What Is Partnership?
The Labor Management Partnership is an operational strategy shared by Kaiser Permanente and the Partnership unions.
This joint commitment is designed to:
- deliver high-quality care and service to Kaiser Permanente members and patients
- continuously improve performance as measured by national standards
- involve unions and individual frontline workers in decisions about how to deliver the best care
- make KP more affordable by removing waste from care delivery systems
- preserve and improve upon industry-leading benefits and working conditions for employees
The partnership is jointly led and funded by Kaiser Permanente and two groups of Partnership unions, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and the Alliance of Health Care Unions. There are more than 128,000 employees represented by the union locals that are part of the partnership, 16,000 managers and 21,000 physicians.
Results for KP members and patients
Our Labor Management Partnership has delivered measurable results for KP members and patients. Most of the day-to-day work of the partnership is led by self-directed work teams — what we call unit-based teams (UBTs) — made up of frontline managers, employees and physicians. All teams are measured quarterly on several dimensions of performance, leadership and engagement. According to KP’s 2017 People Pulse survey, highly engaged UBTs have achieved:
- 4 percent improvement in patient satisfaction
- 13 percent fewer lost work days
- 18 percent fewer workplace injuries