legacy measurement of engagement,” a 16-question survey seeking employee feedback on a wide range of workplace questions. Sun Health received a second seal for its results from a newer engagement survey called the “20/20.”
“The new survey is more refined in terms of determining what motivates employees,” said Tahlya Visintainer, Sun Health Senior Living vice president of human resources and organizational development. She shared that 88 percent of Sun Health’s more than 590 employees participated in the November survey.
“We are still analyzing the results,” Visintainer said. “After that we will share the data with employees and develop action plans to address areas where we can improve or maintain our high scores.”
Mike Sinoway, CEO at Avatar Solutions, congratulated Sun Health via email: “Sun Health’s achievement highlights their success in using an Avatar survey to define and guide improvement efforts. We are thrilled to recognize Sun Health as a best-in-class organization.”
Sharon Grambow, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Sun Health Senior Living, appreciates the recognition but knows that keeping employees engaged takes a concerted effort. “It has to be an ongoing quest,” she said.
In the past decade, thousands of businesses worldwide have switched from just measuring employee satisfaction to sizing up employees’ levels of engagement. Kevin Kruse, author of “Employee Engagement 2.0,” defines employee engagement as “the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.”
A growing body of research shows that a highly engaged workforce makes good business sense, not just in terms of improving employee productivity and retention, but also in helping add to the bottom line. A majority of business leaders surveyed in 2013 by the Harvard Business Review ranked employee engagement as “very important to achieving overall organizational success.”
About Sun Health
A long-standing champion of healthy living and superior health care, Sun Health is a community-based nonprofit providing pathways to population health through philanthropy, senior living and community wellness. Sun Health Senior Living includes three independent-living Life Care communities: The Colonnade in Sun City Grand/Surprise, Grandview Terrace in Sun City West, and La Loma Village in Litchfield Park. New to the lineup is Sun Health at Home, the first continuing care at home program in the Southwest.
