San Diego-based Scripps Health will lay off 69 employees from its human resources and marketing departments this summer, according to the hospital’s president and CEO Chris Van Gorder.
The hospital system today confirmed an earlier report that Van Gorder announced the layoffs in a company memo last Tuesday.
Scripps Health employs more than 13,000 workers, according to its website, and this marks the first time Scripps has implemented a layoff affecting employees in more than 15 years (since Van Gorder joined the hospital). Van Gorder told the San Diego Business Journal in a 2014 interview that he leads with a “no layoffs philosophy.” These cuts, however, were needed to balance flat revenue.
“With flattening reimbursements even though volume is up, I have to rebase the cost structure at Scripps,” Van Gorder said in an email. “We will be as compassionate as possible with impacted employees.”
All impacted employees will be offered the opportunity to go into the health system's career resource center, where Scripps works with them to find another position at Scripps and offer other support services. Van Gorder said that 1,000 employees have been placed into the career resource center since its inception, and about 90 percent are still with the company.
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