Aon Study Serves as Call to Action for Health Care Profession: Address Human Capital Practices Now.

Business Editors, Health/Medical Writers

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2002

Healthcare @Work Study Finds Health Care Employers Need to Play

"Catch-Up" to Attract and Retain Today's and Tomorrow's Workers

Attracting, developing and retaining the workforce health care organizations need to be successful is of critical importance, according to an Aon study released today. Healthcare @Work(TM), a study from Aon Consulting's Loyalty Institute, cautions that organizations need to address their human capital practices now in order to keep the drain on the health care workforce from impacting their individual organizations.

Retention of health care workers may need to be the most immediate focus. In perhaps the most telling statistic from the study, 49 percent of the greater than 1600 respondents to the survey have begun to either think about or to make plans to leave their current organization. And, 35 percent of the overall sample have begun thinking about leaving the health care field altogether.

"With the aging of the baby boomer generation, and a general shrinkage of the US labor pool, this study is a call to action for the health care profession," stated Erin Wilkins, senior consultant with Aon Consulting's Loyalty Institute and director of the study. "The messages from health care employees are clear: leadership has to play catch-up and show that they value the workforce by more effectively managing the people part of the health care organization."

The need to foster stronger workforce commitment in the health care field garnered a great deal of attention in April of this year with the release of a report from the American Hospital Association entitled In Our Hands: How Hospital Leaders Can Build a Thriving Workforce. This 94-page document suggests that hospitals and health systems give added emphasis to five areas: fostering of meaningful work, improving the workplace partnership, broadening the base of the health care workforce, collaborating with other groups outside of the health care field, and the building of societal support. Aon's "Performance Pyramid(TM)" model of workplace practices was featured as an important part of this report.

"The AHA Commission on Workforce...believes strong leadership and aggressive action is needed to address the workforce shortage, build a thriving workforce, and avoid a crisis in care," the report stated. "The Commission believes it is hospital leaders - especially boards of trustees and hospital executives - who must address (these) numerous challenges."

The AHA Commission report stated that finding qualified managers and supervisors is one of the biggest challenges facing the health care field. This management development issue is one area of concern in the Healthcare @Work study, especially in the areas of leadership and communication. Thirty-six percent of respondents found their supervisor not meeting expectations in creating an open, communicative environment. Forty percent were not satisfied with their supervisor's ability to build team spirit.

Attracting employees to the health care field is an area that will take more than just signing bonuses, according to the study. "A full 59 percent of the Healthcare @Work respondents joined the health care field to help people and to serve others," according to Wilkins. "The challenge falls on the organizations in the field: reinvent the workplace so caregivers can answer their calling, which is caring for patients."

Aon, through its @Work series of reports, was the first consulting organization to define "workforce commitment" and has continually measured workforce commitment over the past 7 years in the US and other countries. Using a series of questions in the areas of productivity, pride and retention, Aon created the Workforce Commitment Index(R), or WCI(TM), to track and trend the levels of workforce commitment. This is the third such measurement in the health care sector. In this year's study, the health care WCI has risen from the baseline measurement of 100 in the first year to 100.2 this year, showing that little progress has been made within the industry to address these human resource issues.

For the third consecutive year, Aon conducted the research with the assistance of ASHHRA (the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration). The data were collected via the Internet and phone interviews. The Healthcare @Work report can be obtained by visiting www.aon.com.

About Aon

Aon Corporation is a holding company that is comprised of a family of insurance brokerage, consulting, and insurance underwriting subsidiaries.

Aon Consulting is among the top five global human resources consulting firms, with 2001 revenues of $938 million and 7,400 employees in 140 offices throughout the world. Aon Consulting delivers integrated consulting solutions to help clients with employee benefits, human resources outsourcing, compensation, communication and management consulting.

This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results, depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include the general economic conditions in different countries around the world, fluctuations in global equity and fixed income markets, changes in commercial property and casualty premium rates, the competitive environment, the actual cost of resolution of contingent liabilities and other loss contingencies, the final execution of the business transformation plan, the ultimate cost and timing of the implementation thereof, the actual cost savings and other benefits resulting therefrom, whether the Company ultimately disposes of some or all of its underwriting operations, the terms and timing thereof, rating agency actions, the cost and availability of debt and other financing, and events surrounding terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, including the timing and resolution of related insurance and reinsurance issues. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.