In the recent past, there have been a number of signs that Allscripts has entered another life-stage and that 2022 will probably be very Interesting for Employees.
I am aware that there's going to be the usual vitriol about the company, but I'd love to hear opinions and analysis of where this is all going.
Items:
- The changes to PTO Policy are both kind of demeaning and also the latest HR Industry de jure hotness. Make it seem like you have "unlimited" PTO so you don't have to bank hours and/or pay those hours out in places that require that. Giving all employees "unlimited" PTO equally basically means any benefits of seniority are basically nulled out. Most of the long-term employees typically have leftover PTO, and many have weeks worth of it left over nearly every year. Well, I suppose it's better than some of the other HR Industry fads I've lived through.
- Well, the pre-tax "bonus" we got before Christmas was nice, not particularly amazing, but nobody is looking a gift horse in the mouth at this point. I just question the motivations behind the early issuance of the bonus - after years around here I am sure as heck not buying the "we did it because we thought it would be nice" because it's literally the antithesis of everything I've ever seen around here. So - a PR move to instill goodwill among the remaining employees?
- I haven't seen any signs of the Annual January Purge happening - yet. Significant voluntary attrition rates, but that seems to be affecting every business to various degrees.
- It's not something that's talked about, but I think most departments will be getting the Raise Allotment, and therefore it's reasonable to think most people will be getting some kind of raise.
- Obviously, the Oracle acquisition of Cerner is weighing heavily on the Boards mind - they are wondering how to take advantage of any strategies learned so they can bait the hooks better. Can they figure out a way to make some of this desiccated worm a little more attractive to potential "investors"?
- There were a LOT of Late Year Organizational Changes covering both personnel and departmental changes. That's not unusual in and of itself, but statistically speaking it's a lot more than the "average" year. The "average" year is usually just One Major Org Change, six months of every affected BU flailing around trying to re-route and re-define processes, five months of slowly increasing productivity as everything smooths out, and finally a month of wondering what the next Major Org Change will be?
*> SVP of NB "unfortunately" -PBs words- left, I heard some chatter that even top people in that Org weren't fully aware of the impending resignation. Workload is being spread around as per the usual procedures, but there may be some further migrations.
- There were some further changes that appear to make International more "not the USA" and maybe some attempts to corral them into something cohesive and perhaps having a common set of rules.
- There was an announcement that there was going to be a "merger" of Ambulatory BU and Veridigm. That's the official statement - it's a little more complicated than that from what I've been able to glean.
*> Remember the virtual Berlin Wall that was suddenly put up around the Ambulatory BU at the start of 2021? This may have been part of a long-term plan to make this "merger" "logical" because the sudden cutoff between BUs was not planned out very well and led to a lot of headaches. I suspect the reverse will wind up being exactly the same.
*> Only the pieces that have large customer bases, may be profitable, may be somewhat well-regarded, or have some tie-in to Payer or Financials are being put in Veridigm. Everything else, including the mysterious TouchWorks EHR will be folded into other BUs by category and any workloads associated with that will also be following.
- I don't have my MBA yet, but things sure look like the juiciest pieces are being packaged up with Veridigm and being gussied up to be attractive. That's kind of been apparent for a couple of years now, but this new "merger" thing is more overt than the norm.
Finally, wishing all of you and your families a Happy and Healthy New Year!