What's in a badge?

Many people know that Pinnacol has a long history of serving the people of the State of Colorado. Since 1915 when the Workmens' Compensation Act (it wasn't until 1986 that the Act's title was changed to the Workers' Compensation Act) went into effect our company has protected businesses and injured workers alike.

Back in 1915 no companies had electronic security badges for their employees. In today's world they are commonplace and most employees pay little attention to their badges except when they need them to get through a door. Our current badges at Pinnacol have been in use since 2002 when we were anticipating our move to Lowry. Prior to the current badges which include our picture we had plain white badges with only a small number on them. When we developed the new badges there was considerable debate as to what they should look like. Our name had recently changed to Pinnacol Assurance (1999) and it was pretty straightforward that some type of mountain background would be used. Unlike some Colorado tourism ads through the years that have used images of the Grand Tetons, which are of course in Wyoming, we wanted a mountain that truly represented our state. There are lots of choices - in fact three are visible from our office building - Pikes Peak to our south, Mt. Evans which is almost due west from us, and Longs Peak to our north. Ultimately however the selection boiled down to one of the most recognizable pair of mountains in our state - the Maroon Bells.

Once we had agreed on which mountains to use then the search began for just the right picture.

Its hard to find a bad shot of the Maroon Bells but having to choose only one came down to which looked best as an actual backdrop for our new photo badges. The photo selected (the third one above) has been in use ever since.

We are now in the process of modernizing our security badges. As you can perhaps tell from my badge it is a little worse for wear (I still have my original badge). Even the picture is out of date. The average tenure at Pinnacol is about 10 years and there are a lot of young people pictured on our badges!  So perhaps it is time to take new pictures and get new badges though I profess I'll be sorry to see the old ones go. Having my Pinnacol badge has opened  a lot of doors, both literally and figuratively, for me throughout my career.

Worksite Wellness Representative opportunity now open!

Its hard for me to believe its been more than 5 years since we originally started this blog. The old adage of time flies hits home. One of the first blogs, appropriately titled "The World...Its'a Changin" shared a video created by a teacher at Arapahoe High School that has since taken on a life of its own. The original video - "Did You Know?" - documented how rapidly change was occurring in the world around us. In the years since there have been many new versions that have continued to highlight the ever faster evolution of change.

Why am I bringing this up? One of the things highlighted in the 2014 version of "Did You Know?"  is that the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2013 did not even exist in 2004. The job that we have open now would certainly qualify. The Worksite Wellness Representative is a new job at Pinnacol and is part of a new team appropriately named Worksite Wellness. At about the same time I was writing that original blog Pinnacol was starting a study in partnership with the Colorado School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University and Truven Health Analytics to see whether worksite wellness programs could improve worker safety and impact the outcome of workers injured on the job. Some of the key findings:

97 percent of participating policyholders reported that worksite wellness programs improve worker safety.

Worksite wellness programs can improve the health of participants and increase productivity in as little as one year.

A link between health risk factors and the frequency and cost of workplace injuries.

So what does our Worksite Wellness Representative do? The primary focus will be providing administrative assistance to our policyholders participation in the worksite wellness program. This position will also communicate the basic principles of the worksite wellness program guidelines, requirements, and procedures with our policyholders and will be responsible for managing the enrollment of participants in the worksite wellness program.

Candidates for this new role should bring a strong enthusiasm and commitment to wellness, and have strong interpersonal, customer service, and problem solving skills. PC Skills in a Windows environment with proficiency in Excel, Word and PowerPoint, GoToMeeting and conference calling are required as is the ability to type a minimum of 35 wpm. Two years of college is preferred along with work experience in customer service and administrative support. If this sounds of interest to you we'd love to have you apply via our company website.