San Diego, CA, April 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scripps Health today was recognized as one of the nation’s leading employers by Fortune magazine, earning a spot on the 29th annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Scripps made the list for the 18th time and is the top-ranked hospital or health care system nationally in 2026.
“Caring has been at the core of Scripps Health’s mission for over 100 years, and that applies to the way we treat both our patients and our people,” said Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “Our people are our greatest strength, so we continually explore ways to further improve their workplace experience. Making the Fortune list means a lot, because it reflects how our employees feel about working here.”
Scripps was ranked No. 26 overall in the latest edition of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Companies across various industries were evaluated using results from a confidential employee survey developed by Fortune partner Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture. Only companies with consistently high responses across 60 survey statements earn placement on the list.
According to the survey, 93% of Scripps employees say it is a great place to work, compared to 57% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company. Additionally, 95% of Scripps employees say they are proud to tell others where they work and 94% feel good about how Scripps Health contributes to the community.
Following are a few key programs that helped lead to Scripps’ inclusion on this year’s list.
Investing in staff development
Scripps invests approximately $16 million annually in various workforce development programs. Through its Center for Learning and Innovation, Scripps provides a wide range of classroom instruction and online courses, from clinical training to wellness education. It also offers scholarships and discounted tuition at partnering universities and colleges.
Also, Scripps has nine career transition programs that help employees learn new skills to advance their careers. These programs also create a pipeline for hard-to-fill roles, such as radiology technician, care manager and intensive care unit registered nurse. Employees can also take part in job shadowing to learn about different roles at Scripps to which they can potentially transfer.
Leadership training at Scripps includes the Front-Line Leader Academy, which helps Scripps supervisors cultivate open communication, empathy and authenticity to foster productive teams. And for managers and above, the Scripps Leadership Academy provides a forum for open dialogue with top executives for mentoring and skills development.
Workplace safety advancements
National statistics show that employees in health care are five times more likely than workers in other industries to experience workplace violence, often from patients and patients’ family or friends. To improve safety for employees, Van Gorder initiated the San Diego Hospital Workforce Violence Task Force, which brings together local health systems, law enforcement agencies and prosecutor’s offices for ongoing dialogues and problem-solving.
The task force has made an impact since its founding in mid-2023. The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office has prosecuted a combined 125 cases of hospital-related violence, providing justice to victims while also addressing the root causes of violence, often through court-ordered mental health and substance abuse treatment.
In addition to its leadership with the regional task force, Scripps has made several safety improvements at its own facilities. These include enhanced employee training to avoid injuries and de-escalate potentially violent situations; integrating hospital security more closely into patient care teams; and using artificial intelligence with its video surveillance cameras to identify and respond to suspicious activity. These and other efforts have led to a 21% reduction in workplace violence injuries at Scripps’ hospitals since mid-2023.
Support in personal crises
To provide customized support to employees in times of personal crises, Scripps created a special Work-Life Services program. It offers a customized approach to help the whole individual, even away from the job, depending on each employee’s unique needs. Efforts have included helping a son arrange for a veteran’s burial for his father; assisting with childcare resources; and offering help with completing disability paperwork.
Scripps’ Work-Life Services program also manages the Helping Our Peers in Emergencies (HOPE) fund, which is made possible by employee donations of paid time off (PTO) and financial assistance to employees in need. The gift of donated PTO not only helps Scripps employees with income, but also keeps their benefits active while on leave of absence. Last year, Scripps employees donated approximately 1,800 hours of PTO to 24 employees and over $85,000 in financial assistance to 46 people.
Front-line improvements
Scripps empowers its employees to develop new ideas to improve patient care and operational efficiencies. For example, it created a customized lean management approach called Value by Design to give front-line staff the power to call out challenges, as well as the tools and skills to implement solutions. This approach has evolved into the Scripps Management System, which uses a standardized method for employees to identify opportunities to deliver health care services more effectively.
It also implemented a Model Care approach to help employees rethink how they provide care from the patient’s point of view. This brings together a multidisciplinary team of providers, who interview patients and families, review patient satisfaction scores and partner with colleagues whose work impacts the patient experience. This approach has led to improvements such as nurses spending more time with patients, lower noise levels in patient care areas and better readiness for patients’ discharge from the hospital.
Scripps has also introduced Sprint Teams, which include front-line representatives from each of Scripps’ five hospital campuses. These teams focus on a single problem and work collaboratively to implement changes within a year. Sprint Teams have fostered significant reductions in patient falls, infection rates and readmission rates at Scripps facilities.
According to Scripps’ most recent employee engagement survey, Scripps ranked in the 88th percentile (or top 12%) for having adequate staffing, when benchmarked against health care organizations nationwide. It also ranked in the 84th percentile (or top 16%) nationally for providing fair pay and in the 82nd percentile (or top 18%) for equipping staff with the necessary tools and resources. A growing number of workers are choosing to stay at Scripps instead of leaving on their own for other opportunities, as Scripps’ voluntary employee retention rate rose from 89% to 92% in the past year.
To be considered for the Fortune list, companies must have more than 1,000 U.S. employees and be certified by Great Place to Work. This year’s list is based on survey results from more than 1.3 million employees nationwide. Organizations are assessed on their efforts to create a great employee experience that cuts across job level, business unit, demographic group or geographic location. The list includes companies from various industries, such as retail, manufacturing, financial services, health care, real estate, information technology, hospitality, transportation and others.
ABOUT SCRIPPS HEALTH
Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a nonprofit integrated health care delivery system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats more than 600,000 patients annually through the dedication of more than 3,500 affiliated physicians and nearly 18,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, more than 70 outpatient and specialty locations, and hundreds of affiliated physician offices throughout the region.
Recognized as a leader in disease and injury prevention, diagnosis and treatment, Scripps is also at the forefront of clinical research and is the only health system in the region with two level 1 trauma centers. With highly respected graduate medical education programs at all five hospital campuses, Scripps is a longstanding member of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Scripps has been ranked seven times as one of the nation’s best health care systems by Premier. Its hospitals are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the nation’s best, and Scripps is recognized by the Advisory Board, Fortune and Working Mother magazine as one of the best places in the nation to work. More information can be found at www.scripps.org.
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Steve Carpowich Scripps Health 858-312-0328 carpowich.stephen@scrippshealth.org