Review of Samaritan compensation planned

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare officials will start a committee to review benefits, salaries and incentive packages for employees. Human resources director Julie Weisenburg said the idea is to look not only at salaries, but at all parts of employee compensation, to see what might or might not make a person decide to work at Samaritan. “I’m working to put together a committee (to review), not just for nursing, but for everybody,” she said. The committee will include staff from various departments, but no other managers.

In addition, “I’m also working to find a company, consultants to look at both our compensation and our benefits as a whole for all levels of the organization, just to see if we’re competitive. As we continue to hire on people, and looking at the data that we have, it doesn’t seem necessarily updated,” Weisenburg said.

Chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan said it’s not always money that causes an employee to stay or leave an organization, and consideration of those intangibles should also be part of any discussion of employee compensation.

The proposed committee and its function was part of a discussion of incentive and employment at the regular meeting of Samaritan commissioners May 29. Chief financial officer Alex Town said the cost of temporary workers was a major factor in the hospital’s expenses, which are over budget for the year. A lot of that money is spent for temporary nurses, and director of nursing Becky DeMers detailed some of the steps they have taken to attract and keep nurses. That includes a $10,000 signing bonus for newly hired nurses who agree to work at Samaritan for two years.

“Did you get any blowback at all from the people who were hired just before the incentives were provided?” asked commissioner Dale Paris. DeMers said the expressions of concern actually were coming from nurses who had long careers at Samaritan. Ensuring equitable compensation, Sullivan said, was part of the reason for a comprehensive review of salaries and benefits.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.