DENVER, Colo.—DaVita Inc, a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), has been recognized as the only healthcare company and only member of the Fortune 500® to make the 2010 WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces™.
This marks the third consecutive year that DaVita has been named to the list, which aims to promote democracy in the workplace. DaVita is one of only 44 companies recognized on the annual list sponsored by WorldBlu, an Austin-based non-profit specializing in organizational democracy.
“It is an honor to be named to the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces for the third consecutive year,” said Kent Thiry, chairman and chief executive officer of DaVita. “We consider DaVita a community first and a company second. This recognition reflects the two-way dialogue we strive to have with our 34,000 teammates around the country, whose hard work and dedication are improving the lives of people with kidney disease.”
The list is determined primarily by an employee-based survey that evaluates the company’s practice of 10 democratic principles, such as transparency, dialogue and listening, integrity, fairness and dignity, and accountability. WorldBlu developed the survey tool based on a decade of research into what makes a world-class democratic organization.
They have found that companies that practice organizational democracy tend to have more-engaged employees, and to be more adaptive to change, more efficient and often more profitable than others. Gallup® has estimated the cost of disengaged employees within the U.S. workforce alone to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity.
Source: DaVita
