registered nurse

medical assistant

cook

social worker

registered nurse - icu

Henry Ford Health

My review is very mixed. While HF is a large healthsystem it wouild make sense that different departments, facitilies would garner different experiences for employees. Here is mine. I worked for HF Main and Wyandotte in the transcription department. HF does NOT value skilled transcriptionist. They see them as obsolete and an mere typists that anyone of the street could do their jobs. This is sad and no further from the truth. MTs are highly skilled and educated on medical records, but also on grammar/punction, and the Enlgish language. HF does not value the intergrity of the medical document - but only the bottom line dollar of transcription costs. They outsourced to OVERSEAS (Indian) companies in the early 2000s. These vendors were given over 100 American transcriptionist jobs. We received a 90-day "warning" our employment was terminating with an offer of a "job fair: which consisted of the new vendor (ie overseas companies) that would interview us. They offered us peicemeal rates (cents per line typed) and minimal if any benefits. Some of these MTs had upwards of 20 years experience and full-benefits with HF. I came back to HF at Wyandotte and later their transcription dept was outsourced in the same manner. I returned to the smaller transcription contracting which was the dept that managed the vendors. Enter Epic. HF had the option to give dictators full dication but they chose "partial" dictation which only gave providers the option to dictate in increments. I left the department sensing it would be once again closed down upon full Epic implementation.

Part of the plight of transcription is simply advancement in technology, but HF has a history of treating administraive and clerical people poorly and giving these people little respect and pay. The compensation for admn is literally dollars per hour less than other area hospitals. You can see a secretarial position at Trinity Health posted 16.00 per hour but HF will play only 11 or 12 per hour for the same position. There are no raises - so what you hire in is what you will be geting for several YEARS. HF gave no rasies for 3 years, then a smaller raise, and again no raise this year. Yet, the employee cost of healthcare benefits have risen every year and with changes in tax laws this year I am literally making less than I did the previous year.

Clnical staff may not have the same experience but overall if you are admin or office type worker - HF is a good place to start a career, gain some experience, and then move on. They do not value clerical staff and pay scales reflect that reality as well as outsourcing and layoffs.

They also started a no-tolerance policy as far as transferring if you do not have a 1 yr in at the current position. While it's understood this was done to stop job hoppers there is no wiggle room or exceptions made ever. Even if the person is being harrassed or the job/culture is an ill fit or if there job opportunities which would be a several paygrade promotion they will lock you into your present position for 1 yr. HR is TERRIBLE to deal with. Very rude and unhelpful.

Mgmt depends on the department. Stay away from HHC. Gossiping, backbiting, unprofessional behavior by employees and management alike.

Management is laughable.  Supervisors are in roles many should not be in.  There is a lot of favoritism by management.  Those who are favored get less work.  It's that simple.

Unbalanced workloads.  The lazy workers seem to be highly favored by management and those who work hard get even more work placed upon them.  Lazy workers may also make more money than the harder workers.  When those who have high workloads complain, nothing gets done.  In fact, many complaints never get addressed by management and it seems like they simply brush it off, hoping employees forget about it or give up trying.

Corporate is absent.  They know absolutely nothing about what goes on in Jackson.  This hospital is treated like the red-headed stepchild (no offense to red-headed stepchildren).  However, corporate is very happy to cut the workforce, eliminate additional hiring, increase workload, and cut benefits.  The worse thing to happen to this hospital is the HF buyout.

Raises.  You don't get raises.  There is no such thing as merit-based raises at HF.  What you do get is a cost of living increase of 3%.  If you make less money, you get less of an increase (basic math).  So, that increase may be absorbed by the health insurance (and other insurances) cost increase.  In essence, you may make less money and have to work harder.

There is no incentive to be a great employee.  Between dealing with poor management, getting no raises, dealing with lazy workers, dealing with poor benefits, there is zero incentive to do better as an employee.  If you start off as an excellent, hard worker, you will soon give up that work ethic.

Gossip and rumors.  Oh boy, watch out for those who feed on this.  I have witnessed many people quit because of people who love to spread rumors behind your back.  I have been on the receiving end of this myself.  Even management joined in on this.  And, when you speak to the director about this happening, nothing gets done.

HR.  HR is NOT there for you, they are there for the company.  They are NOT your friend and, in many cases, they will not help you.  I do recommend that if you are dealing with anything that is causing trouble for you, document everything and do not tell management that you're doing so.

The only good thing about this place is some of the coworkers and the work itself.  Take away all of the drama, favoritism, unbalanced workloads, and it would be a much better place at which to work.  

Management, such as it is in our department, ignores the continued abuse of HF's attendance policies, and fails to make appropriate provisions for help on busy days when there is only one employee in place to manage the workload. Although it was proposed that we ask for help in a pinch and on days when we're alone, in reality there is limited staff available and only when another dept can spare the help for a few minutes as we're all busy. 

When I hired in just 3 years ago, we were still considered adequately staffed after being cut down to two doctors, one FT, and two PT lab employees. We have been further downsized to two .5 employees who work on opposite days, with the limited help of one FT employee from another dept now sharing the same basic lab space. 

When there's a call in or someone leaves early, it leaves only one person to accomplish the workload. Because it's being done on a regular basis, the result is building resentments, rising tensions among co-workers, increased stress levels, and lower productivity rates. There seems to be a lack of consequences for the contributing actions, and the schedule is constantly manipulated and not adhered to even after being posted and agreed to. 

What's most distressing is despite the lack of enforcement of the rules, the patient still needs to be the center of all we do. Although we strive to do what's in the patients' best interest, it has become increasingly difficult under the circumstances; something has to give.  

On a positive note, our immediate supervisor has recently gotten involved with trying to rectify the scheduling dilemma, going above and beyond the call of duty to devise a permanent schedule we can all manage and agree to. Despite her efforts the posted schedule is still being challenged, and neither appreciated nor adhered to without consequence. The situation has become increasingly frustrating and very defeating.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Learning new things as a nurse assistant from a nurses point of view…it’s useful if you plan on furthering your career as a nurse. My years working there were the absolute best years of my work life! We were like a little family and my unit manager and assistant manager was amazing! Meeting new people and helping those in need was the highlight of my job. I would feel like a winner each time I had a patient that came in sick and walked out healthy. POD 2 was awesome until my managers moved on to better places and new managers came in. That’s ultimately when I made the decision to move on however I given the opportunity with the same people I would do it all over again and wouldn’t change a thing 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Honestly working in the ICU is a gift and a curse. You have to carry the weight for a lot of sick people but it takes mental strength to be strong even when you feel like being weak. You have to smile in the midst of your own pain. So that’s what makes it stressful…when you enter that door you can’t think personal anymore you have to put your personal thoughts aside to be there for others, it’s never a dull moment, constantly moving around and lots of noise from alarms. At times I would just ride home in silence. And lastly it’s kind of hard not to take some things home with you especially if it’s a patient that you’ve grown to love, but while it was stressful it was worth it 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great…I felt valuable to my team and I was treated with respect. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typically patient care across the board. Making sure they’re turned to prevent bed sores, and lots of clean up and I don’t mean cleaning the room, 12 pt floor to one aid can be a lot sometimes but my team was the best so teamwork wasn’t a problem.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was a great place to learn and train. In my field, everything is on the job and very hands on, and the more experience you have, the better you get. The OR sees the hardest and most complicated cases, so I learned a lot and gained exceptional skills there. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management will micromanage you and if you aren't one of their favorites (usually young, mostly white, nurses), you are a target, no matter how hard you work or what you do. The policies are too strict and don't take humanity into account. It's high stress and mediocre pay with benefits that cost a lot. Most of your coworkers are young nurses who just graduated and think they know everything, and have no concept of respect or humility. Chronically understaffed and overworked, on-call shifts are excessive and mandatory (nurses have fewer on-call shifts). And again, management is poor and plays favorites. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Terrible. Management plays favorites. They will treat you like a criminal if you make a single mistake, and will hover and micromanage you if they don't like you, regardless of how hard you work. I have an extremely strong work ethic and I didn't fit in with the crowd because I always spoke out against errors or problems I saw in the system. Management didn't take too kindly to me calling things out, so they would find every little thing they could to write me up for. I had anxiety over going to work every day because I didn't know if it would be the day they would arbitrarily choose to get rid of me. The job was destroying my mental health, not to mention my physical health. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful from the very first minute to the very end, which was usually later than I was scheduled because people were always late or calling off. We were always short-staffed and overworked.

A typical work day starts at 7 pm with four to six patients on our busy progressive care unit. Patient turnover is quick requiring continual teaching to clients about care expectations; and what can be expected from myself. Providing medications in a time frame coherent with patient requirements and medication administration records. Admission profiles and discharge teaching done proficiently. Crucial conversation course to deal with difficult conversations. I am able to adapt to change and appreciate the culture of the unit I work within. In my current position my co-workers have a close relationship, many working together for years. The relationship built provide a great teamwork environment. The hardest part of working as a nurse at the bedside is learning all about an individual in your care. It is necessary to provide the best care and understand the clients priorities. Along with providing them with appropriate information to make informed decisions. Although the hardest part of my job is being knowledgeable and aware of my clients needs, this is also the best part. Learning and knowing individuals and about their concerns and fears, knowing how to best help them to accomplish wellness is wonderful to see when what I do helps another benefit, and maybe the client can feel in control of their predicament. I enjoy being a caregiver, being a nurse provides me with the ability to communicate and build relationship with a variety of clients, other care providers, and different departmental staff. The corporation provides a wide range of learning opportunities which has increased my competencies to provide care with the best practice and research based care. It has been a great place of employment.

The Henry Ford Health System Police Authority Department is a P.A. 330 agency, meaning it's officers have arrest powers. It is basiclly a private police department, however, it is a police department that is run by security guards. The system under pays and no one in our departmemt can get a answer on how to get a raise, management says talk to the union they are the ones who negotiate the pay scale. The union claims management fights to keep the pay scale status quo. Management believes that everyone in the union is disgruntled and plays that card all the time. I like most of my co-workers and think most of the officers do a good job, there is a few knuckle heads but every place has those. Turnover here and through out the system is very high. The typical day involves running out the homeless people loitoring around the hospital and responding to basic security guard calls (alarms, unlock doors, jump start cars, etc...), and screening people in the ER. One day they want you to be  a security guard and the next they want you to be a police officer. For some bizare reason this is the only security/police department, that I know of, that has made dispatchers part of management, causing an us verses them mentality. Some of the dispatchers and supervisors try to mirco-manage officers while they are on calls. Management wont fix the patrol cars. On all of the older cars the main overhead emergency light (old MSP gumball) is burnt out, the light spins but the bulbs are burnt out, yet the cars are still inservice. The seats are torn and missing padding and officers are using bed sheets to fill the holes. 

I believe this place could be a good place to work but many things needs to change.

I enjoy my career at Henry Ford Hospital. A typical day would include, being assigned to an intensive care unit with approximately 5 to 10 ventilator patients and 3 to 5 non-ventilator patients. During my shift I check all ventilator settings, alarms, blood gases and x-rays for all patients and make necessary changes to ventilator settings or oxygen therapy. I give breathing treatments to those who have them ordered. I usually am assigned to place bipap/cpap devices on 3-5 patients on the floors. It is not uncommon for me to hold the ER phone as well and when called, I assist with intubations and then the transfer of those patients to CT, MRI and then up to their unit. During my time at Henry Ford, I have learned many things including how to assist with bronchoscopies, perform EDM's, draw and run blood gases, perform cough assist, vital capacity and Negative inspiratory force maneuvers and how to multi-task in general. Good organizational skills and time management is important being that we are continually short staffed. The Management team continues to work hard to meet the needs of the employees. They continue to have workshops to improve our skills and education and they also allowed us to have some input on scheduling. My co-workers are true team players. They are always only a phone call away when needed. The hardest part of my job is the hours (7pm-7:30am). The most enjoyable part of my job is the people that I work with. I enjoy being apart of a team that respects my opinions and suggestions when dealing with difficult situations.

I have been an employee with Henry Ford Health System since 2003. I was an Emergency Room Technician for 10 ½ years at HF Wyandotte Hospital, while studying Mortuary Science, completing my apprenticeship in 2005. I graduated with honors, receiving my Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration from Baker College. I transitioned to HF Main obtaining a position in the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Department as a Human Resource Advocate for residents and fellows in sixteen different professional programs. My human resource function for each resident and fellow included: coordination of benefits, salary distribution, promotions, leave of absence (LOA) and terminations. I was also responsible for submitting and reviewing license applications to the State of Michigan, Audited Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) for physician licensures and initiated all Visa processes through the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). I also had the opportunity to be the administrator for the Schwartz Center Rounds. I then advanced my career by moving to the Corporate Office, One Ford Place as the Office Coordinator/Assistant Marketing Manager for Henry Ford ENHANCE, EAP. I was responsible for creating and managing the design of the department website, Wellness Symposium, Standard Operating Procedure Manual (SOP) and Office Coordinator desk top manual.  I was also responsible for running, distributing, collecting and monitoring all monthly, quarterly, annually reports. I had many other duties including coordinating referrals, database management, and billing. I maintain an updated CPR certification and I am certified notary.

Typical day at work is having 4-6pts to care for on a critical care unit, the environment and co-workers are great. Management is pretty laid back as long as you're doing what you are supposed to do, that was a plus. Hardest part of the job was having too many patients, not enough staff (typical these days, but unsafe at times and you may get a 15-30 min break the entire 12hr shift). Nurses have to do a LOT of nurse aid duties, because the aid staff there is not only understaffed, but the aides seem to think their only duty is to get vital signs, very few aids go above doing vital signs. Not a lot of mandatory overtime going on, which is a plus. The pay was low even though they just got a "raise". The union does nothing to retain new employees. All perks go to existing employees. New employees are switched off home unit as often as every 4hrs of the shift (never seen this at any other hospital). Union is also expensive, $1/hr of your already subpar pay is straight to the union., and patient ratios are still unsafe at times. The only thing the union does for anyone at this place is allow excessive call ins without getting fired. The schedule for part time is ridiculous, you only work 2 days less than a full time employee and work every Fri, plus every other Fri, Sat, and Sun- leads to quick burn out.  Insurance was better with Ascension, Henry Ford pays a little higher wage, but is taking it ALL back  in the expensive insurance that covers nothing until you meet a high deductible. Overall, there are much better choices in working elsewhere. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 38 salaries reported	$42.67 per hour
Medical assistant 13 salaries reported	$20.28 per hour
Cook 3 salaries reported	$17.11 per hour
Social worker 5 salaries reported	$33.03 per hour
Registered nurse - icu 2 salaries reported	$38.80 per hour

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