Passport to Wellness

For those of us who spend much, if not most, of our days behind a desk, getting enough exercise is a constant challenge. It's easy to get caught up in the ritual of a a busy work schedule and before you know it another day has flown by without getting anywhere near the amount of recommended physical activity. Employers are starting to get the message that healthy employees are productive employees and part of health involves getting getting up and out of our chairs and moving around.

Pinnacol offers all sort of health amenities to its employees from an on-site wellness center and classes to rewards and incentives to those who make the effort to take advantage of healthy choices. A new program just rolled out called Passport to Wellness. The program involves participating in upcoming wellness events both inside Pinnacol and out and offers incentives at different levels of participation.

I know the people who come up with these programs have their work cut out for them because its hard to motivate others to make healthy changes. I also know that some of the efforts have been successful. I can remember just a few years ago the on-site locker rooms and wellness centers were used by only a small handful of employees but now most days the wellness center is nearly full  and you have to wait for a shower at the end of a workout.

This weekend saw Denver host the Colfax half and full Marathon. This morning when I came in Silvia pulled me aside from her duties at our main reception desk to show me her medal for completing her first half marathon. She mentioned that just a year ago she wouldn't have been caught running because she had sore knees. Now she's completed her first half and is actually looking forward to doing more with aspirations of working her way up to the full marathon. She's also got her first "stamp" in her Passport to Wellness. Congratulations Silvia (and to all the other Pinnacol employees who also ran in this weekend's event) on a major accomplishment. You're a real inspiration to me and everyone else at Pinnacol!

Open Communication...

Pinnacol has been interviewing candidates for our open CEO position for the last couple of months, and during that time John Plotkin, our Board of Directors Vice Chair, has been serving as interim CEO. This week I had the chance to sit in with John as he held one of several employee round tables where employees share what is on their mind and John can answer their questions directly. During his time with us John has made a conscious effort to engage frequently with employees by attending team meetings and holding these round table sessions. Employees greatly appreciate his efforts and I think most of us feel very comfortable sharing thoughts and concerns directly with him.

John's efforts are not without precedent. While I'm still just a young pup with only 16 years of service, I've seen similar efforts by the two prior CEO's I have had the privilege to work under. Gary Pon was CEO when I first joined what was then known as the Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority (commonly referred to back then as CCIA). Gary had been instrumental in transitioning our organization from its days as a State Agency. Gary held regular Breakfasts With The President and I had the chance to attend many of these sessions. When Gary retired and Ken Ross took the helm in 2005 Ken maintained the tradition with his Coffee Talks With Ken sessions.

When we have new employees join the company I've always encouraged them to sign up for these sessions with our CEO's sooner rather than later. Not every company sees their CEO take the initiative and time to meet regularly with employees, and not every CEO is astute enough to realize this is more a learning opportunity for them as leaders of the organization than it is for the employees who attend. I had a teacher in school who used to say that to learn you first had to listen and my impression is that Gary, Ken, and now John, appreciate that sentiment.

We don't know yet who our new CEO will be but we are looking forward to wlecoming them to the organization. Hopefully whoever next assumes this role will continue, by whatever name, the ongoing dialog with employees.  

Business Director Assistant opportunity now available...

Due to a recent promotion we now have an opportunity available for a Business Director Assistant to provide support to three of our business team leaders and their multi-functional teams.

Our Business Director Assistants perform a broad range of administrative duties such as: preparing reports and presentations using charts, graphs, and narratives , handling customer correspondence and customer relations, and working on special projects assigned by Business Directors. This position also maintains calendars for Business Directors, schedules meetings, makes travel arrangements and prepares team expense reports. Our Business Director Assistants also maintain calendars and time off schedules for the teams and review staff timesheets for accuracy. They also plan and execute various events including group volunteering and team building activities.

Successful candidates must be able to handle multiple projects simultaneously with minimal direction while exercising frequent independent judgment within agreed-upon limits. Business Director Assistants must be able to act independently and exercise initiative in the coordination of administrative policies, regulations, and guidelines, projects, and financial analysis and be able to maintain effective working relationships with people throughout the organization while communicating effectively with the public and other agencies and organizations.   Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, excellent verbal and written communication skills, along with the ability to analyze, assemble, and compile information for reports and 3-5 years of experience in support of managers are required. If this sounds like you, please apply on-line!