The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the employee experience at Health Catalyst. Promotions and raises were put on hold, 401(k) match was paused and ultimately reduced, and bonuses were dismal with the decision to base them off pre-COVID standards.
Though Health Catalyst tried to be accommodating to workers that had to watch their kids during the shutdown, they consequently diverted more work to those that either do not have kids or were in a situation where they could still work throughout the day.
Achieving a work/life balance is encouraged. However, there were many times (even before the pandemic) where the demands of work got to a point where a balance could not be achieved. In my situation, there were many weeks where I worked well above 40 or 50 hours and still had some managers discourage time off to meet outrageous deadlines.
Despite these conditions, Health Catalyst reassured their employees by saying it could always be worse and pointed to companies that were severely struggling due to the pandemic. They conveniently did not talk about companies that were still excelling and experiencing great years either through circumstance or adaptation.
Nearly all of Health Catalyst's post-IPO policies have been to protect their bottom line. They still proclaim that their employees are their top priority, but when backed into a corner, cuts had to be made to keep promises to investors. The only reassurance given were vague promises to make up for these cuts once the bottom line improved to a higher level without any explanation of what this level needed to be.
To exacerbate these issues, there is a cult-like attitude from many of the Health Catalyst employees. Perhaps these apologists benefitted from the years of plenty before the IPO or have found themselves by luck or connections in a good spot. Either way, these employees quickly jump to the defense of Health Catalyst when legitimate concerns are raised and shower the C-suite with praise for these tough decisions. Dan, the CEO, does try to address and take seriously every concern an employee raises, but those that defend every decision of Health Catalyst are persistent and strive to negate or disregard their fellow teammates' concerns.
Health Catalyst often uses leveling and compensation to attract employees with experience elsewhere while current employees are expected to only level up every few years. This results in new hires coming in and being compensated more than current employees with similar backgrounds and experience. Health Catalyst does claim to promote from within, but omits the fact that many of these promotions are given to employees that have only been with Health Catalyst for a short period of time. Complaints around this are always met with an assurance that every employee is compensated and leveled appropriately. In my situation, the first offer outside of Health Catalyst amounted to over a 35% cash raise or 20% when you look at total compensation. In response to this, Health Catalyst offered no apology or acknowledgement of their miscalculation of my compensation.
