Purpose-Driven Employees are Transforming the U.S. Healthcare System
September 3rd, 2024 | 2 min. read
Unified by a shared mission, employees grow a workplace culture that achieves significant business growth.
We’re in the business of providing healthcare at the workplace, and taking care of people across the U.S. Before we care for our patients at our customers’ worksites, we take care of our people – our Marathon Health ambassadors. Spread across the country, our 550 ambassadors count on us to support them in achieving our collective goal of transforming healthcare and improving lives. Unapologetically, we put our ambassadors first.
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” – Simon Sinek
It’s a simple idea, but in practice requires structure, intention, and commitment. We’ve developed an organization that fosters our collective success – and it works. Just last week, we retained our top spot and ranked 4th on Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work. The program recognizes exceptional employers in the healthcare industry by conducting an extensive employee survey. We’re thrilled as these accolades create a wonderful opportunity for employers like us to share our experiences building a workforce that grows great people.
We are proud to have grown a positive workplace culture that supports our business goals. At Marathon Health, we nurture our ambassadors’ natural strengths allowing them to do their best, purpose-driven work. Our company initiative, Marathon Nation, highlights our four tenants to success:
1. Ambassador’s Code
We hold six core values dear—collectively called the Ambassador’s Code—which we believe are critical for each of us to excel in our jobs and for us to thrive as a company.
2. Ambassador Well-Being
This program educates, supports, and inspires our ambassadors to lead healthy, rewarding lives. Simply put, we want our people to walk the walk to be their best and healthiest.
3. Ambassadors Together
This community-giving and volunteering program inspires us to give back to the health and well-being of our communities. In addition to regular community service events, we recognize ambassadors regularly who embody the mission of this program.
4. Ambassador University
We want our ambassadors to develop their own career paths here at Marathon Health. To support them, we help them expand their skills and grow their influence. Our career pathways programs use continual feedback, educational resources, and career-level mapping.
These four programs allow us to connect, and thrive, as Marathon Nation. It’s important that our dispersed workforce feels connected and sees how their work supports our larger mission. Appreciation and pride are contagious, and we aim to spread them across our health centers. We believe happy ambassadors deliver the best care thereby growing happy customers.
“Marathon Health’s philosophy stands out; their philosophy is to coach individuals into better health. It really does seem to be different from other companies’ goals. It is a very inspiring philosophy, and it seems to be connected to the idea of building relationships. Their philosophy has nothing to do with how many people we can get through the door or how quickly they can see patients. It has nothing to do with billing, with claims, or with the number of people we can charge. Marathon Health’s philosophy truly does seem to be about building relationships. Long-term relationships help to keep people from going back and doing whatever unhealthy things they were doing before. Those relationships can have a big impact on sustaining behavioral change.” – Selected commentary collected about Marathon Health in the 2018 KLAS Worksite Health Services Report*
Achieving a workforce culture that supports your mission and drives company performance requires thoughtful and intentional planning. Our four tenants are our roadmap to building a positive, productive, and high-achieving workforce unified by mission. Where will your roadmap take you?
*KLAS is a healthcare-focused research firm. Visit www.klasresearch.com for a complete view. Marathon Health is included in the report as a national-focused firm and was rated a high performer among worksite healthcare providers.