When staff satisfaction is high, staff turnover rates are low, collaboration is more effective, and patient care is optimal. But what keeps staff satisfied is sometimes a mystery—one that can be solved if staff are given the opportunity to voice their stressors and irritants, as big or little as they may be.

Such was Trinity Health System’s reason behind forming its multidisciplinary WOW team, which works to reduce staff nuisances and improve the organization’s work environment.

“Your primary concern is the quality of care for your patients,” says Deena Franke, CPCS, medical staff secretary and member of the WOW team at the facility located in Steubenville, OH. “You can see a difference between a person who comes to work miserable, and in the way they treat patients and in someone who is happy. If a facility has happy employees, it’s going to trickle down into patient care.”

Trinity formed its WOW team in June 2008, which is driven by 19 staff members from various departments, including nurses, case managers, medical staff, and information technology (IT) staff.

“We wanted a good mix of employees so we could [identify] what our entire employee population needed,” says Dean Lucarelli, MSCIS, IT project coordinator and WOW team member.

The facility distributed staff satisfaction surveys and held meetings to solicit staff members’ recommendations on improving culture. Suggestion boxes placed in the cafeterias of two of Trinity’s campuses provided further insight and direction for the team’s first initiatives.

WOW team members meet for one hour each week to discuss goals for reducing nonpolicy staff irritants within the facility. The team works together to devise work plans for any initiatives, which then must be submitted to the facility’s education leadership council for approval.

Trinity has seen a number of changes since implementing the WOW team, such as an employee check-cashing program which removes the hassle of getting charged an ATM fee. Cash-strapped staff now have the option of cashing personal checks for $20 or less at cafeteria registers.

An additional cash register has also opened in the cafeteria, allowing staff to enjoy more of their 30-minute lunch breaks by expediting lines.

Nightshift staff can park their vehicles directly in front of Trinity, rather than in its large parking arena where they would wait for a shuttle to transport them to the facility.

And each time the WOW team carries out a new initiative, staff are alerted of it via e-mail so they know their voices are being heard.

“What we are striving for is a partnership between employees and the hospital so we can work together to make this a great place to work—and a place people want to work,” says Lucarelli.

What is your biggest irritant at your facility?