Pinnacol Foundation ramping up for 2011 Scholarships

I've shared information on this blog about the Pinnacol Foundation in the past (click here). It's almost 2011 and the Pinnacol Foundation is gearing up for the new year. The Foundation offers college scholarships to children who's parents have been injured on the job. More than 200 students have received these scholarships, and as the video below attests, the extra money towards college can make a big difference  in a young person's life who otherwise might not be able to afford the cost of higher education. If you know someone who might qualify, please have them visit the Pinnacol Foundation.

Team Nurse Case Manager: Temporary Assignment

We have a very rare opportunity for a Team Nurse Case Manager to join us for a short term temporary assignment. The assignment is anticipated to last for several months. I had the opportunity to speak with Jerica, the Business Director of one of our medium account teams, about this opportunity:



We have also advertised this opportunity on Craigslist:
Pinnacol Assurance, Colorado’s leading provider of worker’s compensation insurance and recognized as one of America’s Best Places to Work, seeks an RN to provide telephonic case management handling the medical aspects of workers’ compensation claims. This is a temporary assignment anticipated to last several months. Our nurses perform self-directed, professional level work in a fast paced team environment as they interact with injured workers, policyholders, and providers. A broad clinical background, and experience with rehabilitation, occupational health, managed care, or emergency nursing preferred along with the ability to  collaborate closely with claims representatives and work effectively in a team environment is a must. Requires current Colorado RN license.  For consideration apply online at www.pinnacol.com.

Where's the smartest place in America?

Using Census Bureau data, Portfolio.com just did a survey of the 200 largest U.S. markets to determine the metropolitan area with the "strongest brainpower". Boulder, CO, sometimes known as "the Berkeley of Colorado", topped the list. According to the article, five out of every six adults in the Boulder area (82.5 percent) have attended college, and 26 percent of Boulder’s residents hold master’s, doctoral, or professional degrees, the highest figure in the country. Ann Arbor, Michigan and Washington, D.C. were the runners up. Fort Collins, CO was number 5 on the list. The city of Merced, CA, known as "the gateway to Yosemite" was at the bottom of the list. Thirty-four percent of Merced’s adult residents left high school without receiving diplomas and only 11.3 percent hold at least a bachelor’s degree.


For those of us in the Denver area, Denver came in at number 21. 67% of Denver adults had attended some college, with 13% having earned a graduate or professional degree.

And yes, the article does point out that the higher the level of education, the higher the earnings power, with those holding advanced degrees having more than 300 percent higher annual earnings than those who drop out of High School.

Shanghai, China

Other recent studies indicate that overall the U.S. continues to fall behind other countries in educational achievement. One report released just this month showed fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranking 25th among peers from 34 countries on a math test and scoring in the middle in science and reading, while China’s Shanghai topped the charts, raising concern that the U.S. isn’t prepared to succeed in the global economy.

At Pinnacol we strongly believe in having a well educated workforce.

That doesn't mean that you have to have a college degree for every position with our company. But as the managers I support constantly tell me, they are looking for what we call "continual learners". In other words, these are folks who can and want to advance their knowledge in a variety of different ways - through ongoing formal education, on the job training, self-study, etc. This ability to constantly learn allows our employees to adapt to an ever more rapidly changing world. The way we do our jobs now is radically different from the way we did them when I first started with this company, and will be radically different in 5-10 years from the way we do them today.

Its that time of year!

As 2010 rolls to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read this blog since it first went live in March. This blog isn't really mine - it's yours, as you explore potential employment with our company. As the economy rebounds, hopefully in 2011, I know you will have increasing options when it comes to picking employers you might want to work with. All of us at Pinnacol are honored that you would consider working with our company.

From all of us, to all of you, best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and for a bright and prosperous new year!

New Opportunity for Medical Operations Assistant!

We have a new opportunity available on our Medical Operations team for a Medical Operations Assistant. Our Medical Operations team provides services to our physician network of doctors and other healthcare providers who treat injured workers throughout Colorado.

The ideal candidate will have at least 2 years of general office experience, preferably in an insurance or medical setting, and will be responsible for the administrative support of the team. Strong computer, typing, and data entry skills along with the ability to coordinate multiple tasks is required. If you, or someone you know is interested, please apply on-line at www.pinnacol.com/careers.

What's Pinnacol Reading?

On Friday I attended the Pinnacol Book Club discussion of our most recent book "The Five Disfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni. Written in the form of a business fable, the book chronicles the efforts of a newly-hired CEO of a start-up California Tech company to pull together her group of executives into a high performing business team.

The book is an easy and entertaining read and makes the case for the cause of dysfunctional teams being a combination of factors that build upon each other:

• Absence of TRUST
• Fear of CONFLICT
• Lack of COMMITMENT
• Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY
• Inattention to RESULTS

Overall the Pinnacol Book Club gave the book 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. Reviewers on Amazon give it 4 1/2 stars so I guess our Book Club members are a tougher audience! What struck most of the group was that the protaganist, the newly-hired CEO Kathryn, always had the perfect response as her team's weaknesses were unveiled, and we all sensed that, unlike the book, what happens in real life would never be so scripted. Despite its shortcomings, the book certainly shed light on many of the things that can and do go wrong in teams without the members even being aware.

Here's a sample of some reviews from our Book Club Members:

"None of the concepts were earth-shatteringly new, but they were all good reminders of the basic things that really matter.  The "fear of conflict" dysfunction was one I've thought about quite a bit.  Disagreeing with my team or my peers feels bad, but if everyone has a trusting relationship to start with, disagreeing can be very productive.  If there's a good healthy debate about an issue among a group of smart people, you're bound to come out with a better decision than you would if just one smart person made it."

"Overall this book was interesting, presented good concepts and ideas. It was a quick read that held my interest. The only thing I struggled with a little was it almost seemed too neat and convenient at times. Kathryn always seemed to know exactly what to say and how to present her arguments. Additionally, everyone seemed so at ease with making major life changes so quickly and effortlessly without as much pushback as expected. I did take some positive take away that can be applied in a personal setting: conflict can be positive and constructive and maintain commitment to an idea, project or job task."

"The Five Disfunctions of a Team was an easy ready and I enjoyed the story format of the book.  Overall, the concepts are good and the model is right on.  I would have liked to have read a factual story about a dysfunctional team/organization that turned itself around and sustained it's functionality over time.  I certainly agree that trust is the basis for all team success and think the author identified 4 other dysfunctions that quickly tear down a team's ability to be effective.  They build on each other but must constantly be revisited to ensure one dysfunction doesn't creep back in to the dynamics of a team."



Have you been reading any good business-related books? Let me know if you have a suggestion for what our Pinnacol Book Club might want to read in the future.

Around the World Cookie Festival Celebrates Diversity

Pinnacol values the diversity of our employees and every year sponsors diversity appreciation events including everything from guest speakers, to museum and photo exhibits, to Food Festivals. This last Wednesday Pinnacol celebrated diversity with an Around the World Cookie Festival.

Arranged through our Diversity Task Force, employees were treated to cookies from many different countries, from Ireland to Israel, Germany to Greece, China to Mexico.

Before the event I wouldn't have known a Ruggalach cookie from Baklava, but I do know that all the cookies were delicious!

Think you know your cookies? Try matching up the cookies listed below with their country of origin (for the answers, see the comments section):

Country                                       Cookie
America                                      Baklava
China                             Chocolate Chip Cookies
France                       Fortune and Almond Cookies
Germany                                Kolaches
Greece                                  Reposteria

Ireland                           Ruggalach Cookies

Israel                             Shortbread Cookies

Mexico                         Soda Bread Cookies

Poland                             Spritz Cookies

Scotland                            Tea Cookies

Colorado comes through...

You may have read before the Thanksgiving holiday that charitable organizations in Denver and throughout Colorado were struggling to gather enough donated food to provide holiday meals for those in need. You're also probably aware that the need this year is greater than normal due to the economic conditions we're facing as a State and as a nation.

One of the local organizations, the Denver Rescue Mission, had put out the word that they were in dire need of help, and Colorado businesses answered that need. Organizations as  varied as the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, XEROX, Delta Sigma LLC, Tree Land, Toyota Motor Sales, Mark Schlereth's Stinkin Good Green Chile, The Denver Foundation, Presidential World Wide Transportation, St. Anthony's Central Hospital, and The Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, stepped forward. Pinnacol and its employees were also  happy to participate. Companies raised money, held food drives, and donated turkeys so that the Denver Rescue Mission and other charitable organizations were able to share Thanksgiving meals with more than 150,000 hungry folks in Colorado.

The Denver Rescue Mission acts as a 'turkey collection center" that distributes turkeys to other organizations who are also providing holiday food boxes to those in need. This year, thanks to the efforts of businesses as well as the broader Colorado community, the number of turkeys collected was nearly 17,000 compared to 5,000 in a normal year. The increase allowed food to be distributed to organizations such as Project Hope, Wishing Well Enterprises, Metro Denver Partners, Straight Ahead Colorado, Food Works (COMPA), Arvada Food Bank, Weld County Food Bank, and others.

The need, of course, remains long after after the Thanksgiving holiday. Some food banks are reporting that they have only a third of the food they normally would at this time of year. And, as I mentioned earlier, the need is great. The Denver Rescue Mission alone serves more than 600,000 meals to hungry people and its just one organization.

Pinnacol is committed to doing what it can to help and we applaud Colorado businesses as well as the broader Colorado community in coming through during these very challenging times.

Pinnacol Systems Administrator

Pinnacol has a current vacancy for a Unix Systems Administrator so I thought I'd touch base with the hiring manager, Stewart, to get his insights into what he is looking for and what the position actually entails. I know that Stewart and his Data and Network Services team are very proud of the support of Pinnacol operations they provide, and as a non-technical user of a lot of the systems I always appreciate how infrequently service interruptions occur. I know enough about what Stewart's group does to know that there is a ton of work behind the scenes to ensure that our systems are up and running on a continual basis. If you have the right skill sets we'd love to hear from you as a potential addition to the team!

Job Announcement for General Accounting Manager!

We have an exciting new opportunity that has just opened on our Finance team. We'll be advertising this position in several places. Here is the actual ad:

General Accounting Manager
Pinnacol Assurance, Colorado’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance and recognized as one of America’s Best Places to Work, is seeking a General Accounting Manager to oversee all accounting activities including general ledger journal entries and account reconciliations, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable. Position is responsible for developing and maintaining accounting principles, practices, and procedures to ensure accurate and timely financial statements while providing support for corporate financials. Bachelors Degree in Accounting, minimum of five years accounting experience including management responsibilities, and CPA certification is required. Insurance experience is preferred. For immediate consideration, please apply on-line at www.pinnacol.com. To see what it’s like to work at Pinnacol check out our careers blog at http://pinnacolcareers.blogspot.com/.

Please note that this position does require a CPA designation!

I also had a chance to speak with the hiring manager for this new position and get her thoughts on what this position was all about:

 
If you, or someone you know, are interested in this rare opportunity to join our Finance team please submit an expression of interest via our company website at www.pinnacol.com/careers/.

Pinnacol Launches Corporate Blog

If you've spent any time on the Pinnacol Careers Blog, you know how highly we value our people. So it's only natural that our new company blog feature employees doing what they do best: sharing their expertise in all things workers’ compensation, from risk management and workplace safety to return-to-work programs, and much more.
Since we're a Colorado native, our company blog will focus on issues and trends that are most important to the businesses and organizations in the Centennial State. So drop in and take a look at http://www.pinnacolblog.com/ - and let us know if there's a topic you'd like our people to talk about.

Have you seen it?

Pinnacol recently unveiled a new ad campaign and you'll likely be seeing it both in print and on TV. It’s themed around the concept of "Good Makes Good" which is based on the belief that when we do good for our policyholders, they do good for Colorado.

In print you'll be seeing it in publications around the State and on television you'll be able to see it on some of the more popular shows.  If you'd like a sneak peek of the TV spot click here.

Are You Ready?

For winter, that is. As I write this the view outside of our building has gone from a bright, sunny, relatively warm November day with the clear blue skies Colorado is famous for to an ominous dark cloudbank rolling in from the mountains as a harbinger of all the winter driving delights that living in this region is infamous for.

Its that time of the year to check your vehicle. We had shared some tips from our Loss Prevention staff with our employees on steps to make sure they could handle winter's worst. This year a couple of our Loss Prevention staff have volunteered to spend a couple of hours helping employees who don't know the difference between transmission and power steering fluid run their vehicles through the following checklist:

15 – Minute Winter Vehicle Checklist

Date of Inspection: _____________

Vehicle License Plate: _____________

Items marked with an asterisk (*) are recommended checked or rechecked by a qualified mechanic

Required Documents
Current Vehicle Registration? Yes ____ No ____
Expiration date: ____________

Current Proof of Insurance? Yes ____ No ____
Expiration date: ____________

My Drivers License is current? Yes ____ No ____

Expiration date: ____________

General Inspection
Vehicle is routinely serviced and the oil and filters changed per the manual? Yes ____ No ____

Is there any body damage that might affect the vehicles safe operation? Yes____ *No ____

Tires
Tires are properly inflated consistent with the manual? Yes ____ No ____

Spare tire is present, in good condition,
and properly inflated? Yes ____ No ____

Tire tread is: adequate ____ questionable ____* poor ____* unknown ____*

Lights are in working condition?

Headlights: High beam Yes ____ No ____*

Low beam Yes ____ No ____*

Turn Signals: Front Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Rear Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Taillights Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Brake Lights Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Reverse / backup lights Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Hazard Lights (front / rear) Yes ____ No ____*
note left and right ________________

Mirrors & Glass
Rear view mirror and side mirrors are present, operable, and unobstructed? Yes ____ No ____

Windshield and window glass is unbroken, clean and unobstructed?
Yes ____ No ____

Under the Hood*
Engine and Fluid Levels

Battery is in good condition (posts and connections are not corroded)
Yes ____ No ____

Coolant OK ____ Not OK ____*

Oil Level OK ____ Not OK ____*

Transmission OK ____ Not OK ____*

Power Steering OK ____ Not OK ____*

Brake Fluid OK ____ Not OK ____*

Window Washer OK ____ Not OK ____

Last service date: _____________________

Accessories
Wipers are operable and blades are in good condition? Yes ____ No ____

Horn is operational? Yes ____ No ____

Owner’s safety manual is accessible? Yes ____ No ____

Seatbelts are operable and in good condition Yes ____ No ____

Door locks are operable Yes ____ No ____

The tire jack and wrench are present and accessible? Yes ____ No ____

Emergency Kit is present and accessible? Yes ____ No ____
Jumper cables 
Tire gauge 
Can of tire sealer-inflator 
Flashlight 
Winter gloves, hat, blanket 
Basic took kit with screwdrivers and pliers 
2 bottles of drinking water and energy bars 

Other items to consider if you travel frequently: spare headlamp bulb, extra fuses, engine oil, washer fluid, emergency triangle or flares, antifreeze, duct tape, spare ignition key, etc.

Repairs Needed:
____________________________________________________________________________________

Repair / Inspection Comments:
____________________________________________________________________________________

Employees who took advantage of the free vehicle checks also had the chance to win a fully stocked Vehicle Emergency kit. Don't wait until the "Check Engine" light comes on in the middle of a blizzard. Check your vehicle now so that you can handle what's bound to come our way over the next couple of months!

Do you bother to submit a cover letter?

There is some debate among candidates and Human Resources professionals about the value of a cover letter. With the move to web-based electronic application systems, has the cover letter outlived its usefulness? Not in my humble opinion.

Do I read every candidate's cover letter? No. Do I read every cover letter of candidates who's resumes have piqued my interest? The answer is absolutely yes.

In other words, when a candidate  applies to Pinnacol for an opening the first thing I look at is the resume, not the cover letter, because I want to know what the candidate has done (or at least professes to have done!). If the resume doesn't look like a fit for the position I honestly don't spend the time reading the cover letter. On the other hand, if the resume makes the candidate appear to be a potentially good fit for our opening, then I read the cover letter. And I read it carefully.

I look to the cover letter for supplemental information. The resume tells me about accomplishments and work experience. The cover letter helps tell me about who this person is. The way the letter is written, the information it contains, whether there are any typos, who its addressed to (I actually receive all sorts of cover letters addressed to companies other than Pinnacol), all form a deeper impression than what I can gain by only reviewing the resume.

I look to the cover letter to confirm my initial positive impression of the candidate that was formed by their resume. Sometimes it does this, but if its poorly written it usually changes my mind to the point where I'll no longer consider the candidate.

Our system allows candidates to attach, or copy and paste, both a cover letter and a resume. Sometimes candidates don't submit any cover letter at all. There are occasions where I am uncertain about my interest in the candidate after reviewing their resume and a solid, well-written cover letter can convince me to further consider them. In these instances if there is no cover letter to supplement the resume, the odds are that the candidate, whom I had only mild interest in to begin with, is not going to proceed in the process.

So what does all this boil down to? Here are my thoughts...

• A well composed, well-written cover letter can get you over the hump when your resume alone fails to convince the person reviewing it
• No cover letter at all hurts your chances of getting into the "further consideration" pile
• A poorly composed, poorly written (typos! mis-addressed!) cover letter is worse than no cover letter at all

Ask 10 Human Resources people about this and you'll likely get 10 different opinions but if you want the odds to be in your favor, a well-written cover letter certainly helps.

A Breath of Fresh Air

It's easy for people to be down in the dumps about the current state of the economy and the gloomy jobs front. From my perspective as someone who works in Human Resources its frustrating to see so much talent in the workforce not being put to good use. I can only imagine how frustrating it is from the job-seeker's point of view. I'm of that certain age where I sometimes catch myself looking at the younger generations wondering what they have to look forward to if things don't change. Then along comes someone to shake me up with a completely different perspective.

Penelope Trunk is a commentator on CNN, 20/20 and FOX News, and also hosts her own career advice website which sees more than half a million hits a month. Recently she wrote a piece on why young people don't fear the lousy job market. Among her observations:

• As the country moves to a knowledge-based economy, most Americans can no longer expect to earn more than the generation before them.
• When the economy rebounds it will likely not be a recovery where the traditional skills of older people come back into demand; the jobs that emerge will be in new sectors, will require different skill sets, and the financial expectations of employees will permanently shift because of the new realities.
• Young people know these things. They are not waiting around for things to change, to get back to how they used to be because that will never happen. Young people accept the realities of today and jump right in. According to Trunk this is why young people on a whole are optimistic about their ability to get a job and find their place in the world.

Though she acknowledges that the emerging generation is in horrible financial shape due to a combination of outrageous student loans and low wage entry jobs, she sees the future as bright. She's banking on the changing demographics of America favoring the younger generations in the years to come, and she may have a point. Even though their departure may be delayed, the Baby Boomers will eventually leave the job market, and when they do the younger generation will capitalize on the anticipated labor shortage.

Anyone who's been around the workforce for a while knows they've been forecasting a labor shortage for a long time now, but if it ever materializes as Trunk foresees, its certainly the Gen-Y group that will likely most benefit. According to Trunk they'll get higher paying jobs faster, move up the corporate ladder more quickly, and they'll be able to remake the workplace in their own image without much resistance. When you look at it from that perspective, why not be optimistic? She even quotes a finding from Pyschology Today that people who are optimistic are more likely to create their own luck. And she makes a point that I think most of us would agree with - a successful career is a combination of hard work and good luck.

Perhaps this optimism is in part born of the fact that the younger generation isn't yet fully invested, either financially or emotionally, in their own status quo and has less to lose when the status quo of another generation crumbles. Still, reading Ms. Trunk's piece almost makes me wish I was younger and just starting out. Almost...

Is Schmoozing a Good or Bad Thing?

I read an interesting blog by Steve Tobak, one of my favorite bloggers, on BNET this afternoon that talked about the fine art of schmoozing. To me this word usually brings with it some negative connotations but after reading the blog I changed my impression. As the article points out, business success is all about relationships, and schmoozing enables these relationships. Merriam Webster defines schmoozing as : to converse informally : chat; also : to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favor, business, or connections. In this context I can see where the ability to schmooze appropriately might be an invaluable skillset.

The blog offers some tips on how to schmooze in an appropriate manner:

• Be credible.
• Focus on the other person, not on you. Connecting with others means finding things you have in common, not so much about what you think.
• People like to be schmoozed. Some folks go way overboard in their attempts to schmooze, but in general people like to be noticed, to connect and engage.
• Be open and genuine - in other words, be yourself. People see right through you when you're not.
• Don't overdo it. I suspect this is where most of my negative connotations with schmoozing come in. A little goes a long way, too much is not appropriate!
• Be respectful of people's time and boundaries.
• Don't talk at people. People like to be engaged, which means you're doing as much listening as talking. As the article points out, give a little, get a little.
• Let yourself be schmoozed. Its not just you who wants to develop relationships, others want to develop them with you. Give them the chance.

What I like most about the article is the emphasis on relationship building. At Pinnacol we all operate in a team environment where relationships are key to our success. And its not just internal relationships. Developing effective relationships with our customers and other stakeholders is what keeps Pinnacol a leader in our industry. So the next time someone tries to "schmooze" me, maybe I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, and avoid automatically jumping to negative conclusions about what they are doing.

In a similar vein I came across the following video from the folks at AARP who have been nice enough to recognize our company as one of the best places to work for people over 50. For some of you web wizards it may be simplistic, but for the rest of us its a good synopsis of the value of networking and how do it.

Pinnacol Carnival

As part of our annual Employee Giving Campaign we host a number of fun activities and functions. This year's theme was "Carnival". Employees enjoyed everything from pie-eating and pie-throwing contests, to Dancing with The Stars (thanks to a Wii system), to getting their caricatures drawn by a local artist. All proceeds went to benefit United Way and the Pinnacol Foundation. Our management staff were as always great sports, taking pie after pie in the face to support these great charities. Here's a quick glimpse at some of the fun!

33 Good Reasons to Celebrate Life

See more at Denver Post Photo Blog

Like many of you, I watched the amazing rescue of the miners in Chile - 33 miners plucked from certain death by the hard work of the rescuers more than 2,000 feet above. It seems the entire world was watching, waiting, and hoping for a successful outcome after months of effort. This morning the news is reporting that most of the miners are in 'remarkably good health' considering what they have had to endure. I'm not surprised. I know a molybdenum miner in the Colorado mountains, and if the miners in Chile are anything like him, they are an exceptionally hardy lot.

The reality is that this amazing rescue will too soon fade from the media's attention. We'll remember it as a feel-good event in our collective consciousness. 69 days these miners spent trapped underground. During those 69 days I'll admit that I only gave fleeting thought to the plight of these miners, paying attention only as the occasional news story flashed by.

There are many other mines in the area of the San Jose mine where these miners were trapped. News reports indicate nearly 10,000 miners work in this area of northern Chile. And for each of the 69 days their peers were trapped, these 10,000 miners continued to go to work, deep underground, facing the same risks and uncertainty that caught their fellow miners in the San Jose. A somewhat eerie fact is that since 2000,  34 people, about the same number as those who were trapped, have died every year on average in mining accidents in Chile — with a high of 43 in 2008. Though I'm sure they were covered by the press, I can't recall a single news story about those accidents. In doing a little research I found that another miner at the San Jose had lost a leg in a rockfall just a month before the 33 rescued miners were trapped.

Henderson Mine
(Click on image to enlarge)

To me, being 2,700 feet underground, let alone trapped, is mind-boggling. Yet the Chilean mine is not particularly deep compared to others. Right here in Colorado the Henderson Mine near the western base of Berthoud Pass is 2 to 3 times deeper, and in South Africa the TauTona gold mine reaches more than 12,600 feet (2.4 miles) underground. The 'commute' to work in a lift cage that transports the workers from the surface to the bottom dropping at speeds up to 16 meters per second (36 miles an hour) can take up to an hour. My commute from the west side of Denver to our Lowry location takes about that long and the only thing I have to deal with are my fellow Denver drivers.

While we celebrate the incredible rescue that's taken place this week in the desert of Chile, as a workers' compensation company we realize that every single day, 365 days a year, workers are engaged in all sorts of risky, and sometimes dangerous jobs. Our attention is on preventing the types of accidents that trapped the Chilean miners, as well as mitigating the risks that Colorado workers face every day. While perhaps not quite as exciting to read about as a mine rescue, we think those efforts are invaluable to the nearly 1.5 million employees working for our insured policyholders.

 

Word of the Day...

I was at a meeting today that touched on how Pinnacol can better help employees develop their skills so that they are continually ready for whatever changes their career might bring. From promotion within their current job family, to being able to step out of their current role and tackle something completely different, Pinnacol, as I suspect is true of most employers, expects people to have the foundation of basic skills that make them mobile in terms of growth. If they don't have the basic skills, career mobility is limited. In the 'olden days', they referred to this as the Peter Principle - where people were promoted to the level where their incompetence would suddenly manifest itself and curtail further advancement.

We do all sorts of assessments at Pinnacol. Some are done to determine if employees are ready for a move into another position that is currently open. Others are done to help the employee become ready for a future move. This second type of assessment is developmental in purpose. Given the debate about educating our children and the quality of education in America it should come as little surprise that we find many employees who struggle at some level with even the most basic math and verbal skills. Most companies seem somewhat weak at helping employees develop these skills deficits once they have been identified.

Thus the purpose of the meeting I was attending. Our Learning and Development team has a Development Page on our company Intranet, and the outcome from today's meeting is that we believe we can do even more to help our employees as they aspire to bigger and greater things.

You'll notice that I've added a new widget to the right side of the blog called Word of the Day. I believe that great things start small and that something as simple as helping employees increase their vocabulary is one small step in that journey. The first word that came up is nepenthe - a word I candidly had never heard before. Yet before ten minutes had gone by I had a fellow employee tell me a story about this great little restaurant in Big Sur, California named Nepenthe. Its really a clever name for a restaurant (see the definition under comments below if you don't already know it!) and if I'm ever out that way, I plan on visiting.

Until then, we'll continue to add additional resources, big and small, to help our employees develop their skills. And so that you don't fall too far behind, we'll continue to share the Word of the Day with you as well. Now if I can just figure out how to use the word 'nepenthe' in a sentence...

Sports Jersey Friday

We are in the midst of our annual Employee Giving Campaign to help support the Mile High United Way and the Pinnacol Foundation. There will be all sorts of fun events surrounding the campaign. One of the more popular events is Sports Jersey Friday where employees can, for a $5 donation, wear their favorite team's jersey to work.

Pictured here is Doretha, one of my co-workers in Human Resources. Doretha DOES NOT like to have her picture taken, but this morning she was a good sport and allowed me to take her snapshot. Doretha is a die-hard Bronco fan. I don't know if the picture does her full justice - from her jacket to her jersey, to her earrings and her jewelry, she lives and breathes Broncomania from September to whenever the season ends for her favorite ponies. Doretha has actually attended a Super Bowl, alas, not when the Broncos actually won, and in her heart she believes its just a matter of time before she sees Mr. McDaniels and crew hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy in the air.

Time will tell how the Broncos do this year, but I do know that our employees enjoy Sports Jersey Friday and being able to have fun while supporting a worthy cause.

Stupid?

Pinnacol supports a lot of local non-profits in the local community. One of them is the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. The video below highlights one of the many success stories coming out of that organization. Since 1961 the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver has been fullfilling its mission of  inspiring and enabling young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens.

Pinnacol also started the Pinnacol Foundation which awards college scholarships to the children of workers who have been injured on the job. It seems to be the way of the world that it is children who are hit the hardest when adversity strikes. Pinnacol and its employees are pleased to be able to make an effort to help those who are often facing the most difficult challenges of their lives - be it an injured worker unsure of how they will feed their family while off work, to Kristen, the young girl highlighted in the video, who has faced eviction 19 times over the course of her young life.

There is discussion at the macro-economic level where folks in ivory towers debate whether companies should donate back to society, or if their sole purpose should be to generate economic gain for their shareholders. Pinnacol doesn't technically have shareholders as a quasi-public authority, but if we did I would think we might argue that good companies can, and should, do both.  We are in good company in Colorado. Many businesses feel the way we do and are making an active difference in their communities. As a Colorado-based company, our sole focus is on protecting the people of this great state, and we look forward to continuing to do that as long as we are needed.

I Didn't Know That...

One of my fellow employees, Karla, will be presenting at a NAMIC (the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies) conference in Florida next week. Her topic? Social media. Her audience? HR professionals and other insurance folks. NAMIC was originally founded in 1895 so they've seen a ton of change over the last 115 years. But if they think they've seen a lot in the last century, they'd better fasten their seat belts for what's coming. I had interviewed  Karla about what it was like when she joined Pinnacol. She shared with me a preview of what she'll be presenting and the folks at the conference are in for a treat!

Back in March I had blogged about the rapid shifts in technology. Part of that blog related to a short video called Did You Know which was created several years ago by a local Denver-area High School teacher trying to educate his fellow teachers about the changes being brought about by the dramatic shifts in technology.

Since the original there have been several updates so I thought I'd share one of the newer versions. This one - Did you Know 4.0 - tackles some of the implications being rendered not just by technology but by how people are using it - in other words, social media. I've always thought that if I ever had a genie in a bottle to grant me three wishes my number one wish would be for a crystal ball so that I could see what was coming in the future. That's why I share these types of videos with you. It's a glimpse, albeit a small one, into what that future might have in store.

What not to wear to an interview...

I've read a couple of articles recently about the changes in fashion and how they impact on how candidates should, and should not, present themselves in an interview. One of the articles talked about a lady in England who was told by a career counselor that she'd have a better chance of getting a job with a bag over her head than to show up displaying all of the tattoos she had. The lady's response was that her tattoos were reflective of her lifestyle and who she was as a person and she shouldn't have to change. Who's right?

The article, by Suzanne Lucas (AKA "Evil HR Lady"), argued that lifestyle choices come with consequences and that many traditional companies would not hire someone who doesn't look the part for the position they are seeking to fill. The article pointed out that "By and large, sales people are better looking than other folk because — surprise! — they take better care of themselves and understand that appearances are important." I had never thought of that, but I think they may be on to something. I know our marketing representatives on any given day dress far better than the rest of us at Pinnacol because they are directly meeting with our customers and need to portray  a very professional image. They are the face of Pinnacol to many of our customers.  For them appearance really matters because it makes a difference in the impression our customers have of us.

Some of you are scratching your heads and wondering why I am wasting words on such an 'obvious' topic. Well, like common sense which is unfortunately not all that common, what may be obvious to some is clearly not obvious to others. We get thousands of expressions of interest from candidates each year and I'm fortunate to be able to interview several hundred of them. Over the years I've seen almost everything in candidate attire, from blue-jeaned candidates meeting with suit and tie interview panels, tennis shoes with professional dress, to assorted piercings, tattoos, and other body art.

From a recruiter's perspective anything out of the ordinary is a distraction and from a candidate's perspective its probably not a good idea to distract from what you really want to present about yourself - that you can do the job.

I had a candidate many years ago that I'll never forget. This was a young lady that came in with a tattoo of Calvin and Hobbes (a wonderful  comic strip, alas,  no longer available, about a young boy - Calvin - and his imaginary tiger - Hobbes) on a part of her anatomy that as a recruiter I don't usually spend too much time staring at. To say it was a distraction is an understatement, and to this day I think to myself that Calvin and Hobbes never looked so good. Distraction aside, this young lady proved to be a good candidate and actually got the job we had open. And yes, she was smart enough (or someone pulled her aside and told her) to cover up C&H while at work.

At Pinnacol we work in a business casual environment every day with dress down days (casual days) on Fridays. That said, you won't see a lot of tattoos, body piercings, etc. during the work day. Every company has its own culture. As a candidate I'll finish with a last bit of excellent advice from the article mentioned above: before you go for a job interview, make an effort to find out what's appropriate for the company you are applying with.

A conversation with one of our Web Developers

Over the next several weeks we will be adding a Web Developer to our On-line team. This position will be filled with a contract to hire candidate which is a little different from the way we normally bring people into our organization.

Contract to hire means that we will be going through one of our vendors who source IT professionals for contract assignments. Unlike a normal contract, this one will allow the candidate, if successful, to convert to regular Pinnacol employment as their contract nears an end. Why bring someone on this way? Primarily because it allows us the opportunity to judge the contractor's work product before committing to the actual hiring decision. This is a fairly common practice in company IT groups and we have successfully used this method in the past with other technical positions.

I had a chance to sit down with Kevin, one of the technical wizards on our on-line team, to get his observations about the work this position will be doing, the nature of the team, and the skills we will be looking for:

Job Announcement for UNIX System Administrator

Here's a unique opportunity for an experienced System Administrator to join our team. We are looking for someone having a minimum of 3-5 years as a Solaris Systems Administrator. Experience supporting Oracle in a 3-Tier server environment, Legato Backup Software, AppWorx and Veritas Files Systems a plus. Knowledge of LINUX and administering Lawson and Microstrategy desired. Our System Administrator is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining UNIX systems supporting 600 users in a Solaris/Oracle configuration. For consideration please complete an expression of interest via our company website.

When was the last time you had breakfast with your CEO?



Ken teaching
Junior Achievement at a
local school; I had no idea
about his other teaching
background...

 When was the last time you had a conversation with your CEO? At most American businesses its a rare occurrence for an employee to spend much, if any, time with the man or woman heading up their organization. At Pinnacol our CEO, Ken Ross, regularly sits down with employees through his Coffee Talk With Ken series. This morning I had the opportunity, along with a couple of my fellow employees, to chat with Ken on issues ranging from the state of the economy, health care reform, the upcoming legislative session and election, to our company's financial performance. Ken's experience covers both a legal background as well as having headed up the New York state workers' compensation fund. I always learn something new at these sessions which is why I make a point of attending several each year, and today I found out that Ken also has a teaching background having taught insurance classes at the City College of New York. He also indicated that he may have the chance to do some guest lectures with Regis University through their M.B.A. program.

These sessions also give Ken the chance to meet and hear from his employees. This morning he met Curt, one of our newest employees who started with us in July. Curt mentioned that its a fairly steep learning curve upon joining Pinnacol. One of the things I always recommend to new employees is that they attend one of Ken's sessions sooner rather than later and I wish more employees, new and seasoned veterans alike, took advantage of the opportunity.

One thing that always has impressed me with the CEO's I have seen at the helm of Pinnacol Assurance is that they seem to be well grounded with a firm grasp of reality. In this morning's meeting Ken didn't profess to have a crystal ball and he readily acknowledged the uncertainty that the future holds. The nation is in the midst of economic upheaval, Colorado's political climate is up in the air, and the only certain thing apart from death and taxes is that no one on this planet knows for sure what 2011 is going to bring. As another employee, Wendy, pointed out, insurance is all about managing risk, and these sessions with Ken are a nice touch point to get some reassurance that the organization is on track to deal with whats potentially on the horizon.

Its not personal... Its business

I've blogged about The Apprentice T.V. show before, and happened to catch the season premier last night. This season's special twist is that all of the contestants are unemployed. They actually showed one contestant phoning in to his state's unemployment office during the show to do his bi-weekly check-in.

The assignment the contestants were given was to decorate office space - a pretty mundane assignment in my humble opinion. The two teams, men versus women, were both about as dysfunctional workgroups as I could possibly imagine. Even before they had found out which team had won, they were  turning on each other like wolves fighting over scraps. I understand that this makes for interesting viewing but I wondered if the circumstances these contestants found themselves in - being unemployed - was bringing out the worst in these folks. The teams, and I use that term loosely, were brutal in their assessments of the project manager's leadership skills. I don't know if there is such a term as 'followership' but these folks clearly didn't have it.

In my work at Pinnacol I see a lot of employee satisfaction surveys and results. One of the questions these surveys always seem to ask is around the notion of "we're all in this together". Mr. Trump and his management style seem oriented toward the master-slave relationship. The hapless young lady who was the project manager on the losing team was fired not so much for her performance as her apparent inability to fend off the attacks of those working for (not with) her and for not being able to control such a rowdy bunch of wanna-be Donald's.

Pinnacol has been arranged around multi-functional teams since the late '90's. We know that we succeed or fail as a group. It seems obvious to us that the minute we start pointing fingers at our team members instead of helping each other we're almost doomed to fail, but an alien from another world who watched last night's show would think American business  is completely driven by "me" rather than "we". If you watched the show you probably noticed one lady who went above and beyond in her criticism of her project manager to the point that even Mr. Trump commented on her disloyalty. I sympathize with the rest of the group that will continue to work with this individual. Good entertainment perhaps, but the antithesis of good team work.

By contrast, I was watching the talent show series "America's Got Talent" which had its season finale on Wednesday. There were a handful of finalists any one of which I would have been thrilled to see win. While there could only be one winner, they were all worthy. Hard work and sacrifice, real passion for what they were doing, and accountability for their own performance were the common traits. If Jackie Evancho, the 10-year old with the amazing voice, faltered on a certain note in front of an audience of millions there would be no one else to point the finger at. That's a harsh but incredibly valuable lesson for anyone, especially such a young child, to learn.

I may tune in from time to time to catch more of The Apprentice, but if the current crop of contestants reflects the current state of  what's best in American business then I'm afraid recovery is going to be a long time coming.

 

New job announcement for Spanish Services Liaison!

We have just put up on our company website an exciting new opportunity. We are looking for a Spanish Services Liaison to provide enhanced business communication for the benefit of our Spanish-speaking customers.

This position has two primary responsibilities - to support, train and oversee the development of our Spanish Services Representatives and to create, translate, and maintain Spanish language materials, including web-based, for the benefit of our Spanish-speaking customers.

Successful candidates for this position must be fluent (able to read, write, and speak) in both English and Spanish and be able to translate in both a spoken and written format between the two languages in a manner appropriate to the target audience. We do assess bilingual skills as part of our interviewing process. A Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, Communications, or related field along with in-depth professional experience with the Hispanic culture and 1-2 years interpretation training experience or similar teaching background is required.  For immediate consideration, please submit an expression of interest on-line.

Here is a Spanish version of the announcement:

Pinnacol Assurance, el asegurador más grande de compensación de trabajadores de Colorado, esta en búsqueda de un Enlace de Servicios en Español que proporcione comunicación de negocios para el beneficio de nuestros clientes Hispanohablantes. Esta posición tendrá dos responsabilidades primarias – proveer soporte, entrenar y supervisar el desarrollo de nuestros Representantes de Servicios en Español y crear, traducir, y mantener materiales en Español, incluyendo en la web, para el beneficio de nuestros clientes Hispanohablantes.  Es necesario hablar en los dos idiomas, Ingles y Español con fluidez (poder leer, escribir, y hablar) y traducir en forma hablada y escrita entre los dos idiomas en una manera apropiada para la audiencia objetiva.  Se requiere una Licenciatura en Español, Comunicaciones, o en una carrera relacionada, junto con una experiencia profesional profunda con la cultura Hispana y 1-2 años de experiencia con entrenamiento de interpretación o experiencia similar.  Para consideración inmediata, favor de solicitar en www.pinnacol.com

Biggest Loser comes to Pinnacol!

Unfortunately neither Bob or Jillian were available (if you were a contestant, which trainer would YOU prefer?), but some of our employees in our Corporate Services team thought it would be fun to have a Biggest Loser contest. Over a 12 week period our Pinnacol weight warriors are exercising and trying to eat smarter. They are also drinking flavored waters instead of soda and pop. I talked with Heather, who came up with the idea, and she told me they're in week 4 and as a group have already lost more than 60 pounds! And yes, just like on the show they do weekly weigh-ins. Those at the end who have lost the greatest percentage of weight will win cash prizes as well as the admiration of all the rest of us who gain weight just by looking at food. They've even got their manager Amanda participating.

The flavored water was intriguing to me as every day they have a different fruit or vegetable that they add. Everything from mangos and nectarines, to strawberries and oranges, rasberries, apples, lemon, and even cucumbers have been used to dazzle up their H2O. I tried the nectarine water and it was remarkably good. I'm pretty sure I'm glad to have missed when cucumber was the flavor of the day, though several employees told me it was really not that bad. One of the best outcomes so far has been the support of people who are not in the contest of those who are.

Pinnacol hosts Weight Watchers as well as lots of wellness resources including an on-site exercise room and fitness classes, but congratulations to Heather and the team for taking a great idea and turning it into tangible results! Given where they are in only week four, they'll likely lose as a group the equivalent of an entire person by the end of the 12 weeks. Now if I can only get Bob or Jillian to be MY personal trainer...