Avera Health is boosting its minimum wage to $17 per hour, part of a $50 million investment in employee recruitment and retention, the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based health system said Oct. 6.
The investment also includes:
- Appreciation gifts
- Pay increases of at least $2 per hour for current employees
- On-call pay increases
- Cost reductions in select tiers for health insurance, and no premium increases for health and dental insurance
- $1,000 payments to employees for referring someone outside of Avera
- Immediate 40 hours of paid-time off for new hires
- An employee discount program
"Avera has a long history of attracting talented and dedicated people in a wide range of roles: from physicians, nurses and front-line caregivers, to housekeepers and food service workers, to marketing, IT, finance, HR professionals, and more," said Kim Jensen, chief human resources officer for Avera. "Like never before, we want to recruit great employees and retain the great employees we already have."