Meaningful Work Grows A Happy Workforce

If you’re going to spend 40 hours a week doing anything, it should be meaningful. The average American worker spends a whopping 90,000 hours of life at work. It’s true – you don’t have to be a workaholic to spend 1/3 of your life on the clock.

Ben & Jerry’s famously coined the phrase: If it’s not fun, why do it? We agree, which is why we feel it’s important to weave joy and happiness into those 90,000 work hours. Benefits and perks are a great place to start, but to truly grow a happy workforce, employees need meaningful work to fuel engagement, grow a mission-driven culture, and retain talent.

In recognition of this approach, Marathon Health was recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work for the second year in a row. We’re thrilled to learn that 85 percent of our employees are happy at work, and these accolades provide an opportunity for us to pause and reflect on our core values and what makes our company tick.

Work With Purpose

“Marathon Health is on a mission to change the way that healthcare is delivered in this country.” – Dr. Michael Huang, M.D., physician at Marathon Health

At Marathon Health, we are in the business of creating health – one patient at a time. Our ambassadors provide personalized, holistic healthcare to over 300,000 lives. A recent survey of Marathon Health ambassadors shows 97 percent of our employees believe our work is meaningful and has value. Our people feel a sense of purpose and a clear connection to their work.

Values

“I chose Marathon Health because the company values align with my personal values. We’re living the mission, we’re present for our patients, and we’re growing a culture of wellness. I was looking for these values in healthcare and I’ve found them at Marathon Health – it’s pretty remarkable.” – Mary Meyer, RN, national director of health coaching, Marathon Health

At Marathon Heath, we’ve selected six core values – collectively called the Ambassador’s Code—which we believe are critical for each of us to excel at in our jobs and for us to thrive as a company. These values are so important that we expect all ambassadors commit to and embody these values at work on a daily basis. Our commitment to these six core values has a genuine influence over our work and relationships at Marathon Health.

Integrity: We are honest, sincere, and trustworthy.

Compassion: We sincerely care about others.

Respect: We recognize the dignity of every individual, and accept others without judgment.

Exceptional Service: We are a serving organization and we do what we say we are going to do.

Teamwork: We do whatever it takes.

Live the mission: We are passionate about inspiring others to live their best and healthiest lives.

Walk the Walk

“I practice what I preach. It is hard to encourage individuals to make healthy lifestyle changes when you haven’t made them yourself.” – Feedback from Marathon Health ambassador survey

As a healthcare company, our duty is to support our ambassadors who in turn support our patients. We listen to ambassador voices throughout the year using “pulse surveys” related to job satisfaction and the ability to do our best work. Pulse surveys help us all learn how to collaborate and achieve more together. Recently, these surveys revealed a collective interest in wanting to “walk the walk” by living the Marathon Health values with us and at home. To support this effort, we give all of our ambassadors the tools and opportunity to inspire healthier lives. We extend our health promotion programming from the health centers to our own ambassadors with programs like 5K training, individual step challenges, and preventive health screenings and risk assessments. By walking the walk and living a healthy lifestyle, our ambassadors feel a deeper connection to our customers and their employees and in turn provide supportive, patient-centered care.

“I believe that if we are strong enough to help make a difference, then it is our responsibility to do so. We may not change the whole world, but if we save one person or improve one life, that change can and will cascade into something bigger, and ultimately, better.” – Jerry Ford, CEO, Marathon Health

A recent study shows that “meaningful work, in which employees understand the value of the work they do and the organization’s shared mission, was identified as the single largest contributor to a positive employee experience.” In that spirit, we believe popular perks and benefits have their place, but developing a stronger, deeper connection to our work will create a happier, more productive workforce. As an employer to a nationwide network of healthcare professionals, we’re in a position to do just that.