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Employees who work under unions have a very bad reputation for being the kind of employees who basically just want to get through each day until retirement. The fact of the matter is that most of these employees are employed under contracts with organizations such as NYP in which they are not involved in the development, creation, or design of the changes they are then obligated to follow. The hospital has 5 strategic initiatives 2 of which are, "Value," and, "Engagement." As stated by NYPH "engagement means that engaged staff are actively involved in the work they do and the acre they provide to patients and their families. "Value," is one of the initiatives to reduce operating cost while delivering world class patient centered care. Now for a minute you might have thought NYPH was referring to, "value," as employees being a valuable asset to the organization sorry to disappoint your empathetic view but, NYPH is referring to monetary value. It is completely understandable that organizations strive to reduce costs without reducing the high quality care they provide but, we must take a moment to realize that none of the initiatives make employees feel empowered to openly voice opinions and concerns. .
Employees who are valued are more dedicated and motivated to fulfill their day to day work. Feeling valued can be at times hard to accomplish as a major culture change must take place. The culture of an organization should be a visible and clear to all members of the team. Team building meetings that take place in silos creates a separation between the management and the staff. Meetings should happen with various employees from all levels of the organization collaborating towards a common goal. When management meets separately and is then held accountable for delivering the information it makes staff feel as if they are being told what to do as oppose to being present and actively contributing to the decisions and changes being made.
