After recently terminating some management-level positions, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital will reduce wages and salaries by 10% “across the board” to implement cost-control measures due to continued low numbers of hospital visits, according to officials.
The message was delivered to employees from hospital President and CEO Roger E. Seaver via a recent email, stating the change would become effective May 31. The memo also noted that Henry Mayo would continue the mandatory “flex-off,” or time off, of one day per week for those in leadership and management positions through May 30.
Seaver’s statement read:
“Beginning May 31, we will implement an ‘across the board’ wage/salary reduction of 10% of the hourly rate or base salary for all non-union staff including leadership. At the same time, all members of the executive leadership team, directors and managers will be required to flex-off one day per pay period. The 10% reduction in pay and one-day flex-off per pay period will continue until patient demand for our services achieves a financial break-even.”
Seaver added that there would be no overtime, registry, or per diems granted unless “acuity-based volumes drive the requirement.”
The decision was a “painful but necessary” one, according to Henry Mayo spokesman Patrick Moody in a statement Wednesday.
“As has been widely reported and as we have stated before, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on hospital revenue streams. As a result, we have had to focus on reducing our expenses and adjust staffing for the patient volumes we currently have and project into the future.”
The latest notice to employees comes after the hospital announced in late-April it would end 10 management-level positions and lay off additional staff members in May as a result of already low hospital visits that are projected to continue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
