November 21, 2009

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Best Places To Work 2007

We tallied the scores for 55 different 417-land companies and found 12 that earned points heads and tails above the rest. They are the Best Places to Work in 417-land, and what they have to offer might surprise you.

(page 9 of 14)

Photo Edward Biamonte

McKesson Corporation

Second place, 101 to 250 employees
304 points

The Techno Literati

The obvious answer to “What’s interesting about McKesson?” is that it’s a company on the cutting edge of medical technology both here in Springfield and throughout the country. The less obvious answer, though, is that these folks are gung ho about community involvement and offer some awesomely unexpected benefits to all its employees.

Extended Care Solutions Group is the local leg of McKesson Corporation, and it is part of McKesson Provider Technology. For the Springfield employees, that means the local office builds management information systems for home health care and Hospice. Chris Dollar, vice president and general manager of the Springfield office, has been with the company for 13 years and says McKesson’s systems automate payroll, general ledger and other office tasks for those two markets, as well as provide portable technology (PDAs, tablet computers) that nurses and therapists can take to the site. They can enter a patient’s chart information into a PDA, for example, and it will sync up with the computers at the home office.

McKesson prides itself on employee-management communication and the advances it can lead to. “Certainly describing it as open-door doesn’t give it enough credit,” Dollar says. “When you look at companies that are really innovative, the great ideas come from the employees, especially in a technology business where innovation keeps you on the leading edge. It’s the creativity and innovative minds that we have inside the business that made us as successful as we are.” Quarterly “town hall” meetings where all 200-plus employees brainstorm how to make the company better are just one of the ways McKesson actively seeks out that input from its large staff.

Using the resources of the larger corporation but also taking into account the needs of local employees, McKesson is able to offer a few less-common perks. Haller says the company has an adoption assistance program that helps out with up to $2,000 of the adoption costs per adoption. She says someone adopted twins, and the program applied to each child. McKesson also offers domestic partner insurance coverage, for example. “You don’t see that very often,” Haller says, and she adds that the company tries to be competitive with benefits not just locally, but nationally.

Employee wellness is at the forefront of priorities as well, and Haller says the company tries to be more proactive than reactive in keeping people healthy. Employees can get a $200 discount on healthcare premiums if they fill out an online health assessment, which is supplemented by a health screening. They get even more money toward their premiums, she says, if they sign up for programs, such as smoking cessation, to high-risk areas that are discovered in assessment. Haller says that although the company doesn’t have an on-site exercise room, it does offer YMCA discounts and showers at the office. “We have one employee who bikes to work every day,” she says. “He does about 50 miles a week.”

Volunteerism and giving back to the community is something Haller stresses as one of the company’s bragging points. Besides fundraisers, an organized community-involvement day and a $25,000 regional grant that the company gives away each year, there is also the Angel Points Program. If employees volunteer for a certain number of hours and accumulate a certain number of points, the company will make a $250 donation to the charitable group.

“Employees are proud of fact that we’re involved in the community,” Haller says. “Especially McKesson Community Days. The company pays for their day to go out in the community. They can feel good about what they are doing and interact with fellow employees on a different level outside of the office.” Also, Haller adds, employees can see exactly where the $250 donations are going because they pick the charities.

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