Newswise — The American Medical Group Association announced today that its Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Benchmarking Program recently reached an important landmark in its development. Its database recently surpassed more than 10,000 employees from 20 different medical groups. This benchmarking program, launched in the summer of 2009, provides medical groups with a valid, cost-effective and easy-to-use tool to measure and benchmark the job attitudes of back- and front-office personnel and non-physician professionals, including information technology professionals, receptionists, medical assistants, and other non-provider employees. Currently, participating groups come from across the country and vary in size from 100 employees to more than 2,500 employees.
“We are very pleased with the success of this program,” said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE, AMGA president and chief executive officer. “AMGA initiated the Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Benchmarking Program to help our members provide better care and a better patient experience by monitoring and enhancing employee engagement. Attracting and retaining a talented work force is a strategic imperative in today’s health care market.”
The Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Benchmarking Program is part of a suite of services offered by AMGA that enable medical groups to monitor and benchmark satisfaction and develop ways to improve in these areas. Other programs include the AMGA Patient Satisfaction Benchmarking Program and the AMGA Provider Satisfaction Benchmarking Program.
The Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Benchmarking Program was designed by AMGA staff using extensive input from an advisory committee comprised of medical group representatives from across the country. The bulk of the ten-minute, web-based survey includes questions focused on the ten dimensions, including employee engagement (measuring motivation and commitment), growth opportunities, health benefits, leaves, pay, personal relationships, physician interactions, rewarding work, supervision, and workload. These dimensions and AMGA’s survey methodology result in a detailed report starting at the overall organizational level and then providing breakouts at the supervisor, job category, and site levels. This allows participating medical groups to easily identify where targeted improvements can be made.
AMGA also announced a number of findings have emerged from the survey since its inception:
• Overall, 28% of the responding employees indicated that they were very satisfied with their job. Additionally, 26% agreed that they would highly recommend their company to friends and family as a good place to work. The findings indicate that many medical group employees are very satisfied with their work lives, but roughly 3 in 4 employees believe there is room for at least some improvement.
• There were a variety of demographic differences in overall job satisfaction. For instance, employees over 30 years old were more satisfied with their jobs than younger employees. Overall job satisfaction was also significantly higher for those in management compared with non-managers. Males and females did not statistically differ in their degree of overall job satisfaction.
• Employee engagement was significantly higher for managers than non-managers. However, there were no other significant demographic differences.
• As expected, employee engagement and overall satisfaction were strongly correlated with one another. In addition, the best individual satisfaction dimension predictors of both employee engagement and overall satisfaction were the rewarding work and supervision dimensions. While AMGA is cautious about inferring causation, it appears that a satisfied, engaged employee workforce is most associated with being able to perform stimulating, challenging work and having high-quality supervision.
For more information regarding the AMGA Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Benchmarking Program, visit www.amga.org or contact Mark Babey at [email protected] or (703) 838-0033, ext. 337. The American Medical Group Association represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious medical practices, independent practice associations, and integrated healthcare delivery systems. AMGA's mission is to improve health care for patients by supporting multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to approximately 110 million patients in 49 states, nearly 1 in 3 Americans. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups, providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance. www.amga.org
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