Pros
A Fortune 200 corporate environment with a “mom and pop” feel. The core values and dedication to culture is very real. The nature of the work is hard, so the company goes to great lengths to create an environment where teammates feel connected to each other and valued. DaVita invests heavily in personal and professional development and whatever you’re willing to put in you can get back with time and dedication. The job is extremely fulfilling because you get to help people even if you are doing so indirectly. Generally, the people you work with on all levels are fantastic and make the working environment pleasant and fun. DaVita fosters an environment where innovation is welcomed at all levels of the organization and many ideas from front line employees are implemented. Managers are given opportunities to develop and implement projects and pilots based on business strategy they have formulated and even more importantly, given the opportunity to fail (to a degree) in order to learn and improve. Director level leadership is very engaged with day to day and visible as well as approachable to all levels of teammates. Senior leadership is truly invested in growing their managers skill sets and helping develop skills they need to be successful through various development programs for all levels of leadership as well as consistent 1:1s. DaVita prides itself on developing their pipeline of leadership in house which creates opportunities for those who are willing to put in the work to grow within the organization. DaVita operates on transparency from top leadership down and this empowers managers to be very open and honest with front line teammates about what is happening in the organization and with the business. DaVita HR is very conservative in their decisions to engage in performance management or in termination which means teammates are really given time and support to improve if they are not performing and must really engage in egregious performance opportunities or misconduct to go through either performance management or termination processes. DaVita invests in many fun events, including on the clock team building as well as off site voluntary events. DaVita is very focused on giving back to the community and there are multiple committees and events available to engage in volunteering. DaVita is also environmentally conscious and has a whole team dedicated to trying to be eco friendly — very progressive.
Cons
DaVita does not offer competitive wages for frontline teammates, and even those fulfilling vital functions in the clinics such as nurses and PCTs. The ramifications of this are felt throughout the entire organization. Many external candidates are willing to take a lower starting wage because of the great culture and opportunities for development and growth, but if they are not promoted or given raises quickly they become disenchanted with the job due to its complex and sometimes demanding nature. Depending on who the senior leadership is will dictate how quickly you can monetarily reward differentially performing teammates. The company frequently does surveys to measure teammate satisfaction and solicit feedback and most teammates are dissatisfied with compensation so if they provide neutral or poor ratings this is somehow a measurement of the direct supervisor or manager even though they have no control over the compensation and are often times lobbying for more pay. Even though the company has done nothing to address compensation since the last engagement survey, they will send another one out shortly after asking for the teammates opinions which results in the same scores or even lower scores. Retaining qualified teammates in this environment can be extremely challenging. Recruiting is horrible. You set expectations for hiring to the recruiter and they solicit poor candidates which forces managers to use temporary labor in hopes of converting high potential temps to perms for further development. Then because managers can’t get solid permanent candidates and their department has to pay more for temps, managers are held accountable to the budget. By the way, engagement scores, which managers are held accountable to, are also a reflection of understaffing which managers struggle to address due to combination of wage and poor recruiting. Another pain point related to this is because you pay less initially, you get people with little professional experience and often times unrealistic expectations. DaVita is very unique in its democratic approach to making decisions, involving frontline teammates heavily for input. Unfortunately, this is many times taken for granted by teammates who have no previous experience at other organizations and do not realize this is not typical of other companies. In my opinion, it can create teammates with a sense of entitlement without any justification. While director level leadership is generally engaged and understand day to day operations, VP and above levels are generally out of touch with the realities of the nature of the business and the competitive job market. If you are working in a CBO and there are other business offices where your department resides, there will be perceived favoritism from senior leadership. DaVita has recently put a lot of stock in people with high ranking business degrees from elite schools and people with extensive consulting experience for VP level and above and often times they have no people management experience which creates a disconnect. Expectations for managers can be unrealistic at times. DaVita is a very metric oriented organization and managers are held accountable to driving numbers to the detriment of the business at times. Because some managers are so focused on numbers, they begin to manage to them in order to “win” instead of managing to behaviors and people which can again deplete engagement. If poor numbers are a reflection of business realities, strategies for behavioral improvement to impact them should be implemented, not number inflation to “win.” Metric management is particularly a difficult task for managers if they are consistently short staffed with lower than desired retention rates due to constant retraining, learning curves, and trying to balance accountability and engagement. There are often times too many projects and initiatives on top of management oversight and strategy development which makes it very difficult to develop and then consistently implement change from projects. Project management support would make balancing easier, but instead of having project managers many times this responsibility rolls up into the operational managers responsibilities. Work life balance can be hard to manage in comparison to expectations and long hours and weekends are often expected.
