RANK: #1 (MEDIUM HOSPITALS)
Once people start working for Saint Francis Hospital's IT department, they're inclined to never leave. More than 11 people in the 25-employee department have worked there for 10 years. The longest-serving employee, Director of Information Systems Diane Smith, has been with the department since it began in 1974.

These long tenures have helped the employees form solid relationships, making them a tight-knit team. Barbara Mueller, who's been at St. Francis 25 years and with the IT department for 10 as a project leader, says, "If someone (in the department) needs help, we say, 'What do you need?'" When in 2005 Mueller was tapped to lead a challenging project, a colleague told her, "We're not going to let you fail."

Dan Williams, a systems administrator, reinforces this solidarity. "People remember each other's birthdays," he says, "and if it's a big one, they may find their office filled to the brim with balloons."

The hospital's location in Cape Girardeau, a university town in a rural area, helps attract dedicated employees, Williams says. The 280-bed hospital, known for its neuroscience, orthopedic and neonatal departments, is one of the biggest employers in the area.

"On the weekends you can go to a community picnic or go deer hunting on your neighbor's farm," Williams says. "Most of the people who live and work here do it because they love the area."

In 2000, the hospital also instituted a quarterly profit-sharing program for all employees based on hospital finances and patient satisfaction scores. Smith credits this program in part with helping to retain her talented staff.

While location and profit-sharing programs count for something, both Williams and Mueller also praise Smith as an exemplary leader. "She's easily the best boss I've ever had," Williams says. "I think the thing that makes her the most special is her ability to put good people in the right position, and then to get out of the way so they can do their jobs."

Smith agrees that, more often than not, her job is about removing obstacles, including herself, to allow her employees to excel. She's found that her IT employees typically don't burn out due to hard work, but rather from frustration. "A lot of time, by finding that source of frustration, you can do more to prevent burnout than by lightening workload," Smith says. And finding the source usually is as simple as having a conversation with someone, she adds.

The work of St. Francis's IT department has not gone unnoticed by hospital CEO Steven Bjelich. "Thanks to their dedication and diligence, we have been able to get six acquired physician practices and add an entire new hospital online this year," Bjelich says, referring to the Heart Hospital Cancer Institute, a recently completed 208,000-square-foot center. "Without their daily efforts, our communication infrastructure would grind to a halt."

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