The Perks of Healthcare IT Consulting

My latest Internet obsession is, without a doubt, BuzzFeed. How does one not fawn over cute cat gifs at least once a day? However, don’t be fooled, my cat is the cutest cat on Earth. She’s pictured in this blog post. Enjoy the cuteness. 😉

Over the weekend, I came across this BuzzFeed post about 20 companies that have great employee perks. Most of the companies are IT-oriented like Google, Pinterest, and Facebook, though there are a few Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies like Mars on the list, too. To my great surprise, there are two consulting firms listed as well, Deloitte and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) both of which do not traditionally specialize in Healthcare IT work though. Deloitte is a financial/audit firm and BCG is a management consultancy. The list did get me thinking (again) about the perks of Healthcare IT consulting, therefore, here’s a quick little list of some perks of the industry!

Travel Rewards – The vast majority of Healthcare IT consulting jobs require weekly travel which sounds sexy, but the reality of travel is long airport security lines, bad salads from the airport delis, and winter travel delays through Denver and Chicago. However, it’s all worth it when you earn your airline, hotel, and rental car loyalty/reward points. I know of a consultant that takes a comp cruise every year just using his Marriott points and another that saved his hotel and airline points up so that his family of five stayed at the Four Seasons in Hawaii for a week. All those flights added up to fun in the sun for these folks and free vacations sounds like a great perk to me!

Long Weekends – This one applies mostly to hourly contractors. For most, once you’ve hit the 40 hour mark for your week, you’re done and usually these 40 hours are accomplished Monday through Thursday at the client site. It makes for a long four days, but that means, three-day weekends every weekend! Most of the consultants I know either take Fridays completely off or have a very light work day. This is an extra day to spend with family, get a few household tasks accomplished, or get a massage!

Big Money – Perks like free bike repair (my favorite compliments of Facebook), happy hours, or bringing your pet to work don’t mean much unless employees are fairly compensated for the work they perform. Therefore, another perk of being a Healthcare IT consultant is certainly the money involved. I’ve hired individuals that double their provider-based employer incomes when entering consulting, especially hourly contracting. I recently interviewed a candidate that spent three years hourly contracting and paid off her family’s debt, moved across the country, and started hefty college funds for her kids with the ample money she was able to earn as an hourly contractor. Money might not buy happiness, but it does buy houses, college educations, and a nice pair of shoes every once and a while. 😉

So Healthcare IT readers, what perks do you value most? What have you seen out there in our industry that you wish you had? Post here in the comments and I look forward to hearing what you all think!