I can’t get that old Springsteen song “My Hometown” out of my head: “Foreman says these jobs are going, boys, and they ain’t coming back….” That was a hit back in the early ’80s, when auto, rubber and steel factories started closing in the Midwest.
Looking back from the ditch we’re stuck in today, you can see that economic steamroller of devastation flattening industries and states.
Despite a few bubbles here and there, people keep losing their houses and their jobs, and let’s face it—they ain’t coming back anytime soon. Since 2000, the median income for ordinary Americans dropped by $2,197 per year. Most of us who are working feel fortunate to have any job at all. Those of us who have meaningful jobs—like keeping people healthy and caring for them when they are sick—we’re really lucky.
At Kaiser Permanente, we’ve got more than good fortune on our side. Not only do we have good jobs, with industry-leading wages and benefits, but we’ve got a strategy to make them great: We take value creation to heart.
That’s the point of the Value Compass—creating value.
As we work in our unit-based teams to improve service, quality and affordability and create the best place to work, we create more value for our members and patients, which will protect and improve our good jobs.
The Value Compass is not an initiative, a symbol or a checklist. It’s a shared vision.
It reminds us the sum of team collaboration produces value greater than our individual efforts alone. It reminds us how important our contributions are—and why we work so hard at improvement. It acknowledges that work has meaning not just for the “leaders” but for everyone.
