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Thank you very much for sharing these thoughts, including the kind and encouraging words about what you love about working at Health Catalyst. I've read and reread all of your feedback, and feel that there are some things we can do as a Leadership Team to make progress in a few of the areas you referenced as opportunities for improvement.
First, as it relates to work/life balance and the unlimited PTO policy, let me offer a few thoughts, as this topic has come up many times, for some time. I want to acknowledge, and we'll discuss this later today in our ATM Q&A session, that the past 18 months in particular, have required many, many of our team members to really stretch, from a work-life balance perspective. We are trying to build into the 2019 planning process a little more "slack" in the system to hopefully still be financially prudent, but also make the infrastructure of the company a little more conducive to a sustainable pace. Also, regarding unlimited PTO, I think I might share a "rule of thumb" that I personally use when thinking about PTO, but also with the context that we will not micro-manage this benefit, and trust team members to make the right decisions regarding their personal situation. A rule-of-thumb that we discuss and encourage as a leadership team, would be that, beyond the company-identified holidays (which we've tried to err in favor of team members in defining), if we generally thought about roughly 3 weeks of time off per year as a longer-term sustainable rate, that this might be a helpful guideline, and might also encourage all team members to feel they have "permission" and real support to take time off, to sharpen the saw, and recharge. But we also understand there may be circumstances, in any given year, where that time off amount might be higher, and sometimes where it might be lower, but hopefully it roughly averages a solid, healthy amount of time off each year. We do not micro-manage this benefit, and feel strongly that we shouldn't micro-manage it. But I would personally encourage you to ensure that you are taking time for renewal and recharge -- I want this for every team member (including myself) at Health Catalyst. One other thought -- if we feel like we can't take time off, it is a symptom of larger issues. For example, if I felt like I couldn't step away for a few days or a week, because I felt that the company couldn't function without me, then I'm not fulfilling my responsibilities to empower those around me, and I may not be developing my team sufficiently. Further, I might need to work a little more on the attribute of humility :-). That principle should apply at every level at Health Catalyst.
Regarding the variation in the way managers think about promotions, we are actively trying to emphasize with managers, to please submit promotion proposals to the Leadership Team AS SOON AS the team member qualifies for that promotion, and to follow that practice consistently across all departments. We have a standing weekly Leadership Team item to review, celebrate, and approve these promotion proposals. Also, as I mentioned in the last ATM meeting, we are financially modeling a change to our annual pay increase policy, whereby team members who find themselves above the 75th percentile could still receive more of a "cost-of-living" increase while in their current position, and while working to qualify for a promotion to the next level. We'll keep emphasizing this, and I'll highlight this later today in our ATM Q&A session.
Thank you again for your encouraging words and for this helpful feedback. I will continue to keep the team member experience as my first priority every day, followed by customers second and investors third. I sincerely appreciate you, and the work you do every day to help the company achieve its mission. Best, Dan
