ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic is consistently mentioned among the world's top health care providers, but that doesn't make them immune from the rubber-meets-the-road realities of dealing with COVID-19.
On Friday Mayo officials announced that due to a significant drop in revenue related to a state mandate suspending all elective surgeries, combined with heavy investments in coronavirus testing and technology, temporary staff furloughs and pay cuts are coming.
A Mayo Clinic spokesperson tells KARE 11 the number of furloughs handed out won't be decided until late April or early May and that less than one-third of Mayo's 70,000 employees will be subject to a pay cut. She adds that Mayo's CEO and CAO will take a salary reduction of 20%. Neither will receive a 2020 salary adjustment
The pay of hourly employees will not be impacted.
"We are proud of, and committed to, our staff and our communities as they come together to fight this global health crisis," Mayo leaders said in a released statement. "Mayo Clinic is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of these circumstances, including a financial impact that requires significant adjustments to our operations. The decision to proactively postpone elective patient care was the right one, but it eliminated most of our revenue at the same time we are making critical investments to develop and expand testing, conduct research to help stop the pandemic, and realign our facilities and care teams to treat COVID-19 patients."
Mayo Clinic officials said they are taking "necessary steps" to reduce expenses, but that temporary employee furloughs and salary reductions are also necessary "to ensure that we can emerge from this situation in a stable position."
The clinic says full pay and benefits will continue through April 28, at which time the temporary furloughs and pay cuts will take place.
"We will work with our teams over the coming weeks to ensure that our staff are supported, that the duration of this disruption is as limited as possible, and that we are ready to ramp up quickly and resume full operations when it is safe to do so," read the announcement.
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