Ballad: 5,600 current employees to see pay raises

Katherine Simpson
·2 min read

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Ballad Health officials say the system is short about 600 nurses as of Wednesday. This spring, the company is investing more than $33 million to raise starting rates for registered nurses in an effort to combat the ongoing, nationwide nurse shortage.

Ballad CEO Alan Levine announced the raises Tuesday via an internal email to staff.

PREVIOUS: Ballad to hike new nursing pay by 25% to $30 an hour

The new investment will bring hourly rates for positions in community hospitals from $24 to $30 and from $27 to $32 per hour for positions in tertiary hospitals. Tertiary hospitals include Johnson City Medical Center, Holston Valley Medical Center and Bristol Regional Medical Center.

But it isn’t just new hires that will benefit from the investment, health system leaders said.

Levine told News Channel 11 Tuesday more than 5,500 current employees would receive a raise to offset the increased starting wages.

Chief Operations Officer Eric Deaton said pay raises for current employees, effective April 7, will be individualized to each employee depending on their level of experience and position.

Internal raises aim to help prevent a phenomenon called pay compression—which describes how gradually increasing starting wages can create a minimal difference in pay between new and experienced employees.

“All of the nurses who are working in similar roles as a new nurse will also have a salary increase approximately again around the 25% mark,” Deaton said.

A few other personnel will be impacted by raises, including phlebotomists and employees in the therapy field, Deaton said.

The raises are just one part of a larger effort to attract and keep talent within the health system, Ballad leadership told News Channel 11.

Ballad is also investing $30 million to create 13 childcare centers to serve employees across the region.

“We create a culture where people want to work here and stay here and live in this community and be a part of not just their job and also be a part of the community,” Deaton said.

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