Pot in the workplace? The answer is still no, but...

The Denver Post ran an editorial this morning arguing that employers have the right to require a drug-free workplace, regardless of Colorado's Amendment 20 which provides eligible sick people an affirmative defense to criminal prosecution for medical marijuana use. Increasingly courts are being asked to decide whether employees with medical marijuana cards are excluded from employers drug-free workplace rules. Thus far the courts have consistently ruled in employers favor. Eventually the Colorado Supreme Court will have to weigh in and depending on future changes to federal law the issue may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court at some point in the future.

As with most employers today, candidates who have been offered positions with Pinnacol Assurance must take a pre-employment drug test. Marijuana is one of the substances tested for. In talking with our vendor who does our drug testing I found out that there are employers out there who, upon being told the potential employee has a medical marijuana card, are waiving the positive drug test result. This is not the case with Pinnacol.

The Post editorial implies that there are many people who have come by their medical marijuana cards fraudulently in that they are not truly sick. And clearly people in certain types of jobs such as pilots, truck and bus drivers, and operators of heavy equipment shouldn't be under the influence of a drug that may impair their reaction time. The editiorial hopes that recent changes to the way the nascent medical marijuana industry is regulated will start to weed out those abusing the system.

However, as Colorado voters intended, there will remain folks who are truly ill, and who seek relief for their symptoms by using medical marijuana. Many of these folks will be gainfully employed or seeking employment. It will be these cases where employers may have to become increasingly sensitive as they enforce their policies in the future. Can a person using medical marijuana run a cash register? Can they serve someone a meal? Can they do an infinite type of jobs that don't directly impact public safety?

I'm thankful it won't be up to me to have to make these decisions. The broader society is going to have grapple with these issues. In the Human Resources world this is something that's not going away anytime soon and we'll be watching it closely. There is a joke about Colorado weather that if you don't like it, just wait five minutes and it will change. What the forecast is for the future of medical marijuana is anyones guess!

Becoming the Best...

Several years ago our CEO Ken Ross set for us the goal of becoming the best workers' compensation insurance company in the nation. This is a tremendously lofty goal given that there are more than 500 insurance companies across the U.S. that can sell this line of insurance. Approximately 200 of those are licensed to sell workers' compensation here in Colorado.

Like any journey, our path to this goal is fraught with trips and falls. One of the things I've admired about this organization since I first started is that regardless of how good we are at any particular moment we recognize that we are far from perfect. It is the striving for improvement that makes the journey worthwhile. Pinnacol has been in the news a lot this summer and over the last several years. Some of the stories have detailed our pluses, others have explored (in great detail!) our shortcomings. The reality is that we may not be as great as some of these stories make us appear to be, or as bad as others would make it seem. In all things there is a kernel of truth and the challenge of our organization remains what it has always been - to seek out that kernel, good or bad, and learn from it.

Our policyholders and other stakeholders would likely agree that in balance Pinnacol has more going for it than against it. The company continues to return dividends to most of the companies that insure with us, rates have decreased dramatically over the last decade, and we continue to guarantee coverage to any Colorado company regardless of the risk that they bring.

By contrast, I was reading this morning in Business Insurance magazine that California's workers' compensation system may need a complete overhaul. One sign of California's woes is the California Insurance Rating Bureau's proposal for a 30% rate increase. California happens to be the largest workers' compensation system in the nation, dwarfing Colorado by comparison. As proof that size does not always matter, no one in our industry would highlight California as having the 'best' workers' compensation system in America. So there is room for optimism as Pinnacol continues on its quest to become better and better. Will there be more stumbles in the future? Perhaps. But, as one of our team leaders, Amy, puts it in a video we show new employees, this is a continually learning organization. And if, as Confucius said nearly 2,500 years ago, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", that's a pretty good place to begin.

Something you won't generally catch me doing...

Something you won't generally catch me doing... being filmed! As part of this blog I've been fortunate to interview our employees about their thoughts on life at Pinnacol. In those videos its the person I'm speaking with that is the focus of attention.

This morning, Karla Barry, one of our training specialists, snagged me and turned the video spotlight my way. In fairness to Karla, I had done the same to her several months ago so I guess turn-about is fair play! (See our May 28th entry "A conversation with one of our Training Specialists") Karla will be presenting at an upcoming conference and wanted to get insight on how we use social media at Pinnacol. We have a social media guru, Ryan, in our communications team so I was a little reticent, but Karla was insistent.

I enjoy being involved in different aspects of social media because its a chance to communicate with lots of folks about our company and it keeps changing. Where social media will be, and what it will look like in 5 years I don't profess to know, but the journey from now to then will be nothing short of fascinating.

Most of Pinnacol's 600+ employees are active participants on a variety of social media sites from LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter among others. Our Chief Information Officer challenged all of us years ago to stay abreast of the changing technologies that have come to impact us and become a part of our lives. My tenure with Pinnacol started pre-internet, pre-email, and definitely pre-social media, and despite what my friends and family tell me about my not getting any younger that wasn't really all that long ago.

So here's to the future, whatever it may hold for social media. I for one, can't wait to see what unfolds!

Possible upcoming position on our finance team...

We currently have an internal job announcement up for an Accounts Payable Clerk and are actively looking at internal candidates who have an interest in joining our finance team. If we are unable to fill the position internally we will be looking externally. If you are interested in possibly being considered for this position should we need to look externally, please submit an expression of interest via our company website at www.pinnacol.com/careers.

While I can't guarantee that external candidates will be interviewed for this opportunity, I would like to have a group of folks for my hiring manager to look at in case she needs to look outside our company. Openings in our finance team are few and far between and this relatively entry level position is a great opportunity for someone looking to pursue an accounting and finance career. Ideally, external candidates will bring some real-world accounting/bookkeeping experience or an applicable degree, proficiency in Word and Excel, and the ability to understand interfaces between operating and financial systems. As with every position at Pinnacol a very strong focus on customer service is crucial. If you know of someone who may be interested, please let them know!

Pinnacol Foundation announces 2010-2011 Scholarships

Workplace injuries don't just impact the person who gets hurt on the job. They can also take an enormous toll on families of the injured worker – physically, emotionally, and financially. Often it is the children of injured workers who are asked to take on more responsibilities than other kids their age – from taking part-time jobs to becoming part-time caretakers. Sometimes this can mean sacrificing their dreams of continuing their education.

Back in 1998, Pinnacol executives discovered Kids' Chance, a nonprofit corporation developed by the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia. The group provides financial scholarships for children of permanently or catastrophically injured or deceased workers to complete their education.

In 2000, with guidance from Kids’ Chance, Pinnacol formed the Pinnacol Foundation. The Pinnacol Foundation College Scholarship Program awards scholarships to the children of workers who have been killed or seriously injured in a work-related accident while working for a Colorado employer regardless of insurance carrier.

Since its inception in 2000, the Pinnacol Foundation has awarded more than $1.3 million in scholarships to more than 200 students for post-high school education. The average scholarship amount is $3,000 for one year. Students can use the funds at any accredited institution of higher learning and may reapply up to five years or to age 25. For the 2010-2011 academic year The Pinnacol Foundation has awarded $290,250 in scholarships to 96 students.

“Five years after my husband’s death, the Pinnacol Foundation is still there for us,” said Jandale Carter of Greeley. Her husband, Barry Carter, a salvage yard mechanic, was killed in a work accident in 2005. Over the last four years, both her children have received the Pinnacol scholarship.

“We are so excited that Daniel was awarded a scholarship,” said Janice Frank-Tappy of Sterling whose son, Daniel Frank, will enter the Colorado School of Mines this fall. His father, Joseph Frank, was killed in a highway maintenance accident. “I am very proud of him, and I know his father would have been too.”

“It is a challenge for many children to get the education they want and deserve when a parent’s ability to work is taken away unexpectedly,” said Carole Sumption, chair of the Pinnacol Foundation Board of Directors. “Pinnacol recognizes that education is the key to Colorado’s future, and this is one way the company can help give these students opportunities for a bright future.”

 If you know of someone who might be eligible for one of these scholarships please let them know about this program. They can find additional information, including how to apply, by clicking here.

Who's coming to work?

Beloit College (located in Beloit, Wisconsin) has since 1998 published what they refer to as a "mindset list". Originally designed as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references which their younger students wouldn't understand, its now a testament to the changing understanding of the world that each new generation brings. This year's mindset list chronicles the worldview of the class of 2014 who will be entering the workforce in just 4 short years. Hopefully the economic recession will be a distant memory by then! But for now, here's how the folks at Beloit characterize the latest class of college freshmen (and freshwomen!):

"Born when Ross Perot was warning about a giant sucking sound and Bill Clinton was apologizing for pain in his marriage, members of this fall’s entering college class of 2014 have emerged as a post-email generation for whom the digital world is routine and technology is just too slow.

The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since "digital" has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.

Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them. A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of scholarship. They will discover how to research information in books and journals and not just on-line. Their professors, who might be tempted to think that they are hip enough and therefore ready and relevant to teach the new generation, might remember that Kurt Cobain is now on the classic oldies station. The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older."

How this newest class will impact the world of work when they enter it full time remains to be seen, but some of their impressions of the world can perhaps give us an early glimpse:

• Few in the class know how to write in cursive. 
• Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
•  Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High. 
• “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo. 
• With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
• A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority…unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet.
• Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
• Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.
• Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
• DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
• Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
• The first computer they probably touched was an Apple II; it is now in a museum.
• Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
• Russians and Americans have always been living together in space.
• Nirvana is on the classic oldies station. 
• Children have always been trying to divorce their parents.
• Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.

So to the class of 2014, study hard, and be kind to those of us relics who sometimes yearn for the good old days. And just think, by the time you graduate, Beloit will be putting out the mindset list for the class of 2018 and you'll get to feel old like the rest of us!

To see the complete Beloit mindset list click here.

Should work be fun?

Every morning when employees at Pinnacol boot up their computers their screens first come up to our company intranet homepage which we call WIKI. Part of the home page includes a section called Industry News. Our folks in communications are very good about updating us on a daily basis on news related to our company, our industry, as well as general work trends. This morning's Industry News had a link to something titled "Feel Good Videos". The link took us to an article in Business Insurance Magazine about how some companies were using videos to get across messages. For example, the staff at a Portland hospital provided some fun entertainment to raise awareness about breast cancer. As I watched some of these videos, regardless of the message they were trying to convey, what came across was that these companies looked like fun places to work. When you think about it, hospitals and insurance companies may not top the list of 'FUN!' places to spend 40+ hours a week, but the fun factor comes through in these videos loud and clear. What also comes through is that they're not 'trying' to have fun - they just clearly enjoy what they do, where they do it, and the people they do it with.

The clip below is performed by the Laryngospasms, a group of practicing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists who create and perform medical parodies for audiences throughout the United States. It's a light-hearted look at the work they do. Despite the humor, I'd have no problem being a patient of one of these folks.

At Pinnacol we work in a serious business - taking care of people injured, sometimes killed, on the job. Our customers depend on us to be good at what we do. That doesn't mean that we don't enjoy what we do, where we do it, and the people we do it with. These videos remind me of the adage that life's too short to not do something you love. Now if I can just get our claims adjusters to do a video....

One employee's story...

I've mentioned several times on this blog how fortunate our employees are to work for an organization that gives them time off to volunteer and give back to the community. Like much volunteer work, the benefits of our efforts go to those we often times don't really know, and sometimes never even meet. Other times, giving back strikes much closer to home.

Pinnacol hosts several blood drives every year at our location through Bonfils Blood Center. About a year ago one of our employees experienced a heart attack while at work. Pinnacol has AED's (Automated External Defibrillators) on-site and a quick response from internal staff and Denver paramedics allowed this employee to survive so that she could reach the emergency room. That's only the start of her story.

Please meet Wendy Wilbanks, one of our underwriters. Wendy has graciously agreed to share her story in the hope of getting people to understand the importance of giving blood. For the 600 plus employees at Pinnacol who are thrilled to have Wendy with us every day, giving blood has taken on a whole new level of meaning. Joining Wendy is her husband David, who is also an underwriter with us.



Thank you Wendy for being so upfront and open about your experience. For the rest of us, if you are interested in making this type of important donation you can find a time and location near you through this link: https://www.bonfils.org/index.cfm/donate-blood/

One of the more frequently asked questions...

One of the more frequently asked questions I get asked by candidates interested in working with Pinnacol is when will our hiring pick up. Having lost my crystal ball years ago I have struggled to answer this question, and usually end up with a fairly lame response of "it depends". This is of no comfort to either the person asking the question, or to me trying to answer it. This recession is proving to be very challenging on the jobs front, which is an understatement for anyone seeking a new position.

Recently the Denver Post ran an article that helped me better understand what's taking so long for hiring activity to pick up again. The article by Aldo Svaldi, in August 8th's Business section, indicates that instead of adding jobs in the period of January through June, Colorado was one of only four states to actually lose jobs ranking 46th on the list of job creation with a .1 percent decline in jobs. By contrast, Kentucky led the list showing 1.9% job growth since January.

The article points out that the majority of jobs being created in the U.S. as the country attempts to pull out of its economic slump are in manufacturing and unfortunately Colorado continues to see these types of jobs disappear. Now you might be thinking that Pinnacol is about as far from a manufacturing employer as one can get so what does any of this have to do with opportunities with our company? The short answer is that we insure the vast majority of employers and employees in Colorado and our growth - including hiring - directly depends on the growth and well-being of the companies we insure. The more they start to create jobs and hire people to fill them, the sooner we will do the same.