I am not going to tell you either to join or not join this company. I am going to present questions that I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to ask.
1. Product is to make healthcare billing better. Is this product making this world a better place? How does the company make money? Does it make money by charging the healthcare providers for ‘better billing’? Does it serve a patient if a % of the patient’s medical treatment bill goes to making the billing experience better? Are patients aware even made of this %? Are the healthcare providers very generous in footing the charges themselves or are they indirectly passing it on to the patients? Would a patient opt for the ‘improved experience’ if the patient knew about a % of their bill going to towards ‘better billing’? Do they even have a choice in this matter?
2. Does the company support inclusivity? Is a game of ‘Guess who was not the Ralph Lauren model?’ where three pictures of a white male employee and one picture of a person of color are shown to make a joke at the expense of the person of color appropriate? Is it appropriate for a senior executive to further stereotypes/causal racism on a company wide talent show in 2021? Should this person be allowed to continue at the job? Should this person at lease send out an apology?
3. Does the company preach equality, equity and all that good progressive stuff but does it also practice it? What are the diversity numbers? Does is pay certain politicians ( who might have questionable track records like a certain republican leader) for corporate ‘talks’ ?
4. Does the company support employee well being or push them to work weekends using ‘values’ like ‘no mediocrity’? Does overtime pay exist?
5. Does the company inhibit employees from discussing negatives by using values like ‘be positive’?
6. Company promises great culture. Is this true in practice? Is the management here from companies that are know for great culture or are they from the companies (hedge funds like blackrock) that are known for sort of the opposite? Do people drastically change their management style?
7. What’s worse - a honest hedge fund which doesn’t pretend to make the world a better place or a very pretentious company that claims it’s making the world a better place?
8. Does the company employ a burn and churn model? Is the place just a well decorated sweat shop? Does the company have high turnover?
9. Does the company fire employees out of nowhere without any performance improvement plans?
10. Is the pay even good to put up with everything that comes with the job?
Great questions to ask.
