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...

A glance at a screen...

We have a big screen in our lobby area near our


reception desk that displays all sorts of information, from meetings scheduled for the day, training sessions underway, videos about our company, and more. One of the things I noticed this morning as I came in was a snippet on why the flags in front of our building were at half staff. I have to admit there are mornings I don't even notice the flags have been lowered as I hurry into work, full of anticipation for what the day will bring. The items on the lobby screen rotate from view, so only those walking past at a certain time would have seen the snippet so I'd hazard a guess that this morning most of our employees missed the information about why Governor Ritter had ordered the flags lowered.

Army Captain Dale Goetz is certainly not the first soldier recognized by flags being lowered. At first I didn't make the connection of the name, and at least this morning I felt guilty enough about that to take the hint from our lobby screen to put some meaning behind the name.

Dale Goetz was 1 of 5 soldiers killed Aug. 30 by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He was based at Fort Carson, Colorado, and served as pastor of First Baptist Church in the South Dakota town of White from 2000 through 2003.

What stopped me in my tracks was that he is the first Army chaplain killed in action since 1970, during the Vietnam War.

I know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of priests, ministers, rabbis, and mullahs serving in the armed forces, often in harm's way. Unlike their fellow soldiers who are there to fight, and often to kill, the Dale Goetz's of the world are there for other reasons, most of them centered around  a quest for peace, spiritual awareness, and love of one's fellow man. They especially are not there to kill, or to be killed. The IED that killed Captain Goetz and his fellow soldiers didn't know who he was, what he did, or what he stood for. That he was willing to give his life for what he believed in is evidenced by his willingness to serve. But for a fleeting glance at a screen in our lobby as I strolled into work this morning, safe and sound and worried about nothing other than my upcoming day he would have simply been one name among many. In the future I'll perhaps give more pause as I pass flags lowered and remember there are people, not just names, behind the significance of the ceremony.

Funeral services for Captain Goetz, who is survived by his wife and three sons, are scheduled for today in Colorado.

CU Denver Launches Program funded by Pinnacol

Pinnacol Assurance is joining with the University of Colorado Denver Business School to create a new Risk Management and Insurance Program (RMI), the first of its kind in the state.

Pinnacol is providing a $5 million gift, allocated over seven years, that will fund a unique curriculum offering both graduate and undergraduate degrees focused on insurance and risk management. “We want this to be a nationally recognized institution for risk management and insurance knowledge creation and dissemination,” said Ajeyo Banerjee, Ph.D., associate professor of finance and director of the new RMI Program at the Business School. “We have been through a major economic crisis and some think this was caused by a failure to manage risk.”

Like other insurance companies, Pinnacol is concerned about the coming shortage of leaders. Industry officials say 50 percent of top managers will retire in the next decade. The RMI program will highlight career opportunities in insurance and risk management and help create a pool of qualified candidates to be the leaders of tomorrow.

“We envisioned a comprehensive curriculum that would enhance the reputation of the industry, be accessible to students of all ages, support our agent partners and provide an incubator for cutting-edge ideas in the industry,”

said Don Collins, Pinnacol’s chief marketing officer/vice president of communications and chairman of the RMI advisory council. “This partnership delivers in all of those areas, and we are grateful to the UC Denver Business

School for helping us make this dream a reality.”

The money will help support the hiring of new teachers, provide scholarships and fund an office suite. The RMI program, now enrolling undergraduate students for its first spring semester class in January 2011, will teach traditional risk management and insurance principles while exploring new ways to integrate them into changing business models. It will also host forums, provide student internships, recruit speakers, conduct research and work with the industry to place students in jobs.

The program will grow in phases, starting with an undergraduate component next year and leading to a graduate program in the future. Several Colorado companies and risk management professionals will actively participate and enrich the classroom experience. They have already reviewed and offered suggestions on course content and curriculum. The input has led to the creation of a course entitled “Legal and Ethical Implications of Risk,” which will deal with everything from water pollution to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

For school administrators, the RMI program fills a void in a region where risk management studies are rare or non-existent. “We want Denver to be the epicenter of risk management and insurance in the Rocky Mountain West,” said Sueann Ambron, dean of the University of Colorado Denver Business School. “Businesses today are looking at risk management as a fundamental. It’s an integral part of their thinking going forward.” Ambron said more and more people are becoming experts in risk management and insurance because the stakes are so high. “Failure to properly assess risk can bring an entity down,” she said. “The opportunities for students in this area are expanding rapidly and they have a good chance of finding jobs when they walk out the door.”

Located on the University of Colorado Denver’s downtown campus, the Business School is the largest accredited graduate school of business in Colorado with more than 21,000 alumni. It serves more than 1,200 graduate students and 1,400 undergraduate students each year. Students and faculty are involved in solving real-world business problems as they collaborate on more than 100 projects with area businesses every semester through classroom work, guest lectures and research projects.

More good news about Pinnacol as a place to work...

Its always nice to be able to share good news about Pinnacol Assurance! This morning we found out that we were again recognized as one of the top 50 best small and medium-size employers in America. Pinnacol was one of four Colorado companies to be recognized. Joining Pinnacol on the list were:
Infinity Systems Engineering, The Integer Group, and Ehradt Keefe Steiner & Hoffman PC.

The Great Place to Work® Institute, which also publishes the annual Fortune 100 Best Places to Work list of large employers, recognized Pinnacol for the third time in four years. “We are pleased to be named to this prestigious national list again this year,” said Pinnacol president and CEO Ken Ross. “We have worked diligently to build a culture of mutual trust and openness with our employees and our continuing placement on this list is evidence that those efforts have been successful. We continue to have high policyholder satisfaction and retention scores, which we believe is a direct result of our employee’s satisfaction with Pinnacol as a great employer.”

The Great Place to Work® Institute evaluated Pinnacol based on five areas:
credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. The Institute’s
methodology measures the level of trust that exists between employees and
management, the pride employees express about the company and the

camaraderie employees share. Congratulations to all of the companies and their employees on being recognized. Even in the midst of one of this nation's deepest economic downturns its nice to know that companies still recognize that the best way to take care of their customers is to also take care of their employees. To see the complete list of companies click here. Entrepreneur Magazine, which also helped sponsor this year's recognition, will have additional information on their site later this afternoon.