Health Catalyst finds cure for unhappy workplaces

At Health Catalyst, the blueprint for employee happiness came early.

Shortly after its 2008 founding, the Cottonwood Heights software maker for the health-care industry needed an infusion of cash to keep up with customer growth. But, as with many bids to bring in investors, the move meant Health Catalyst might have to alter some of its approach to satisfy new stakeholders.

"We realized we needed to think proactively about the things that can't change," Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton said. So managers started to write down those must-keeps but they kept going. The document evolved into a company mission statement, a list of cultural attributes and a set of operating principles, referred to today as "the Health Catalyst Way."

Among the top goals: Hire the best, build a great company, transform health care, make sure customers succeed and give employees the finest career experiences of their lives. "The way" is a kind of mantra today, repeated and reinforced regularly.

"We've tried to keep it at the forefront," Burton said. "I quiz them at every board meeting. We're focused on every team member buying into the mission of the company."

Five years on, the philosophy has made Health Catalyst one of the state's best workplaces. It finished tops, in fact, among midsize Wasatch Front companies recently studied by Pennsylvania-based WorkplaceDynamics, which surveys employee satisfaction.

The study also singled out Burton for a special leadership award — for what subordinates describe as his open, honest, caring approach.

"I really like the leadership,'' said Claire Adams, 26, who joined the company in December and works as a data architect. "They really listen to our concerns and respond to what we have to say."

"Competent leadership," one Health Catalyst employee told pollsters with WorkplaceDynamics. "Respectful environment, hardworking co-workers, meaningful work, opportunities to grow."

"They trust me to accomplish my job in my own way and do not micromanage me,'' another worker said. "They give me the freedom and support to demonstrate I am capable and an asset to the company."

Delivering tools for data warehousing and analytics in health care, Health Catalyst is on a sharp growth trajectory, more than doubling its workforce in nearly two years. Its big-data applications are used by customers to support an estimated 30 million patients nationwide.

Burton said the company focuses on hiring people who are "smart, hardworking and humble." Aside from their job skills, prospective employees are carefully screened for those traits when interviewing.

"We've tried," Burton said, "to be very careful and deliberative about the kinds of folks we look for."

The company offers generous benefits: rich health insurance and 401(k) match; flexible work schedules; unlimited personal time off ­­— as long as the work gets done — and subsidies on cellphone, home Internet connections and public transportation. There are free drinks and snacks in the break room.

Incentive bonuses are spread among team members instead of going to individual employees. And Health Catalyst's owners and its main venture-capital backer — California-based Sequoia Capital — agreed early on to give each employee a financial stake in the company.

"Every team member is an owner," the Burton said, "and we expect them to act as an owner."

tsemerad@sltrib.com

Twitter: @Tony_Semerad