Throughout the pandemic, our nation's great healthcare companies never failed to shut up about their workers being heroes. But, as we saw locally during Striketober, those rhetorical kudos rarely translate into financial ones.
The latest example is Mayo Clinic, the prestigious Rochester-based healthcare nonprofit that banks $14 billion per year; its CEO, Gianrico Farrugia, clears $2.8 million for himself. COVID-19 has been great for business. Mayo raked in $4.01 billion in revenue during the third-quarter of 2021, up 18.2% from that same quarter in 2019.
You might think that windfall would trickle down to the 73,000 heroes who keep the business running, about 39,000 of 'em at the main campus in Rochester. You'd be dead wrong.
An internal company Q&A leaked last week on the r/antiwork Reddit page under the header "Mayo Clinic Basically Gave Its Employees a Slap in the Face."
Sensing the bad PR, Mayo backpedaled late last Friday, issuing a mealy-mouthed statement about raises being determined by "external market data" and that, if you really crunch the numbers, those 2% raises are actually closer to 3.3%.
The whole ordeal was chronicled by the Rochester Post Bulletin, who noted that zero workers would go on the record about their frustrations due to fears over losing their jobs. A worker also declined to speak with Racket. The new raises are the same percent as the pre-pandemic ones offered in 2020, the paper reports.
"Mayo staff have gone above and beyond to provide compassionate care for patients throughout these unprecedented times, and we are committed to recognizing staff for their commitment to our patients and values," Mayo Clinic said in a heartfelt PR statement.
Several workers told the Post Bulletin that they'd rather that commitment be actualized via dollars than "'gratitude' gifts like tote bags, apples, and items with the logo of Mayo Clinic’s 'Bold. Forward' initiative."
Jesus, that's bleak...
Private healthcare is, of course, a tremendous racket (like us!) that lines the pockets of executives while making care more expensive for patients. Just look at the Strib's annual tally of the state's largest nonprofits—18 of the top 20 are in the healthcare sector, and all their leaders pull massive salaries. Interestingly, 70% of Americans support Medicare for All, the single-payer plan that doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and insurers have mobilized an army of lobbyists to kill.
In much funnier Mayo Clinic news: The company recently won a dispute over a Peruvian pornographer's use of the web domain MayoPorno.com. The domain now belongs to the Mayo Foundation. We're excited to see what they do with it.
