Grace Cottage Hospital wins ‘Best Place to Work’ award for third year in a row

For the third consecutive year, Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital, 185 Grafton Road in Townshend, has been named one of Vermont’s “Best Places to Work” by Vermont Business magazine. It is the only hospital in the state to have achieved this award for the past three years.

The award, given each year by Vermont Business magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, the Vermont State Council, the Vermont Department of Commerce and Community Development and Workforce Research Group, is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best workplaces benefiting the state’s economy, workforce and businesses.

A two-part process is used to determine the winners. Each company was evaluated for its workplace policies, practices and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 20 percent of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an anonymous employee survey to measure the employee experience; this score counted for approximately 80 percent of the total evaluation.

The contest includes three categories: small businesses (15-99 employees), medium businesses (100-249 employees) and large businesses (250+ employees). Grace Cottage placed first in the medium-size company category.

Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital has approximately 230 employees and includes a 19-bed Critical Access Hospital (24/7 emergency care, inpatient acute care, skilled rehabilitation, laboratory and diagnostic imaging), an outpatient rehabilitation department (physical and occupational therapy), a Rural Health Clinic providing primary care and mental health services and a retail pharmacy.