RHC: Pittsburgh Mercy Health System

Contact: R. Clare Fletcher, M.S.
Telephone: (412)-232-5858<

The Pittsburgh Mercy Health System SUCCESS PROGRAM is a comprehensive employment, training, and support program offered through Mercy Hospital’s Human Resources Department. The program serves the hospital’s welfare to work population, injured workers who require re-training, and under-employed workers who need to develop job skills in order to be successful in the workplace. The program includes extensive case management from the time of application until nearly two years after employment. Included are: training seminars and workshops, support groups, mentors, one-on-one coaching, and various other components.

The Success Program, which has been in effect for 2.5 years currently serves 53 individuals, who are employees of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System. Most of these employees are single parents; many support not only their own families but are responsible for extended families; many were unemployed or underemployed prior to beginning their work at Mercy Hospital, and all of them are valuable with regard to the skills and abilities they bring to their work. This program offers these employees with the opportunity to grow professionally and personally, to develop necessary job skills for advancement, and to build an economically stable future for themselves and their families.

The Success Program is considered by many to be innovative among welfare to work training and support initiatives. The comprehensive nature of the program, the individual attention given to each participant, the post-employment support (which includes an EAP, educational assistance, and numerous benefits), along with a relatively high employee retention rate (87.5%) are all part of the uniqueness of the program. Employees who participate have shown marked improvement in job performance, minimal disciplinary actions, improved attendance and an eagerness to pursue additional education and training outside the organization.

Mercy Hospital provides employees with good pay and excellent benefits. While many individuals across the country enter the workplace at minimum wage or slightly above, all the employees in the Success Program are earning several dollars above minimum with many earning over $9.00 per hour. While, like most employers, there is room for improvement in the wages, the benefits package includes medical, dental, and visual coverage, a life insurance policy, savings programs for medical and child care needs, a comprehensive EAP program, a financial assistance program, educational benefits and more. The wage and benefits available to employees is comparable or better than many other employers in the area. Success Program services are available to identified individuals at the time of recruitment and may continue for up to 18 months after employment. Plans are for the program to continue, with some expansion planned through the year 2000.

The program was originally funded by the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Care for the Poor Grant Program. 1999 is the last of three years of funding available from this source. For the 1999 program year additional funding was provided to the Success Program through the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing and the

Noah Group, Inc., welfare to work competitive grant awardee currently establishing a project with the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority. Additional funding will be sought throughout the life of the program.

Most training and development program like the Success Program are evaluated by retention of employees. While nationally, the retention rate is somewhere around 70% (one year post employment), Mercy’s retention rate is 87.5%.

Several of Mercy’s employees have also recently purchased homes, six have enrolled in college or technical school, and many have moved from public housing into private residences. Job performance evaluations have improved nearly 8% in participants, disciplinary actions have decreased, and managers have noted improvement in attitude and interpersonal skills among those employees who participate in the program.