To infuse our staff with a sense of ownership in our ambulatory surgery center, we decided to give them a stake in the action. Literally. In addition to a competitive salary structure, we set up an incentive program that encourages the staff to think and behave like owners of a family business. Not only has it turned out to be a wonderful recruiting and retention tool in today's ultra-competitive nursing job market, but our staff has profited as well. We paid out more than $175,000 in bonuses to our 25 full- and part-timers in 2001 and 2002, and have budgeted $100,000 for this year's incentive program. Here's how we did it and how you can, too.

Ms. Daley ("francine.daley@atlanticare.org")) is the administrator of the AtlantiCare Surgery Center.