Vault’s Verdict

According to firm insiders, Chartis boasts a supportive culture that emphasizes collaboration, sustainability, and work-life balance. With no up-or-out policy, consultants don’t compete against one another for promotions and can advance through their careers at their own pace. Hours tend to average between 40 and 45 per week, outside of busy periods, and senior leaders champion work-life balance. Although the firm has a remote-first work environment, it offers several chances for staff to meet in person each year. Insiders find it easy to take PTO if they advise leadership ahead of time, and part-time work and sabbaticals are available for tenured employees.

When new consultants start at the firm, it provides many resources to drive their success. Every new employee receives an onboarding liaison and a development lead to help them understand the internal workings of the firm and find staffing on projects that fit their goals. Associates appreciate the firm requiring a structured feedback process between projects, and they describe promotions as fair and transparent. 

Compensation at Chartis is competitive, but many insiders feel their base salary is slightly below the industry average and wish the firm offered faster salary progression. However, with reliable bonuses based on firm performance, parental leave and family planning benefits, a solid 401(k) match, a wellness stipend, and family planning benefits, the majority see the overall compensation package as highly competitive, especially given their work-life balance. Meanwhile, inclusion is a strong suit and, in fact, is one of the firm’s values. As for the firm’s business outlook, Chartis has been growing quickly in recent years, the acquisition by Blackstone has resulted in investments in key areas, and the firm is very well positioned in its industry.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “The firm does have a strong culture, and we meet up multiple times annually in person even in a remote-first environment. Availability expectations are high after hours with pings sometimes at all hours. I am able to ignore them on the weekends largely.”
• “We have a great culture of support, equity, and opportunity. We genuinely like each other and are committed to lifting each other up rather than directly competing internally. It’s pretty special.”
• “Firm culture is fantastic; everyone gets along well and makes and effort to develop personal relationships. Balance is also heavily emphasized.”
• “The company culture champions balance from the top down. It is very easy to take time off and PTO is very strongly respected across the firm. However, we service nonprofit clinical systems, so hotels are not usually fancy and we do not engage in much of the luxury expenses folks think of when they think of management consultants. But that is more than worth it given we want to be true partners to our clients.”

Quality of Life

• “The firm does a great job promoting flexibility and work-life balance. There are times when longer hours/weeks are required to fulfill project expectations, but they do a great job of balancing that with flexibility when project workload is more manageable. Teams are respectful of scheduled time off and trust team members to complete their work around their personal commitments.”
• “Great formal work-life balance policies (e.g., PTO, part-time work, sabbatical opportunities, etc.) plus informal support systems that are a part of the culture. Generally good balance of client on-/off-site time. Travel is very custom to each client’s needs, so you’re not wasting time if you don’t need to be there.”
• “While hours can be long, especially as project timelines get tight, Chartis does a good job assessing each FTE’s capacity ensuring an (ideally) 45- to 50-hour work week, on average. Taking time off is easy and encouraged, as long as it’s planned in advance and communicated to project teams.”
• “Chartis wants its people to be happy and to have a livable work-life balance. For that reason, they allow staff to live pretty much anywhere, they encourage you to take time off, and they are transparent about work that may require travel.”

Career Development

• “Our informal mentorship program ensures everyone has a less formal onboarding liaison, as well as a formal development lead who makes sure projects are aligned with our personal development goals. Everyone is easy to reach out to and willing to take the time to speak about any questions we may have.”
• “One key positive is that between engagements there are transition calls that include your mentor, previous manager, and upcoming manager to discuss your goals, what went well, areas for improvement, and support needed to achieve your goals in the upcoming engagement.”
• “There are lots of formal and informal training opportunities with most of the formal being in-person sessions at a central office location. The promotion process is very deliberate and tracked very well so you always know where you stand with respect to the development needed to reach the next level.”
• “Promotion processes are very transparent and fair. I feel like every person who is operating at the next level is able to be promoted without worrying about whether too many people are getting promoted during that cycle. The firm promotes a feedback culture through formal and informal processes. There is a strong mentoring culture through robust learning programs and development leaders who you meet with biweekly.”

Compensation

• “Firm does a great job with incentives through equity and profit-sharing opportunities. The base salary is slightly below peers, but the equity growth and other benefits (i.e., PTO, flexibility) make it worth it overall.”
• “Solid salary. The bonuses are funded at the beginning of the year and guaranteed, so at the start of the year I know what my end-of-year bonus will be. However, salary progression is weak.”
• “Competitive pay, good 401(k) match, annual salary adjustments. However, there’s a longer time to promote. Sometimes promotion pay increases feel low because of the annual inflationary and market adjustments that happen even if you’re not promoted”
• “There are more benefits in this category than I can even remember. We get $250/quarter to go towards wellness. We’ve got great health insurance including dental and vision. We also have family planning benefits that include fertility testing and other related benefits.”

Inclusion

• “Our firm strives to have a strong sense of inclusion for people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, gender, etc. Our firm has a DEI affinity team that helps establish events, lunch-and-learns, and discussions to facilitate awareness and support for DEI communities and create an inclusive workplace.”
• “Active investment in and support for affinity groups for veterans, women, Latinx, LGBTQIA++, Pan-Asians, and African Americans.”
• “We have a full-time DEI team, an internal DEI group of volunteer colleagues, multiple DEI events each quarter, an anti-racism board, and a health equity group that promotes health equity in the healthcare industry. I think the firm makes a real effort to be very inclusive and welcoming.”
• “Inclusion is a firm value, and I feel valued as a woman, minority and someone with a disability. I have equal access to high quality work and promotion opportunities.”

Business Outlook

• “The firm’s outlook is tied to the overall market performance, but the leaders are well positioned and well regarded to continue being trusted advisors in the space.”
• “Being in healthcare, the pipeline remains strong because there will always be demand there. The firm has also been able to diversify revenue streams through acquisition, so even if one line of business is stagnant, there are others that are growing. The firm is also looking to be more innovative regarding use of AI.”
• “Recent acquisition by Blackstone has infused a significant amount of cash to make investments in some critical areas. I would like to see us become more innovative, but we are hampered by how innovative our clients are willing to be. Innovation comes with risk and risk is not always welcome in health care.”
• “I think we are well positioned in the industry. We have a strong reputation, and I think we do good work for both our clients and for healthcare, in general. We’ve grown really fast over the time I’ve been with the firm, and our culture is really appealing to new colleagues.”

Hiring Process

• “The firm’s interview process is very typical. It consists of one behavioral and one case interview. The callback process is about a week after the interview. The ideal candidate my firm is seeking is someone with strong interpersonal and analytical skills who shows the willingness to learn and expand their industry and consulting knowledge/experience.”
• “The interview process is multi-stepped, and candidates will get to talk with multiple levels of colleagues at Chartis. The ideal candidate is able to understand a problem and work towards a solution with ordered steps and translatable processes. They are able to speak up if they have questions and are eager to learn from those around them while being confident in their ability.”
• “Our firm is seeking people who display strong critical thinking skills in combination with analytic capability. Additionally, we want good people, people that want to give back and really seek to make healthcare delivery better.”
• “Someone who is interested in healthcare, who has a moral compass, who is driven and adaptable and understands what it means to be a consultant.”

Interview Questions

• “Typical business consulting cases (e.g., profitability, new market entry). Also have an analytical case that requires applicants to do an Excel-based data case. Behavioral questions asking about interest in healthcare, experience working on teams, with clients, etc.”
• “Explain what you think informatics is. When have you had to deal with a difficult leader? What did you think worked or didn’t work in your approach?”
• “Tell me about a situation when you had to build agreement among individuals with differing opinions on an issue? What was the key issue and what was your approach? Tell me about a time when you tackled a highly ambiguous problem by leveraging data and analytics to make a recommendation. Give an example of a time that you demonstrated your willingness to work hard.”
• “I was asked to provide a business plan for a farming company, provide a plan to increase revenue for a restaurant chain, typical behavioral questions, and questions about my expertise within the healthcare sector.”