registered nurse

nurse technician

screener

ct technologist

secretary

Freeman Health System

I've worked for Freeman for ten years. There is job security in working for Freeman because people will always need healthcare. Though Freeman is a non-profit organization, it is still a business, and their main focus is revenue. I've worked in different departments and different areas. Some areas were much better than others. Some departments have excellent training programs, while other departments have no training program whatsoever. Like most employers, there are those among the managers who play favorites and those who don't. There are managers who will work with you on your schedule and others who won't. The attendance policy tends to be very strick for the non-clinical side. For a hospital (which specifically states that sick employees should stay home) they are highly unforgiving of absences due to illness, where non-clinical staff are concerned. Even with a doctor's note excusing the employee from the days missed, the employee will still get an "occurrence." After 3 occurrences in a 12 week period, they will get a write up. After 3 write ups in a 6-12 month period, they will be fired. Having FMLA does not prevent you from getting occurrences for absences related to your FMLA, even though the FMLA is supposed to protect you. They offer PTO, but no sick days or vacation days. After five years with Freeman, full-time employees will be eligible for a "longevity check." Which is $50 for each year you have worked for Freeman. Insurance benefits are active and eligible for use upon first day at work. In some departments, PTO requests have to be in a full month in advance, or they will be denied, unless the supervisor gives special permission for the request. If you have a doctor's appointment and someone else put in a PTO request for the same day, before you did, you will be required to reschedule your appointment because your PTO request will be denied. Employees have an evaluation every year. For each category you can get 1-5 stars. Usually, the highest grade a person can get is 3 stars, which is "meets expectations." I have been told by several supervisors that the HR department has told all of Freeman leadership not to give anyone the full 5 stars. I believe this is true, since out of the hundreds of people I have worked with, not one of them has ever gotten a full 5 stars. I have also noticed that supervisors are unwilling to admit when they are wrong, no matter the situation. Sometimes, going so far as to find some small way to retaliate against the subordinate who noticed the supervisor was wrong. Some supervisors also seem to find it extremely difficult to say "job well done" to any subordinate, instead preferring to keep reminding the subordinate of any mistakes they have made, no matter how small the mistake was. All in all, it's a good place to work, and probably has more perks than most other businesses.

I started around spetember, orientation at first glance was nice. It wasn't the usual sitting at a desk doing computer work. It wasn't untill all upper management came in and introduced themselves. The ceo and a majority of uppermanement had been there for two weeks. I should have taken that as my first red flag. The second was when they informed all of us a 22 min lunch was accepted and kept pushing if its busy we should take a 22 min lunch to get back and help out....like really. 

I had little to no communication with my manager on my first day of hire. I dont even know if she was working that day. I got thrown into the deep end and honestly the work wasn't that difficult but it was very clear they left some things out in my interview. I was informed we would deliver trays and serve patients and take time to help assist them and build connections. All that sounded nice. I start and I had no time to do any of that, we were so busy a majority of the time I had to drop the food and run. 

We were also told that we would help out other departments from time to time. Not that we would go from picking up trays to scraping plates for the dish washers to jumping right back into service which if you ask me sounds unsanitary. Specially since we are handling soiled trays from isolation rooms and then switching back to delivering food for patients. 

If you work a 4.5 hr night shift you dont really have time to take a 10, they dont openly express  that you need to keep working but if you return from dropping food off they push you back out the door to pick it all up. And to top it all off most of the time you left well past your scheduled time. 

I never received any formal training, no videos on food handling or temp controls, nothing about how trays should appear. I had no official training classes on my job assigned to me and even if I did I wouldnt have had the time to complete them anyways. 

I was told that if you had a fever or was vomiting or had covid symtoms that I was not allowed to come into to work. But was just let go for calling out for those reason and was told by HR that basically I was just supposed to come in no matter what. Its no wonder that entire floors were under isolation.

I have also experienced several times getting suck in the tower elevator or having it drop several floors while I was in it. I informed management and nothing was done about. There are several things wrong with this place on a management level and honestly would advise any family members from going here for treatment which honestly sucks. Since the employees working there were some of the best I've ever worked with everyone was so nice and will be the one thing I miss from this place. 

Before you decide to work for Freeman, you should know that Drs notes and getting sent home count against you. You should know that if you punch in or out for lunch late or early, (even though you have to provide patient care during lunch) it counts against you. Yes, there are ways around it. You need to let the management know why you punched in/out, early/late but if you're new to working at a hospital they should give you a break. If you're punched out on lunch break and a patient calls you to go to the bathroom, you had better get your butt up and go provide patient care or you get in trouble. Yes, you have to clock back in, but if you fail to whip out your personal phone and type in Kronos why you punched out early, (or forget to because this job is a lot to take in when you've never worked for a hospital before) you're in trouble. You are not to miss more than 3 days in a 12 week period. But they failed to tell me that drs notes (FROM THEIR OWN PHYSICIANS) dont count unless you get admitted to the hospital. They handed me a packet of attendance information. It's about 4 pages long, easy to read thoroughly. No where in the entire packet does it state that Drs notes or getting sent home counts as an "occurence". In fact, it says that if you call in for the flu one day, and the next day you cant complete your shift for the SAME REASON YOU CALLED IN, it's an "occurrence". Drs notes are only mentioned on page 2 where it explains that you are required to have a physician's note if you miss 3 or more shifts in a row. It also states that if you call in and you go to the emergency room or ANY REASON, PERSONAL OR FAMILY PURPOSES, that your manager will count that day NOT as an occurence because it's an emergency. It does not state that it has to be a certain kind of emergency like I was told. I had a drs note for a couple of days from THEIR emergency room and for some reason my manager didnt count that as an emergency when I CLEARLY couldn't work. Their own doctor gave me a NOTE. I'm so beyond sickened for the way I've been treated as their employee. In fact, when you go through orientation, they make you think it's all about you. Oh how they love their employees and that they would do anything for you. They put you above the patients for better patient care. What's a load of BULL. It's also sad how you're a brand new employee, never worked at a hospital before and they fail to warn you when you've come close to termination with these "occurences". If I had known that getting sent home from the charge nurse and that drs notes counted against you, I would've never worked there in the first place. Now I believe people when they say that Mercy is better. Because it is.

I am an RN, worked in an acute care area. Most of the time we got lunch, rarely ever any other breaks. My hiring process was very unorganized and poorly handled. You have to go to Occumed for a physical test like moving patients, beds, etc. This was a joke: the bed I had to push was broken and about 30 years old. In a real hospital setting, we wouldn't even be using this piece of garbage. I could barely move it and you push it around in a big circle. The gurney they had me use to simulate moving a 200 lb patient to and from a wheelchair did not lock; I pointed this out and noted that I would refuse to move a patient with equipment like this; the staff at Occumed did not care and made me do it and I hurt my back. But I didn't tell them because I was afraid of not getting the job which I really needed. The overall impression I got was if you were of a certain age, you won't get hired because alot of older people would not get through this testing.
My orientation started out iffy but got much better when I was placed with a different person orienting me. But I felt at times that I just couldn't get enough time with her as we worked many opposing shifts, or she had meetings, etc. Frequently just winged it alone; I would ask other staff members if I had questions, but there were times when I felt very overwhelmed. 
My supervisor was very good, but it was REALLY hard to get with her when I needed to.
As a nurse, it could be better and prob will be. BUT... The hospital and Joplin overall has very low wages for nurses; the wage I started at is what I made 10 years ago. Experience should account for something and I am being paid the same as new grads. Freeman does offer extra income if you do alot of extra stuff on the side, they call it the TAPP program. Really, I have a life away from work and feel I should be paid a reasonable wage as an RN and not have to come to meetings on my day off or do volunteer work, etc to make a living. Joplin nursing homes actually pay more than the hospitals but if you want to keep up your skills you need to work in hospitals so it's a catch 22.
There does seem to be cronyism here; some staff members get away with things that other staff get in trouble for. One nurse is a relative of one of the surgeons and she can do no wrong, when she is there; she calls in frequently.

Freeman does pay well, but you have to put up with a lot of stuff. There is a lot of back and forth in management/supervisors. I was fortunate to have gotten hired at a really good clinic, but because we were so good, a LOT of pressure was put on us to pick up the slack for every other office that wanted to just piddle around and not do anything. We would be asked by the supervisors to let the supervisors know what the other offices were doing that didn't meet the basic requirements (since it was becoming an issue for patients), but then were in trouble when we actually let them know.... We were asked to go above and beyond, while other offices were allowed to not actually work and we were made to pick up their slack. HR would mess up my pay a lot and that made it hard to have financial security at times. Good pay made it hard to leave, but when I decided that a pay cut was worth the release of stress, it was fine. I didn't get paid enough to work for our office and pick up the slack from the other offices. PTO/Sick time policies absolutely suck and are disgraceful for people who are on the front lines in the health industry and work their butts off. You aren't allowed to use your sick time unless you have drained your PTO AND are hospitalized for a certain amount of time.... seriously!!?? Your PTO is your Holiday Pay and your sick time in a sense, and they don't give you enough to cover all of that. 

Freeman recently has made min. wage $15/hr. Benefits are great, but bc of this raise ppl are leaving, and then instead of leadership taking on these roles, they add them to us. If you want to be exuasted, micromanaged, held accountable for others downfalls, then this is for you. Meanwhile fast food pays $15/hr without all the hassle. I personally love Freeman, but I am definitely in the wrong role here. I dread everyday. Multiple mental breakdowns in the bathroom daily. And the schedule...if your 3 minutes late from your scheduled time....write up. It a 3rd of a point on you only get 3 points and your out. Miss a day cause your kid is sick?? 1 point take off early for the day cause you ate something bad for lunch? 3rd of a point! If anything makes you miss your scheduled time to work you get pointed. It adds up quick. Then if you get written up that voids any new positions, promotions, or opportunities in the company. I'm trying to get out, trust me, or at least make it the one year mark with no write ups so I can move in the company to a different position.

I love my job here at Freeman. I work with kind and fun people and I have learned a lot through my job here. I like the benefits and the ability to make up time when I have appointments. 

My only qualm with my job would be with management. There have been a number of occasions where I have learned something new going on for my job through coworkers first. That doesn't seem right nor professional with me.  I also feel I've been had with them. Earlier in the year, at my evaluation, I was told that they were eager to get me training in other positions within my department so that when I'm ready to move up, I'd know which position I'd prefer. The next day or so I saw a position that I was interested in and applied only to get called into the office and told that they wanted me to learn other jobs. So I withdrew from that job and waited for the training opportunities they had for me. That was about 7 months ago and I've only learned one other position. 

I really enjoy my job here but I know I cannot advance with it.

I was very happy with my job itself, my coworkers and the patients. I worked 3 days a week in the telephone triage, in the outpatient cancer institute.  I worked 2 days a week in the chemo/treatment room. I enjoyed the change, and the challenge of telephone triage.  I worked very well my co workers, actually went all over the building to help out when needed. I would frequently get pulled to go help if one of the Dr's nurses was off, of if they needed help in the non chemo infusion area. I also enjoyed that aspect of it. I enjoyed the relationships that developed between my co workers and myself. Love the patient interactions, ability to really teach them about their disease process and the s/e that they could expect from their chemo. 
My only issue is the one that lead to my leaving.  I was told several times that I would be compensated for my OCN at $1.00 per hr. After I took the OCN and passed, the company decided that they would not honor that. That is why I left.

Given the fact that a hospital is open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, the ability to cater to an employees personal life is dependent upon the employee being able to communicate with management.  When working in an area that was always open, the appreciation of a job well done was rarely expressed.  The supervisor sets the tone of the area.  A bad attitude should not be tolerated.  My current area includes some of the best co-workers I have ever had the honor to meet.  Everyone is always willing to help others and they show appreciation.  The most disheartening part of the job is that the quality of the job being done seems to have taken a back seat to getting things done fast and passing the responsibility on to someone else.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Provide employees with a good benefit package

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
“Non-profit” that is completely money driven! Everything is about money. Every decision is driven by profit and loss, no matter if it’s good or bad for the employees or patients. Ridiculous workload- will ride you until you break or leave.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Culture is very negative. They preach the “freeman family” yet treat you like you are just an employee id. They are great at convincing applicants and new hires how it’s about patient centered care, but it’s about profits and being flashy with all of the ridiculous billboards in the area.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Beyond stressful! Understaffed, overworked. If you are good at your job, you will get 12 other employee’s duties too

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 4 salaries reported	$36.25 per hour
Nurse technician 3 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Screener 10 salaries reported	$31.50 per hour
Ct technologist 2 salaries reported	$33.50 per hour
Secretary 2 salaries reported	$17.98 per hour

Working at Freeman Health System: Company Overview and Reviews

Freeman Health System

Freeman Health System Ratings

Popular jobs at Freeman Health System

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected