A personal chef who makes lunch every day. Paying for employee parking. No formal policy about paid time off. Having a space that includes a pool table, video games and events like office Olympics with chair racing, Nerf gun fighting, a Nintendo biathlon and more.
When CoverMyMeds’ customers, who are usually larger companies, visit for the first time, they look around and ask, “How do you get anything done?”
“We hear that quite a bit, especially the first time someone sees how things work in our office,” says Matt Scantland, co-founder and principal of the software services company. CoverMyMeds provides electronic management systems to physicians and pharmacists to help them complete prior authorization and other insurance coverage determination forms.
By the second visit, Scantland says customers see what the company has accomplished, comparing CoverMyMeds with their internal IT group or other companies — and end up enamored.
“They recognize the things that really matter to them are things we’re delivering on, and the things that look like work but no one really cares about are things that leave our process,” he says.
Scantland believes when someone sits at a desk all day, there’s a lot of time that isn’t productive, calling it a false economy.
So, how do you build a culture that puts you on “best place to work” lists while sustaining greater than 100 percent growth over multiple years?
Scantland says the philosophy is to create a place you want to work — treating people with respect and the benefit of the doubt.
Investing in the right environment
Most companies have unnecessary rules and treat employees like children, Scantland says. For example, CoverMyMeds doesn’t have an acceptable use policy.
“We’re counting on people to do things that require a much higher level of skill and judgment than deciding what is an appropriate website to look at at work,” he says.
In addition, CoverMyMeds sets up the company for the convenience of employees, by letting developers, for instance, choose what tools they use — programming languages, frameworks, computers and desks — rather than having a manager who knows less and is further from the customer make those decisions.
“We live and die by the quality of our product,” Scantland says. “Our developers and the people who take care of our customers on the phone are the most important parts of our company. So, we optimize the company for those people, not for our management team.”
Hiring exceptional people
But the only way the system can work is by having the right people in place. Scantland says that isn’t always easy, especially as the company grows — it’s up to almost 100 employees now.
Management discounts resumes and almost exclusively recruits through the network of existing employees. The company’s vice president of engineering also spends 50 percent of his time recruiting.
By the time someone comes in the door, at least 32 hours of various people’s time has been spent on the candidate.
“We admit to ourselves that this is a big deal, and we’re going to spend a lot of money and time on it — and dedicate the most senior people in the company to doing that,” Scantland says.
The people CoverMyMeds wants have options about where they can work. They already have a great job where they are recognized for being exceptional.
So, the company uses what it calls Code Day as part of its hiring process, where candidates work with staff for the day.
Scantland says if they are hiring an engineer, for example, the candidate takes one day to move an idea from a piece of paper to a working software application.
He or she works with leadership to define customer needs, technical staff on the design, infrastructure staff to deploy and configure the application and so on. And at the end of day, the candidate presents to the development team for an interactive discussion.
“Our people throughout that day are trying to evaluate the candidate, but they also are selling the candidate on coming to work here,” Scantland says.
Not only do candidates have an opportunity to interact with current employees and better understand CoverMyMeds’ mission, Code Day allows them to see how much they can learn at the company.
“It’s an expensive process all around, there’s no question about it,” Scantland says. “But again, because we live and die by the quality of our people, it’s really the best investment that we make.” ●
Learn more about CoverMyMeds at:
Twitter: @CoverMyMeds
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/1741261
Blog: www.covermymeds.com/main/feed
How to reach: CoverMyMeds, (866) 452-5017 or www.covermymeds.com
