NorthBay Healthcare is one of the Best Places to Work in the North Bay, according to the North Bay Business Journal. The announcement came in August as the Journal selected the best employers in a four-county region that includes Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Solano counties.

In all, 73 businesses and organizations are to be honored in its seventh-annual Best Places to Work in the North Bay competition. Winners were selected by the Business Journal editorial staff based on the results of an anonymous employee survey and a survey of each firm’s diversity, job benefits and community involvement. The companies range in size from 20 employees—the minimum required—to 4,500. There were nearly 5,000 responses to the employee assessment. About half of NorthBay’s employees responded to our survey.

“Our ability to serve our community is based upon having an effective and supportive corps of staff members who understand our culture and share our belief in a mission of delivering compassionate care, advanced medicine, close to home,” said NorthBay Healthcare President/CEO Gary Passama. “With nearly 1,800 employees on three main campuses and four other venues, NorthBay employees are everywhere!”

He added, “It has been a goal to be recognized as a preferred employer and this is the first such recognition we have received. But it will not be the last. As an organization, we recognize the great efforts of our staff by being fair and open with our employees. It is a commitment we reinforce every day. Thanks to our staff, we are now known as a ‘Best Place to Work.’”

Ken McCollum, Vice President of Human Resources, has headed a steering committee that focuses on how to use best practices to improve the workplace. “It’s not enough to just be a good place to work,” says Ken. “We are proud to be a ‘Best Place to Work,’ as deemed by the Business Journal, and some day we hope to attain the label, “A Great Place to Work,” on the Fortune 500 list.

Business Journal Editor and Associate Publisher Brad Bollinger added, “What was so clear about our winners is how hard everyone from management to the front line workers succeeded at maintaining an environment where people feel valued and can thrive even in challenging times like now.”