Contacts: Jo Baxter or Christine Kotler; 786-596-6534
 
FORTUNE announced today that Baptist Health South Florida made the 11th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.  The full list and related stories appear in the Feb. 4 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands Jan. 28 and currently at www.fortune.com. Baptist Health, which ranked 94th, is the only Florida-based healthcare organization to be recognized as a great employer.

“The fact that we have made this list eight times is a testament to our commitment to do whatever we need to do to be a great employer,” said Brian E. Keeley, president and CEO of Baptist Health.  “Last year, we launched our 'Great Place, Great People' initiative, bringing together our leadership to identify issues of importance to employees. Several task forces developed plans to address those issues. We want our dedicated employees to be with us for the long haul, and we want to attract new employees who will stay and grow with us. Our employees deserve an outstanding workplace that is able to accommodate their changing interests, challenges and needs."

The Great Place, Great People initiative resulted in concrete changes in response to the concerns of employees, including updating compensation scales to recognize and reward current employees, taking into account tenure and performance; offering backup child and elder care; instituting paid parental leave for childbirth or adoption; and expanding scholarship and tuition reimbursement opportunities for employees wanting to pursue degrees in nursing and other areas.
 
FORTUNE recognized Baptist Health for increasing its adoption benefit from $4,000 to $10,000.  Baptist Health was second on the list for providing onsite child-care centers; 11th on the Best Compensation list for hourly employees and 42nd for salaried employees; 28th on the Biggest Bonus list for hourly employees and 45th for salaried employees; and 12th  for having the most women (75 per cent).

Baptist Health, the region’s largest faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare organization, has more than 11,500 employees and is one of the area’s largest employers.  Baptist Health includes Baptist, Baptist Children’s, Doctors, Homestead, Mariners and South Miami Hospitals, as well as Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute, Baptist Outpatient Services and Baptist Health Enterprises.

To pick the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” FORTUNE works with Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America. Of some 1,500 firms that were contacted, 406 companies participated in this year’s survey.

Nearly 100,000 employees at those companies responded to a 57-question survey created by the Great Place to Work Institute, a global research and consulting firm with offices in 30 countries.

Most of the company’s score (two-thirds) is based on the results of the survey, which is sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management’s credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie.

The other third of the scoring is based on the company’s responses to the Institute’s Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communications, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts, etc. After evaluations are completed, if news about a company comes to light that may significantly damage employees’ faith in management, that company may be excluded from the list.