High Level of Unethical Practices Both in Services to Clients and in Treatment of Employees
Pros
The parent organization, Washington State Hospital Association provided good benefits which were the same benefits received by Washington Hospital Services - however not all benefits were the same for all employees.
Cons
The business of this company is to provide claims management (unemployment claims and workers compensation claims) for hospital clients. This is a for-profit company that is a subsidiary of the Washington State Hospital Association - a professional member organization for hospitals and some healthcare organizations in Washington State. The mission of WHS is (and heavily touted to clients) if you give us your claims business, we pour our profits back into the parent organization to benefit hospitals or in other words, your organization. Unfortunately, a management change was mandated in early 2012 which replaced former long-term management with management that has claims experience but does not have any education, expertise or credentials in organizational leadership or development, or organizational management. And unfortunately, the management runs the shop like a blue-collar, churn and burn claims organization, rather than a professional services company. There are at least four elements which exist in organizations that make ethical behavior conducive within an organization. The four elements necessary to quantify an organization's ethics are: 1) written code of ethics and standards; 2) ethics training to executives, managers, and employees; 3) availability for advice on ethical situations (i.e. advice lines or offices); and 4) systems for confidential reporting. At Washington Hospital Services, the above four elements are non existent - particularly a system for confidential reporting. And the results of the above lack of oversight and ethical leadership results in some of what is mentioned below: The former culture of "make a fair profit while serving the clients needs" has now given way to "this client hand holding is not necessary" and fragmented perceptions and faulty decision making - a schizophrenic approach - today we'll give clients lots of training; a week later it's no more training and let's give them "feel good" attention; and yet a few weeks later it's "let's give them "small gifts and face time" and a few weeks later it's "let's focus on safety;" followed by "let's give them services" or "let's make them partners", etc., etc. A frenetic drive to raise the amount of money that can be made from the clients - and a neglect of the ethical responsibility to give the clients a quality service for which they pay in the first place. Part of the problem may be fueled by the removal of an onsite HR Department - HR is now present one morning a week and is outsourced. Part of the problem is the very senior level management at the parent company, WSHA, turning a blind eye to what is clearly a senior management problem at WHS. There is little if any accountability for senior management at WHS - which is in fact, just one person. There is a very high percentage of turnover - which is an indicator of significant organizational difficulties. WHS employs about 12 people. In less than two years, both manager positions have turned over twice - The worker's compensation group and the unemployment compensation group are now each o their third set of managers. In addition, in less than two years 10 positions have turned over more than once and the common theme is that they were accused of some type of misconduct or poor work performance, such that they were either fired or resigned or otherwise terminated. Another difficulty is the claims management software, ERIC systems. Touted as a robust and cutting edge system, it has not played out to be anywhere near satisfactory in use on the client or vendor (WHS) side - as evidenced by the unfulfilled promise made over a year ago to several clients that they would be up and running on it by January of 2013. The moral of the employees is quite low. Most are looking for other positions and most are paranoid about what will happen next. It's an oppressive environment and will continue in this way until a truly healthy, ethical, qualified (qualified in management and organizational leadership) leader and role model is hired to move the agency toward higher ground.