The 2022 Fastest Growing Firms: ProspHire, LLC

Number of Billable Consultants: 55

Client Industries Served: Health Care

Consulting Service Lines: Integrated Clinical Care Solutions, Stars Performance Improvement, Business Growth and Expansion, Benefits Optimization, Government Required Documents, Program and Project Management, Vendor Management, Process Optimization, System Integration and Selection and Staff Augmentation

Website URL: www.prosphire.com

ProspHire is a management consulting firm focused on health care advisory, project delivery and strategic resourcing. Founded on the core value of relationships, with the goal to "prosper together," the Firm partners with clients to identify and solve their most significant people, process and technology challenges.

Consulting: What were the main factors that contributed to your firm's exceptional growth?

ProspHire: ProspHire increased revenue 56% and headcount by 30% year-over-year and we achieved that success with a survive and thrive mentality. The Firm invested in building the administrative infrastructure and made bold decisions in strategic marketing. Second, was the Firm's willingness and flexibility to partner with complementary and highly specialized organizations to deliver innovative and experimental solutions to our health care clients. Third, ProspHire's leadership supported inperson collaboration with amenities-that-matter, from the flexibility to come into the office to coffee chats with leadership to wellness perks. These, combined with empathetic and participative leadership, re-ignited a sense of community and belonging.

ProspHire made the list for the Pittsburgh Business Times Fastest Growing Companies in the Pittsburgh region for four years in a row (2019 – 2022). We also have been named to Inc. Magazine's annual list of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies for three years in a row – the Inc. 5000 (2020-2022). That means we have built the trust of our clients through consistent and reliable results over time and have made significant investments in experienced resources to continue to provide high quality, health care specific professional services. Our subject matter experts have extensive experience in the health care industry and are focused on understanding your business and providing added attention to technical details throughout your project and beyond.

Culture is a differentiator. To keep employees engaged, we are committed to a mix of hybrid collaborations and all-employee events, from monthly Town Halls to picnics and BBQs to establishing our "Rules for How We Work Together."  We also remain committed to our annual employee engagement program, where we share the results and develop action plans to address areas of opportunity. Those scores remained consistent at an average rate of 87% satisfaction for seven years.

An exceptional workplace is about creating a best-in-class people experience. It's about giving back to the communities in which we live, work and play. It's about how we "prosper together."

Consulting: How would you say you've managed to maintain growth during the unprecedented past three years?

ProspHire: COVID-19 has presented unprecedented and unforeseen challenges to our business. Our headquarters (affectionately known as PH HQ) in downtown Pittsburgh was closed from March through June. Also, as mentioned above, our Firm of 50 (used to traveling the country to serve our national health care clients) became an all-remote workforce. Clients made cuts to their budgets that impacted our business, and we rapidly implemented highly proactive measures to protect and preserve.

We upped our remote client service game, tightened our belts and focused our priorities to core operations. This was a humbling reminder of our beginnings. We are extremely proud to say that as a result of this pandemic, we have not had to furlough, reduce employee salaries or reduce headcount…which is absolutely incredible.

We recently reopened PH HQ with a host of health and safety protocols that exceed federal and state guidelines. It has been great to be together (yet safely socially distant and apart). As for our financial plan, we are still making up for lost ground, but the proactive measures we put in place will likely help us come close to meeting (or possibly exceeding) our goals, which I'm not sure most companies can say in 2020. For this we are grateful.

We also haven't stopped growing. Our headcount continues to increase (deliberately), and we welcomed our first-ever "virtual" new hires over the past few months.

Right now, we're focused on recalibrating our strategic priorities and service offerings to align with the post-pandemic economy. With this year soon behind us, there will be no stopping ProspHire in 2021 and beyond!

Consulting: How is this year shaping up for your firm?

ProspHire: ProspHire offers opportunities to activate, elevate and lead. This is represented in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program that works to build an inclusive environment, supporting and encouraging diverse voices. In 2021, we created a training for all employees and incorporated it into onboarding, mentored minority and underrepresented college students through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western PA and surpassed our 50% charitable giving action.

We continue to work collaboratively with our employees and clients to find solutions that work for each, be it virtually, hybrid or in person. This agile and people-focused client service mentality enabled the Firm to increase revenue 28% in 2021. We've also expanded the executive leadership team to include a Senior Director of Marketing and Communications and a Director of Human Resources. We continued to grow by hiring 37 practitioners in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and promoted 14 employees.

2021 was another award-winning year. ProspHire ranked in the top 10 on Modern health care's Best Places to Work in 2021 and 2020. We ranked for the third consecutive year in the top 10 on the Pittsburgh Business Times Fast 50 List of the fastest growing private companies in the Pittsburgh Region. We were also named an unprecedented two years in a row to Inc. Magazine's annual list of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies – the Inc. 5000 in 2021 and 2020.

Culture is a differentiator. To keep employees engaged, we are committed to a mix of hybrid collaborations and all-employee events, from monthly Town Halls to picnics and BBQs to establishing our "Rules for How We Work Together."  We also remain committed to our annual employee engagement program, where we share the results and develop action plans to address areas of opportunity. Those scores remained consistent at an average rate of 87% satisfaction for seven years.

An exceptional workplace is about creating a best-in-class people experience. It's about giving back to the communities in which we live, work and play. It's about how we "prosper together."

Consulting: How would you describe your firm's outlook for 2023? Where do you see the most opportunities?

ProspHire: These are unprecedented times, so it is hard to say what the workforce of the future will look like, or if our clients' expectations regarding "consulting" will change. That said, we remain "cautiously optimistic" and laser focused on helping health care companies solve their most pressing people, process and technology challenges.

This global pandemic has taught us valuable lessons about being lean, nimble and incredibly responsive. We have proven that our Firm can pivot to support the needs of our people and our clients as they evolve. In health care, our clients will always need help from partners like us who can help them execute programs, think strategically and respond quickly to their evolving needs.

Our seasoned health care advisors support transformative change by connecting strategic priorities to tactical plans. Our program and project managers (many of whom are PMP-certified) oversee and execute programs using a myriad project management methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, Six Sigma, Scrum, Hybrid, etc.) to drive results. All of our practitioners provide incredible bench strength for organizations that need to fill interim executive roles, fully staff departments and everything in-between.

We plan to continue to grow in headcount and to diversify our already national client base. From a health care industry perspective, we're looking to diversify our experience in payer and government programs and grow in the areas of Pharmacy, TeleHealth and Automation.

Consulting: What would you say are your firm's biggest challenges in 2023?

ProspHire: It's hard to predict what 2023 will bring. Given how much our past success has hinged on our incredible culture, continuing to make investments that build and sustain employee engagement will remain critical. We know we need to remain lean, nimble and incredibly responsive to the needs of our people and our clients as they evolve. The workforce models of the future may look different than they do today, but we have to figure out what works for us and what will yield the most success.

Consulting: What does being named one of Consulting's Fastest Growing Firms mean to your firm, your employees and your clients?

ProspHire: Consulting Magazine is a renowned name in the industry, and we would be humbled to receive this accolade. It's fantastic fun to be in "growth mode," but it's even more fun to grow our Firm responsibly and create sustainable jobs and economic growth for our city and its residents – all while helping our national clients provide better access to quality health care. Here's to continued growth…because we're just getting started!