Tampa General Hospital Named One of America's Best-in-State Employers by Forbes for Fifth Year in a Row

The academic health system is recognized as the region's top health care employer and rises to the top 5 in Florida.

Tampa, FL (September 23, 2025) – Tampa General Hospital (TGH) is ranked as the Tampa Bay region's #1 employer in the health care category for the fifth year in a row, and among the top five in the state of Florida, according to Forbes. The academic health system also ranked among the top 40 employers in Florida across all categories, which underscores the organization's ongoing commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for all team members as one of the region's largest employers. 

“Our team is united in our shared belief that when we put our team members first — prioritizing their personal and professional development and addressing their unique needs with industry-leading benefits — they are positioned to deliver the best care possible to our patients,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “This recognition by Forbes underscores that the most important investments we make as an organization are those we make in our people.” 

Tampa General has continuously improved team member engagement scores year over year, achieving a 92nd percentile engagement index for 2025 and placing the academic health system within the top 8% of all academic health systems in the nation, according to an independent survey conducted by Press Ganey. Additionally, the organization has maintained a team member turnover rate well below the industry benchmark for U.S. health systems.

The academic health system’s nearly 15,000 team members and providers across its growing network are all dedicated to the shared mission and vision to become one of the safest and most innovative academic health systems in the nation. In service of building a strong culture of belonging and inclusion that advances that mission, all leaders at Tampa General are trained on the AKTiVe leadership model, created and studied extensively by Couris, which emphasizes authenticity, kindness, transparency and vulnerability. Operationalizing this leadership approach systemwide has improved team members' reported feelings of psychological safety and trust across the organization.

Additionally, Tampa General maintains an open loop of communication and feedback, ensuring that every individual's voice is heard and valued. This approach allows feedback to extend to process improvements, enhancing both team member resilience and the patient experience. This includes yearly team member forums, regular surveys, direct communication channels with Couris, and dedicated listening sessions with executive leadership. Based on this feedback, the organization has forged innovative partnerships and implemented new benefits and programs.

Among these benefits and resources are competitive compensation, benefits packages, schedule flexibility and being a part of leading-edge innovation.

An annual market review of all positions is completed to maintain competitive pay and market alignment and benefits survey and focus groups are completed every other year to understand and adjust offerings based on the needs of team members.

Some of those health program enhancements include adding access to Tava Health, a free and virtual mental health platform for team members, their spouses and dependent children (ages 13-25) and a partnership with Care.com to provide team members with 10 sessions per year of back-up care, at no charge, for their dependents when their regular caregivers are unavailable.

Feedback from team members enabled Tampa General to evolve the Team Member Assistance Fund into the McNichols Team Member Assistance Program, providing team members with support for unexpected challenges. The program offers support for home repairs due to hurricane damage, gas cards, computers, school supplies and more. Since its inception, the program has provided more than $3.6 million in financial assistance and resources to team members in need.

“Our team continues to demonstrate its collective commitment to co-creating an environment where we are all proud to work and choose to grow in our respective careers,” said Qualenta Kivett, executive vice president and chief people and talent officer at Tampa General. “We are proud to celebrate this national recognition of our people-first culture and its role in attracting and retaining world-class talent.”

Forbes and Statista selected America’s Best-In-State Employers 2025 through an independent survey from a vast sample of over 160,000 U.S. employees working for companies employing at least 500 people within the U.S. As part of this research, more than 2 million employer evaluations were considered, and the final score was based on two types of employee evaluations: personal (those given by employees themselves) and public (those given by friends and family members of employees or members of the public who work in the same industry). 

More information about Tampa General’s ranking, including methodology and the full list of Forbes’ 2025 America's Best Employers by State, can be found here.