At Valley Hospital, a happy staff is a productive staff

If you had to pick a slogan for the finance department at The Valley Hospital, it might be, "Morale Matters."

According to Josette Portalatin, Valley's director of patient finance services, a Finance Morale Committee was formed many years ago with members from all sections of the 52-member department. 

"We've found that investing in employee morale will get your staff to go the extra mile," she said. 

The committee plans three to four events per quarter, including "Soup and Stew" days, when staffers bring in favorite recipes in crockpots, as well as "Sweet Treat" parties, when 20 employees from throughout the hospital are invited to relax with the finance department staff. 

The effort pays off, Portalatin said, both in the quality of the work the staff produces and the scores the department receives on the annual employee satisfaction surveys.

"We have leadership that monitors workloads, and we do a lot of auditing to make sure the staff is keeping up and not getting overwhelmed," she said.

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