Lodi hospital to transfer jobs of 86 workers
More than 80 workers at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Hospital will no longer be employees of the nonprofit hospital come March 7.
On that date, 86 employees in the hospital’s security and linen services divisions will be contracted out to companies that will provide services on site, the Roseville-based Adventist Health said Tuesday.
The Lodi employees are part of the 649 workers statewide that will be removed from Adventist Health’s employment rolls at 13 facilities.
Adventist Health notified the California Employment Development Department that it would transfer the positions to contractors that would provide those services.
Christine Pickering, a spokesperson for Adventist Health, said the employees will not be losing their jobs and will remain employed at the organization’s facilities.
“This notification is simply a business alignment as Adventist Health transitions all security services to Allied Universal; environmental services to Crothall Healthcare and Sodexo; and facility services to JLL to improve quality and service outcomes to better serve our patients and communities,” she said.
Every employee was offered a position with the corresponding contractor with competitive benefits and salaries, she said.
“Security, environmental and facility services are moving to a new single operating model to improve quality and service outcomes through the establishment of standardized training programs, service line subject management experts and industry-leading employee programs focused on quality patient care delivery and staff safety,” Pickering said. “Transferring these services to new partners will make operations more efficient and will position us to better serve our patients and make care more affordable.”
The move will improve quality and service outcomes because the employees would receive standardized training and report to subject management experts under the contractors, she said.
In addition to the 86 workers in Lodi being transferred, 80 Adventist Health employees in Marysville will also be contracted out. Eight employees in Chico and 21 in Yuba City will also be affected.
Nearly 240 employees in the Fresno area will also be affected, including 150 at facilities in Hanford, 45 at Adventist Health’s Tulare hospital, and 44 in Reedley.
Pickering said the differences in numbers at each site were different because each hospital has a different amount of staff. In some hospitals, she said, environmental services employees were already employed by Crothall or Sodexo, and will not need to transition into a new employer.
The announcement of the transfer comes just a month after Adventist Health officially took over management of Dameron Hospital in Stockton.
Officials at Dameron said Adventist Health was chosen to manage the 202-bed facility because of its commitment to the community. Dameron officials also said the merger would not affect operations at Lodi Memorial Hospital.