Tampa General Hospital Named by Forbes as One of America’s Best Large Employers

The academic health system is recognized as one of the best large employers in America, reflecting excellence in team member satisfaction and a systemwide commitment to fostering a nurturing work environment.  

 

Tampa, FL (April 1, 2025) – Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been recognized as one of America’s Best Large Employers for 2025 by Forbes, marking the second consecutive year the academic health system has received this honor. This year, Tampa General is ranked as the top large health care and social services employer in Tampa Bay, and the third-best large employer in Florida. This underscores Tampa General’s commitment to creating a supportive and rewarding work environment for its growing team of approximately 15,000 team members and providers systemwide.

“We are proud to have Forbes recognize what our team at Tampa General has always known to be true, based on ongoing conversations with our team members, our exceptional engagement scores and retention rates, and our collective impact as an organization,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. “To be our region’s top large employer and one of the best in the nation is a testament to every team member who has taken our mission to heart, shared in our vision and helped co-create the future of our system. Because of them, we consistently raise the bar in the experience we offer to our team members, who, in turn, deliver unparalleled care to our patients while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement.”

Tampa General understands that team members are people first, which is why the organization remains committed to providing team members with a comprehensive support system that extends beyond the workplace. Tampa General offers a wide range of benefits and resources, including competitive compensation, benefits packages and schedule flexibility. This is accomplished by conducting an annual market review of all positions to maintain competitive pay and market alignment, regularly review and updates of job descriptions, and benefits surveys every other year to understand and adjust offerings based on the needs of team members. Some of those health program enhancements include adding access to Tava Health, a free and virtual mental health platform for team members, their spouses and dependent children (ages 13-25) and a partnership with Care.com to provide team members with 10 sessions per year of back-up care, at no charge, for their dependents when their regular caregivers are unavailable.

Additionally, the feedback from team members allowed Tampa General to evolve the Team Member Assistance Fund into the McNichols Team Member Assistance Program to provide team members with support for unexpected challenges. The program offers support for home repairs due to hurricane damage, gas cards, computers, school supplies and more. It has provided more than $2.5 million in financial assistance and resources for team members in need. A dedicated full-time team member with specialized expertise in support services now works to identify systemic issues and work with internal and external partners to identify long-term solutions.

Tampa General maintains a loop of open communication and feedback, ensuring every individual voice is heard and valued, allowing the feedback to extend to process improvement, enhancing both team member resilience and the patient experience. This includes yearly team member forums, regular surveys, direct communication channels with Couris, and dedicated listening sessions with executive leadership. Based on this feedback, the organization has forged innovative partnerships and implemented programs, including:

• Intelligent Locations, a real-time location services technology that enables tracking of all equipment using location tags, making it easier for team members to find the equipment they need. This technology was also implemented with the linen teams to identify elevator wait times, in turn reducing the morning wait times for teams delivering linen across the hospital.
• HIPAA-compliant, artificial intelligence (AI)-supported surgical coding that streamlines the processing of procedures from surgeons’ clinical notes, allowing surgical teams to focus on working at the top of their skillsets while improving operational efficiency.
• AI-enabled ambient listening solutions, which can securely capture a patient story, including details of symptoms, observations and experiences and automatically convert it into specialty-specific, clinical summaries in seconds, reducing administrative burden and making it possible for nurses and physicians to spend more time providing direct patient care

“Our commitment to establishing Tampa General as one of the nation’s premier workplaces is unyielding and, in that spirit, our work is never really done because there are always new opportunities to enhance the team member experience and attract world-class talent to our organization,” said Qualenta Kivett, executive vice president and chief people and talent officer at Tampa General. “We believe that by investing in our team members’ well-being and development – both personal and professional — and leading with authenticity and kindness, we are empowering them to excel in their careers and provide excellent patient care.”

As a result of focusing on the team member experience, Tampa General has focused on attracting and retaining top talent through diversified strategies, resulting in an 11% reduction in turnover over the past two years. Understanding that many team members join Tampa General to learn and develop, the health system continues to have a record number of promotions for open opportunities, which is accomplished by creating career pathways for team members to progress, diverse scholarship programs, tuition and skills reimbursement, and developing mentorship/preceptor programs for continued development of team members. Team members also have free access to the TGH-USF People Development Institute, which allows them to continue to develop skills from leadership and emotional intelligence to finance and cybersecurity. 

Tampa General’s people-first strategy cultivates an attractive culture for new hires to join, stay and grow. To ensure patients receive the best care possible, Tampa General equips team members with the state-of-the-art equipment, skills, abilities and support.

The Forbes America’s Best Employers list is based on an independent survey conducted among approximately 217,000 United States employees working for companies with at least 1,000 employees. The evaluation is based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees, family, friends and industry peers. The rankings are a respected benchmark of employer excellence, reflecting employee satisfaction, work environment and overall company reputation.

More information about the ranking and the full list of Forbes’ 2025 America's Best Employers can be found here.