Joel Landau and Allure Group Give $1.3K Bonuses to 250+ Workers

This post is republished from community member Clare Kelly's article, "Allure Group Celebrates Harlem Center Ownership w/ Staff Bonuses," on Jul 2, 2018.

Writes Kelly:

"In a move that shocked and delighted more than 250 staff at the Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, owner and operator Joel Landau of The Allure Group, showed up at a company barbecue on Wednesday with checks made out to each employee in the amount of $1,300.00. The message to his elated staff: Thanks for a job well done transforming the once-troubled nursing home into one of New York City's premier subacute skilled nursing facilities.

After five years and millions of dollars invested in patient care and hiring top-notch staff, The Allure Group took formal ownership of the Harlem Center this week, having operated the facility since 2013. The cash bonuses, explains Joel Landau, were ownership's way of celebrating the milestone with their hard-working employees and showing appreciation for their ongoing commitment and dedication.

Joel Landau said: "Every one of our employees has put their hearts and souls into making Harlem Center a first-rate nursing facility. On the day we finally closed on the building, we felt it was only right that we share the pride of ownership we feel about this great place with the very people who made it this way. These cash bonuses are a reward to our wonderful employees – our way of saying thank you, and keep up the tremendous work. We appreciate all that you do."

Shaywaal Amin, vice president of 1199 SEIU, said: "The union's primary focus is that our members at Harlem Center are treated fairly and compensated appropriately by new ownership, and we have found a good and willing partner in The Allure Group. We look forward to a continuing a productive relationship that benefits the employees there for many years."

Joyce McCollin, a longtime Harlem Center employee and union rep at Harlem Center added: "All of the staff was surprised and excited when the bonuses were announced. We put a lot of ourselves into Harlem Center – not only our time and energy, but we are emotionally invested in our work and each other. It's gratifying to have ownership recognize and reward our dedication."

By any conceivable metric, the turnaround at Harlem Center has been remarkable. Five years ago, the business was failing, operating at a deficit while the physical facilities were suffering from years neglect and disinvestment. Worse, the patient care was substandard, rated as only a two-star facility on the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) five-star scale. Today, Harlem Center, co-led by The Allure Group's Chairman Joel Landau, is a five-star quality rated facility and was recognized this year by the American Health Care Association's Quality Initiative Program for improving patient performance and healthcare outcomes. It was also honored this year with the skilled nursing industry's prestigious Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award, which recognizes top-performing nursing facilities across the country.
Harlem Center is presently operating at better than 97 percent occupancy, up from 83 percent in 2013, and has produced a sharp reduction in the rehospitalization rate of its patients, lowing the key metric from 31 percent in 2013 to only 14 percent at the end of 2017. By way of comparison, the national average 30-day readmissions is 21 percent.

Joel Landau added: "We did everything we said we were going to do when we took over in 2013. We kept our promises to the community, to our staff, and most important to our residents and patients. We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish here, and it means a lot to be able to share that success with our dedicated staff."

About The Allure Group
Founded on the principles of compassion, respect and clinical excellence, The Allure Group, co-founded by healthcare entrepreneur Joel Landau, is a premier network of comprehensive skilled nursing facilities in New York City that offer innovative rehabilitation programs and sub-acute nursing care while providing the utmost care and services to its patients. Allure's facilities include Hamilton Park Center in Bay Ridge, Linden Center in East New York, Bedford Center in Williamsburg, King David Center in Bensonhurst, Crown Heights Center, and Harlem Center."

To learn more about Harlem Center and Allure Group facilities, follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn, or connect with co-founder Joel Landau on JoeLandau.com or Twitter. Joel Landau also contributes articles about entrepreneurship as well as healthcare technology, trends and topics to Forbes, Entrepreneur and numerous other publications.