Exciting Changes to Open Enrollment, Total Rewards and More

It’s always exciting to share good news, and I have a couple of health system updates that I’m eager to discuss with you today. Both are the result of hard work behind the scenes to improve our efforts to recruit and retain employees while also rewarding our dedicated and loyal staff across the organization.

Open Enrollment Coming Oct. 16

At Methodist, we pride ourselves on offering a competitive Total Rewards package to our employees. When we reference Total Rewards, that includes your pay/compensation – but it also includes health and dental insurance, retirement benefits, paid time off, tuition assistance, disability, vision and other benefits. The senior leadership, Human Resources and Finance teams have been working diligently to ensure that the 2024 package is robust and builds on benefits offered in prior years.

Open enrollment is the process in which employees make their Total Rewards selections for the coming year. This annual undertaking begins on Oct. 16 and will close on Nov. 3. This year, you’ll review your health and welfare options and make selections in Workday. While this will be a new process for everyone, it’s designed to be more user-friendly and efficient.

A couple of highlights I’d like to share in advance of open enrollment are improvements to the vision plan, as well as increases to the basic and voluntary life insurance maximums. More detailed communications about open enrollment will be shared with you on Oct. 9 via email and Employee Connections.

We’re also pleased to have recently rolled out the new 401(k) plan with the Roth option through Fidelity. This new plan features a higher employer match – 100% match on up to a 6% employee contribution – as well as contributions Methodist makes for all employees, regardless of contribution level. This partnership allows you more flexibility to manage your retirement plans while also giving you access to a financial advisor.

These improvements come on the heels of changes we made in 2022, when we implemented a suite of voluntary insurance benefits including accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, whole life and short-term disability.

Impact of Total Rewards Survey

Some of our Total Rewards offerings were shaped by your participation in the Total Rewards survey we conducted in May. The more than 3,300 responses provided us with crucial feedback and insight into our current compensation and benefits programs.

It’s no surprise that compensation was the area in which we received the most feedback. We hear you. We’re more committed than ever to engaging and retaining our talented health care professionals, and we’re working to ensure that our compensation remains competitive in this dynamic market. That means continuing to review our compensation structure and shifts in the overall market rate for salaries, as well as devoting more resources to the compensation process to ensure that it is fair, equitable and transparent.

Another strong finding was the desire for the health system to focus more on employee and leadership development. We couldn’t agree more. We love to grow our own people, and I’m happy to report the Organizational Development team is already hard at work on this initiative with new leadership development programs. Look for more details in the coming months! 

We’re also enhancing our mental health offerings, thanks to our friends at Best Care EAP. They’re launching new programming in January, including Talkspace virtual counseling, which allows for online scheduling with licensed counselors and self-guided care. Also coming is Life Expert Work/Life Solutions – an individual member portal offering access to thousands of multilanguage articles, assessments, courses and interactive tools. Best Care EAP is a great resource, and I encourage you to check out these new opportunities as well as its bevy of other offerings.  

What’s Next

What I’ve mentioned thus far is very exciting, but we know our work isn’t done. Discussions with senior leaders across the organization are ongoing. We’re also reviewing improvements such as revamped tuition assistance options, as well as rewards and recognition programs, among others.

Your input is invaluable in shaping these initiatives. We invite you to continue sharing your thoughts, ideas and feedback. Your voices are the driving force behind the positive changes we are implementing and the road map to our future.

Our ultimate goal is to engage and retain our talented health care professionals. We firmly believe that a robust Total Rewards program will not only attract top talent but also keep our current employees motivated and committed to our shared mission of delivering exceptional health care.