Several new opportunities with Pinnacol...

I just posted two new opportunities with our company. The first is for a Learning & Organizational Development Director. For those who follow this blog you may have seen this position posted before in its prior incarnation at the Manager level. After reviewing our L&OD needs we have concluded that we need someone at the more senior Director level to really help us chart our future L&OD Strategies. The Director will redesign and build our L&OD function from the ground up and will develop L&OD strategy and ensure its alignment with Pinnacol's business strategy and goals. A key aspect of this position will be overseeing the assessment of organizational needs and the design and implementation of trainings, initiatives and interventions that enable the execution of business strategy and goals in the areas of leadership development, change management, training development, performance development, succession management and organizational design. 

The L&OD Director will also build, direct, manage and coach the learning and organizational development team and will be responsible for measuring performance to gauge the success of programs and to drive continuous improvement in organizational development and learning. A Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Organizational Effectiveness, Business, Communications or a related field and 7+ years progressive experience in L&OD strategy development and execution in a professional business setting are required along with strong relationship management skills and the demonstrated ability to effectively partner with all levels of management. Candidates should also have experience with large and small group classroom facilitation and managing and leading a team of L&OD specialists. MBTI, Emergenetics, Social and Emotional Intelligence, PDI certifications are preferred.

The second position (which we have not posted in any former incarnations!) is on our Finance team and will report to our CFO and CEO both. We're looking for a Financial Analyst - Special Projects to be responsible for analyzing and modelling possible future initiatives to provide perspective and to assist in the making of sound investment decisions in light of the Company's strategic and tactical direction and growth objectives. This position conducts quantitative analysis of complex financial data related to strategic projects/investments, mergers and/or acquisitions or business alliances. The Financial

Analyst - Special Projects role performs due diligence, industry research and financial modeling with the main purpose of informing executive-level decision making with data-driven analytics.  Working at the direction of the CEO, CFO and other senior leaders the analyst should expect to work multiple projects spanning various topics simultaneously. A Bachelors Degree (MBA preferred) in Accounting, Finance, Economics or Business required along with a minimum of 3-5 years of related financial analysis or financial modeling and valuation experience in a Corporate Finance/Corporate Strategy.

As with all of our positions we do ask interested candidates to please submit their information via our company website. We look forward to hearing from you!

Potential...

One of our managers, Paul, just sent me the following comic which he had found interesting and thought it applied to what I do in terms of getting great people into our organization.

Strategic Humor from December 2014 Harvard Business Review

I'm always joking with our employees when they occasionally bring their children in that they (the kids) must be my next interview so I  also got a chuckle when he sent it to me. It did get me to thinking, however, of what the work world will look like when this baby reaches the age of entering the job market. When we meet with candidates interested in working at Pinnacol we look not only at can they do the specific job they applied for but whether they have the skills necessary to move into other roles over the next 5-10 years. The average tenure with our organization is about 10 years and I'm the first to admit that I'd hazard only a fuzzy guess on what the world will look like in a decade let alone the 20 or so years it will take today's babies to enter the job market.

In a recent Workplace Matters magazine sent out by the folks at Mountain States Employers Council (which is celebrating its 75th anniversary) one of their research consultants tried to tackle this topic in an article titled "The Future of HR". The author was hypothesizing what the work world might look like some 75 years from now, about the time our comic baby might be looking forward to whatever the future of retirement looks like. Some of their prognostications wouldn't come as much of a surprise: technology - specifically web or cloud-based - will continue to change and influence how we all interact with each other and our perceptions of reality. The good news for all those folks who text while driving is that they'll likely be doing so in self-driving cars which should prove safer for all of us.

The increasing use of robots, Big Data, wearable (and surgically implanted) technology, health care, environmental concerns, and changing corporate cultures  all made the list of things to watch for over the next 70+ years. The article's author of course has no way to know if the world he envisions will become reality. I always get a kick out of watching Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey (filmed in 1968 - just a few short 46 years ago...) to compare how much of what they thought the future would look like has actually transpired. One thing that will likely not change is that we cannot lose our focus on the "H" in HR. The ability to interact effectively with those around us will continue to be a critical aspect of life at work. That's my prognostication. While I won't be around 75 years from now to see if this comes true I do know that a world without the Human in human resources
would be a sadder place. So good luck little comic baby and may you reach your full potential!

Looking for a Scrum Master to join our PMO!

Scrum..., there is a term that many may not be familiar with but its been around since the late 80's/early 90's. Wikipedia defines Scrum this way:

Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for managing product development. It defines "a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal", challenges assumptions of the "traditional, sequential approach" to product development, and enables teams to self-organize by encouraging physical co-location or close online collaboration of all team members, as well as daily face-to-face communication among all team members and disciplines in the project.

If you understand all that you may be interested in our opportunity for an experienced Scrum Master who will be dedicated to multiple Scrum teams as determined by our Manager of Project Services. The Scrum Master will be responsible for enforcing the rules of Scrum, removing productivity impediments for their teams, developing each team's self-organization and self-management skills, and constantly improving Pinnacol's standards of work. 

Candidates  for the Scrum Master should bring an excellent understanding and knowledge of Agile SDLC methodologies, in particular Scrum, and must have extensive knowledge and experience overseeing the design, development and implementation of quality assurance standards and practices for software testing. A Bachelors Degree in computer systems design, computer science or related field and/or 10 years equivalent work experience along with 5+ years experience in Project Management is required. Certified ScrumMaster desirable. 

Scrum Alliance

Scrum.org

Congratulations to our new Governor... Whoever he may be!

As I write this the 2014 Colorado Gubernatorial election has yet to be decided. As I went to bed last night I thought for sure I would wake up today and know who our next Governor would be but apparently we'll have to wait. This election was Colorado's first all mail-in ballot. I'm not sure what that tells us - American culture today turns up its nose at anything to do with snail-mail yet we deem it a step forward when we elect to choose our civic leaders that way.

Akron Weekly Pioneer Press Front Page 

Back in 1914, the year leading up to the legislative session that would create our company, voters didn't have the option of voting by mail. Most Coloradoans didn't even have the option of climbing into their own vehicle and driving to the polls.

Most of us this year were not thrilled with the amount of political advertising on T.V. but my sympathies go out to those voting in November 1914 - they had 45 propositions on the ballot, including whether to make Colorado 'dry' by implementing Prohibition.

The Prohibition proposition passed, although like the current vote for Governor it also was too close to call for several days after the election, and Colorado was scheduled to become completely 'dry' on January 1, 2016. National Prohibition didn't become effective until 1920 so Colorado was ahead of its time. Colorado would also repeal Prohibition and legalize alcohol ahead of the nation in 1933, and of course we led again in November 2012 by being the first state to eliminate marijuana prohibition by making its recreational use legal. This year's election cycle saw Oregon and Washington D.C. pass marijuana initiatives and Alaska's vote on the issue is still being counted.

For those Coloradoan's who could afford a car in 1914 they had a choice of gas or electric; given that any thought of global warming was still decades away the makers of the 1914 Fritchle Electic Car were really, really ahead of their time. Given that November weather in Colorado can be somewhat cool the proud owners of the Fritchle could have sought accommodations at the Denver Albany Hotel (17th & Stout Streets) and waited for the election results to sort themselves out. A room at the  Albany, which was demolished in 1976, would have set you back $1.50 per night.

What's your greatest weakness? Perhaps the most dreaded question asked in an interview...

Candidate strengths are relatively easy to to assess during an interview. The interviewer has a more than willing partner in the candidate to discuss at length all the things the potential employee does really well. Determining weaknesses is far more challenging, both for interviewers and candidates alike. Part of the problem is that the goals of the candidate are different than the goals of the interviewer when it comes to dealing with weaknesses. The candidate has some pretty obvious goals during the interview:

Candidate’s goals:

• To sell themselves to the interviewer
• To portray themselves in the best possible light
• To make it appear they are the ideal, perfect candidate for the job
• To not disclose any weaknesses or shortcomings
• To tell the the interviewer what the candidate thinks they want to hear
• For the interviewer to hire them rather than anyone else

The interviewer, at least at Pinnacol, also has some specific things we are trying to accomplish:

• To understand what the candidate has actually done in their current and prior positions as an indicator of what they will really do if hired into your opening (the essence of "Behavioral Interviewing")
• To understand both the strengths and weaknesses realizing there is no such thing as a perfect candidate
• To hire the best candidate based on accurate, meaningful job-related information

When it comes to discussing weaknesses there are specific reasons, from the interviewer's perspective, why this is important:

The first is fairly obvious - If we know what the weaknesses are and they are critical enough to preclude the candidate from further consideration, it helps form our hiring/not hiring decision. This is probably the single biggest reason candidates don't like to disclose weaknesses.

More importantly to Pinnacol is whether the candidate is self-aware to the point of being able to candidly acknowledge where their weaknesses lie and to discuss the steps they are taking to address those weaknesses. Pinnacol does a tremendous amount of training of its employees and the reality is that training is done, in large part, to specifically help our employees overcome their weaknesses.

Amanda Augustine

A lot of books on interviewing suggest turning the weakness question on its head by saying things like "I work too hard", "I'm too much of a perfectionist", I pay too much attention to detail", etc. For any seasoned interviewer this turning a weakness into a strength technique is painfully obvious and really does the candidate no benefit. Companies really do need to know candidate strengths and weaknesses because, as mentioned above, there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. The question companies are simply trying to assess with this question is whether they can live with the weaknesses identified (will the weaknesses impact the candidate's ability to succeed in the role?), and secondarily though perhaps more importantly, can they help the candidate overcome these weaknesses to maximize their future success in the role. Amanda Augustine, in a recent bog on The Ladders,  has some great pointers for candidates to consider. She talks about the STAR method as a good way for candidates to address this, and other interview questions. Here are a couple of Amanda's tips:

• Think of a Situation or Task that you’ve struggled with in the past. This could be anything from having difficulty remaining cool under pressure, being afraid of public speaking, or getting too caught up in the little details of a project and missing deadlines.
• Identify what Actions you’ve taken to improve your skill-set or overcome this shortcoming at the office. For instance, if you’ve been too efficient for your own good in the past and ended up cutting corners, you can explain what measures you’ve taken to ensure you produce a high-quality, error-free product now.
• Discuss the Results of your actions. Are you no longer struggling with this skill at the office? Have your customer scores or employee assessments improved? Are you performing better at your organization? Prove you’re an accomplished professional by explaining the final success.

At Pinnacol we frame our interview questions around this same STAR format so for candidates interviewing at Pinnacol Amanda's tips are great advice!

Information Fatigue Syndrome?

I was perusing the newspapers from October 1914 as I have a lot of curiosity about what was going on around the time in which Pinnacol as a company was created. This week in 1914 wasn't too different than some of what is going on now. The election cycle for Governor was in full swing and there was a fair amount of negative campaigning then as there is now. Our then future Governor, George Carlson, who would be instrumental in passing the first Workers' Compensation Act for our state, was loved or hated, depending on the source, about as much in 1914 as Governor Hickenlooper and his opponent Bob Beauprez are today.

Scrolling through the news of the day I came across an article, totally unrelated to politics, that I thought presented a stark contrast between then and now. The subject? The importance of staying informed in a changing world. The article, from the Routt County Republican, dated Friday October 9, 2014, argued that people should make the effort to not just read a monthly magazine to stay abreast of what was going on. Instead they should be reading a good weekly magazine to keep up with what the article called "the march of events".

I had to chuckle because in today's world anyone who only read something on a weekly or monthly basis to stay current would be badly out of step with current events. The article did get me to thinking that back in 1914 people might have thought that weekly information might be information overload, which is something that I think we all deal with today. An article on the blog Digital Intelligence Today from November 14, 2013 written by Paul Marsden made the contrast quite clear:

IFS (information fatigue syndrome)

Definition:  When the volume of potentially useful and relevant information available exceeds processing capacity and becomes a hindrance rather than a help
90% of all the data in the world has been generated over the last two years
Information consumption in the US is in the order of 3.6 zettabytes (3.6 million million gigabytes)
The average American consumes 34 gigabytes / 12 hours of information per day – outside of work
“Between the dawn of civilization through 2003 about 5 exabytes of information was created. Now, that much information created every 2 days” (Eric Schmidt – former Google CEO)
In the US, people who text send or receive an average of 35 texts per day
28% of office workers time is spent dealing with emails
The typical Internet user is exposed to 1,707 banner ads per month
The human brain has a theoretical memory storage capacity of 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes)
The maximum number of pieces of information a human brain can handle concurrently is 7 (Miller’s Law)
Information (over)load is linked to greater stress, and poorer health
Overuse of social media can lead to short-term memory loss

Much of this would have been absolute gibberish to someone back in 1914, but its interesting that even back then there was a perceived struggle as to how to effectively stay informed regarding the "march of events"...

Sr. Maintenance Technician opportunity is a great chance to join Pinnacol!

Construction is booming in Denver and most of Colorado right now but around the corner is old man winter and outdoor construction activities that are weather dependent may start to slow down. We're looking for a Senior Maintenance Technician to help us maintain our Lowry headquarters.

Our 130,000 sq. ft. building demands a dedicated maintenance team and we're looking for an experienced candidate capable of performing skilled journey level work in one trade or craft and semiskilled sub-journey level work in several other trades. This position requires the general knowledge and mechanical aptitude to perform a variety of tasks, using the methods, practices and materials generally associated with the building trades industry.

Some of our Facilities team hard at work!

Candidates should have a minimum of a High School Diploma or GED along with 3 to 5 years of progressively responsible building maintenance and repair experience, or satisfactory completion of a formalized apprenticeship-training certificate in the building trades industry. We'd love a candidate with certification in one or more of the following specialties - Basic Air Conditioning and refrigeration, Electricity for HVAC, or Locksmithing.

Our Maintenance Technicians must able to work a flexible schedule including evenings and weekends and be available on a rotating schedule for emergencies by telephone and/or cell phone.

If you know of someone who might be interested in this opportunity please let them know we are looking. Better yet, if you are interested we'd love to hear from you! For consideration please apply online at http://www.pinnacol.com/careers/current-opportunities/.

Need a reason to NOT work out?

For many of our positions candidates have the unenviable task of completing our basic math test. Nothing seems to bring on the anxiety jitters in candidates more than sitting down to what really is a basic exercise covering things like addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, percentages, decimals, and fractions, as well as a couple of word problems geared towards a workers' compensation question we get asked about all the time. To make it even easier we even allow candidates to use a calculator.

We know many people struggle with math (I count myself among them). For our employees who also have to take the test when they apply for some promotional opportunities we have developed some practice exercises  designed to help overcome their math anxiety. I was showing Megan, who recently joined our HR team, these exercises this morning so that she could go over them with one of our employees. One of these exercises is titled "Having Fun with Math!" (how creative is that?). At the end of "Having Fun with Math" we ask employees a seemingly silly question about how fast they are moving. This always elicits some puzzled expressions until we explain that we are going to use very basic math to calculate how fast we are all moving ... around the sun. For those who remember their high school geometry you'll recall that the circumference of a circle is 2 times Pi (approximately 3.142) times the Radius:

I've got the calculation below, but the answer to our question is that we are all moving at about 66,000 miles an hour this old earth sure gives a remarkably smooth ride!). When I told Megan how fast she was moving her comment was "If I'm moving that fast then I guess I don't have to work out..." If that's not the best excuse to avoid working up a sweat then I don't know what is!


Don't think you are moving 66,000 miles an hour? Here's the basic math!

• The earth is approximately 93 million miles from the sun so 93 million is the Radius
• The earth goes around the sun once every 365 days so 2 X 3.142 X 93 million is the circumference of the earth's orbit (circle) around the sun
• 2 X 3.142 X 93 million equals an annual journey of about 584.5 million miles
• 584.5 million miles a year divided by 365 days  equals 1.6 million miles per day
• 1.6 million miles per day divided by 24 hours equals .0667 million miles per hour
• .0667 times 1,000,000 (1 million) equals...... 66,724 miles per hour!

Flu shots an annual event at Pinnacol

I don't know anyone who really likes to get a shot, and through the years I've become more skittish about having strangers poking me with needles. However, I really, really don't like getting the flu so yesterday I lined up with many (most, but not all) of my brave co-workers and rolled up my sleeve for the annual influenza vaccine. I'm convinced that the rule of inverse proportionality applies to shots of all kinds because I truly believe the closer I got to the front of the line (and the impending jab in the arm) the bigger the needle looked, at least in my mind. In reality it was over and done with before I could say "OW!" and it really did not hurt at all. Some of my immediate co-workers were not quite as brave as those of us in line and opt to take their chances every year. Some tell me they have never gotten the flu, which is truly a wonderful thing as for anyone who has experienced it knows it is a miserable experience. Pinnacol is nice enough to pick up the cost of the shots and to arrange them to be given on-site every year so for me I'd feel really bad about not getting the shot and then actually getting a case of H1N1, H3N2, or whatever this year's version of influenza will be.

Thus far the Google Flu Trends map for the U.S. doesn't show much activity YET, and the peak flu season usually isn't until January or February so who knows what kind of flu season we'll have. So to everyone who reads this, regardless of whether you "bare arms" against the flu or go without, here's wishing for a healthy winter!

For additional information on the Flu season visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2014-2015.htm

Investigator - Special Investigations Unit - position now open!

My last post talked about some of the more unique opportunities available at Pinnacol right now and we have another position that has just opened that would fit into that category. Our Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, has an opening for an Investigator who will investigate fraud issues related to workers' compensation.

Types of fraud can include compensability issues on claims including allegations of fraudulent intent to obtain workers compensation insurance benefits by claimants, fraudulent receipt of proceeds from workers compensation by service providers, or fraudulent methods designed to reduce insurance premiums by policyholders. Our SIU Investigators also help prepare possible cases for presentation in the criminal and civil justice systems.

Ideally we are looking for a candidate who has a Bachelors degree or equivalent work experience, and who has some related workers’ compensation or insurance experience (2 years preferred). Direct investigations experience is not required but is obviously a strong  plus. Bilingual candidates (English/Spanish) are strongly encouraged to apply as are recent graduates with majors in Criminal Justice or related fields.

I spoke with Mark, who heads up our SIU group, and he's very excited at the opportunity to bring a new person onto the team! If this sounds like an opportunity you are interested in we encourage you to apply via our company website at www.pinnacol.com/careers.

Opportunities update!

Its been a while since I have put out an update on our current opportunities so thought I'd do that this morning.

We have a fair number of openings in a broad variety of positions so its really a great chance to join our organization if your background and skills look to be a fit for some of these roles.

This morning I put up an announcement of a newly created position for a Learning & Organizational Development Specialist. We are in the process of rebuilding our learning and development function with an increased emphasis on Organizational Development. You'll note that we actually have two positions in this area - one for the L & OD Manager role, and the one just mentioned for the Specialist. Organizational Development covers a lot of territory but as Wikipedia puts it "Organization development is an ongoing, systematic process of implementing effective organizational change". We have a lot of positive initiatives that the company is implementing so for someone who has experience helping companies successfully manage change these are exciting opportunities.

Many of the positions we have open probably don't need too much explanation but there are some others that we don't post too often. One of those is for a Sr. Maintenance Tech who will be instrumental in helping us maintain our headquarters building to the high standards we have set since moving into the facility in September 2002. Many folks who visit us for the first time think the building is brand new and that is in large part thanks to the efforts of our top-notch facilities team that the Sr. Maintenance Tech would be a part of.

Another position that we don't have open too often is for a Staff Counsel (Attorney) in our Legal team. For this role we are really hoping to find someone with direct workers' compensation experience, ideally within the Colorado market as every state has different workers' compensation statutes on the books.

The Sr. Actuarial Manager is another 'niche' position that certainly requires a very specific skill set. We have been using outside actuarial consultants for several years but are now looking to bring this skill set back in house.

We are actively reviewing candidates for all of the other positions as well and if any of these positions looks like a possible fit we would love to hear from you. As always we ask that candidates apply via our company website.

Tis a sign of the times...

Tis the season... for every other commercial on television or radio to tout a candidate for this or that office. The fall of 1914 was not all that much different. That year also saw Coloradoan's heading for the polls to elect a new Governor. There were candidates from three major parties back then - the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Progressives. The Progressive Party was formed by former President Theodore Roosevelt (who had left office in 1909), after a split in the Republican Party between him and President William Howard Taft. The party also became known as the Bull Moose Party after journalists quoted Roosevelt saying "I'm feeling like a bull moose" shortly after the new party was formed.  

The Progressives put forth a broad range of social and political reforms, many of which still resonate today: Strict limits and disclosure requirements on political campaign contributions, registration of lobbyists,  a National Health Service to include all existing government medical agencies, Social insurance to provide for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled,  A minimum wage law for women (they were also in support of women’s suffrage), an eight hour workday, a federal securities commission, a Constitutional amendment to allow a Federal income tax and of special relevance to this blog establishment of Workers' compensation for work-related injuries.

The Republican candidate for Governor that year was a gentleman by the name of George Carlson  who the Routt County Republican newspaper characterized on September 4, 1914 this way: “He is the man who has really done things as a district attorney. His record in that office is the most brilliant in the history of the state. He is in a position to command the respect and support of both law abiding union and non-union men and of every citizen who believes in law and order. He is a self made man, used to hard work and spendidly educated.”  Born in 1876 in Alta, Iowa the soon to be 20^th Governor of Colorado graduated from the University of Colorado in 1902 and earned his law degree there in Fort Collins, Colorado from 1905-08, and was district attorney in Fort Collins from 1908-14. 

The Aspen Democrat-Times in December 1914 described then Governor-elect Carlson’s proposal, made as he testified before the federal industrial relations commission (which was looking in to the causes and effects of the Colorado coal strike), for a State Industrial Commission to be appointed by the governor and which would “…have charge of all branches of state government dealing with industrial and labor affairs.” The primary purpose of this commission would be “…the improvement of safety and sanitary devices” and “the establishment of workmen’s compensation.”  The Aspen Democrat-Times reported in the same article that from 1911 to 1913 “…Colorado mine accidents were from 50 to 100 percent higher per 1000 men employed – and per million tons of coal mined, than the general average for the country.” The stage was being set for efforts to pass the act that would bring our company into being.

Sr. Actuarial Manager opportunity now available

We are looking for a Sr. Actuarial Manager to be responsible for establishing and implementing operational strategies that drive the fulfillment of our company's mission, vision and corporate strategic outcomes. This position will manage an analytics team that is responsible for developing pricing tools and designing and implementing predictive analytics throughout the company. 

The Sr. Actuarial Manager will provide actuarial assistance on special projects focused on advancing Pinnacol's market leading position. Working closely with IS, Business Intelligence and operations areas the Sr. Actuarial Manager will help identify current and future data needs and develop supporting data systems and data hierarchy required to achieve Pinnacol's short and long-term strategic objectives. 

Candidates should be able to create and deliver actuarial presentations to internal and external clients and all levels of management and will be expected to recommend projects to Executive Team that will significantly improve business unit results. This position requires a Bachelor's Degree in Actuarial Science, Mathematics, Statistics or related area with at least seven years of progressively more responsible pricing experience in workers’ compensation insurance/commercial casualty lines. Statistical modeling and data mining experience desired. Fellowship in the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) strongly preferred. This is a new position to Pinnacol and we are excited to hear from candidates interested in this unique opportunity! If interested, please apply on-line. 

To every season change change change

If you come in for an interview with us its likely you'll meet with either myself or with my counterpart Megan. As we speak with folks we are always curious to see what they really know about our company. One of our favorite questions asks candidates if they know how long Pinnacol has been around. It doesn't take much research by anyone who visits pinnacol.com to find out we will be celebrating our 100 year anniversary next August. Those who don't know we've been around that long generally guess that we are 20-30 years old and they are surprised when we tell them about our upcoming centennial.

To say there has been a lot of change in the last 100 years is an obvious understatement and change continues to this day. One of my favorite truisms is that if your not moving ahead then you are falling behind and behind that sentiment is the reality that change is a constant. One of the changes Pinnacol has been working on for some time is to digitize all of our records. Periodically Craig and Jose let me see some of the artifacts they uncover and recently they brought over a tome entitled "Employee Accident Index". This particular volume was for the period May 1942 through May 1945 and covered the alphabet from Aa through Go. There's nothing wrong with digitized records and they certainly make it easier for all of us in the modern world to get our work done. Nonetheless I sometimes wonder if we don't lose something by not being able to interact with things like this. Pictures alone can't do justice; simply hefting it gave me pause - to the point that I actually went over to our wellness center and put it on the scale. This one volume of the "Employee Accident Index" weighed in at 14lbs.


The other aspect that gave me pause was the time period covered - May 1942 through May 1945. This period obviously encompasses the majority of the second World War, an event that, again to understate it, changed the world. While millions of Americans were involved in conflict overseas millions more were going to work on the home front and yes, they periodically experienced injuries on the job which are chronicled row by row by row in the "Employee Accident Index". And our company's employees during that time were there to take care of them. The injuries weren't too much different then than we see today though certainly the frequency of industrial accidents has declined dramatically in the last 70 years. Reading through the employers listed reads like a who's who of Colorado companies with many of them still around today.

Opening the Index's heavy front hinged cover I came to a page where someone had, in beautiful cursive, inscribed the dates covered. They could have simply printed it, or even typed it, but it's clear some employee at our company took the extra time and extra effort to write it out in flowing script. Their message carried across the years - they took pride in their work then just as Pinnacol's employees take pride in the work we do today. As we experience a changing modern world its nice to reflect that we are not alone - we stand on top of the foundations left for us by those who came, and worked, and changed the world, before us.

Human Resources Manager opportunity now available!

The official title for this position is "Human Resources Manager: General Administration, Benefits, Wellness, Payroll". That's a long title but this is a very important role at Pinnacol as it's responsible for several functional areas within Human Resources. including employee benefits, wellness, leave management and payroll. This position serves as a strategic business partner and member of the management team by working with our business leaders to drive initiatives that create value and enable the business to achieve and sustain outstanding performance. We've long held to the philosophy that if we take exceptionally good care of our employees they will in turn take exceptionally good care of our customers and this position is critical in how we implement that belief. 

Ensuring our HR programs are aligned with Pinnacol's Total Rewards Strategy this role provides the strategic direction for the design, administration and evaluation of market-competitive, cost-effective and comprehensive employee benefits program to include medical, dental, vision, defined benefit plan (PERA), defined contribution plans, life insurance, employee assistance program, education assistance program, adoption assistance program, leave of absence, short term & long term disability, flexible spending accounts, wellness/population health management and other employee benefits.

This position is also responsible for the financial management of the organization's self-funded health plans and conducts analysis of benefits costs and booking/billings of self-funded plans, overseeing monthly vendor premiums and contract including stop loss insurance, administrative service fees and utilization fees, and monitoring health plan trust activity in collaboration with consultants and finance team.

The Human Resources Manager provides benefits and payroll consultative services to management and employees and there is heavy interaction with management and employees on benefits issue resolution, benefits interpretation and COBRA, FMLA, ADAAA and other statutory leave issues and administration. This position also oversees $47million+ payroll and manages the outsourced payroll process to ensure timely payment of salaries, taxes, legal assignments and benefit plans.

This position has supervisory duties include managing 2 non-exempt staff, 1 exempt staff, outsourced on-site payroll vendor and external relationship with HRIS vendor (UltiPro).

Management positions with Pinnacol do require a minimum of a Bachelors Degree and for this position that could be in Business, Human Resources, Psychology, or Communications or related field.  along with that degree candidates for this role should also bring a minimum of eight years related HR experience; prior management experience and PHR/SPHR certification is preferred.

If this position sounds interesting to you we would ask that you please apply on-line via our company website. There you can also see the full job description as well. We look forward to hearing from you!

Software Quality Assurance Manager position just opened

We have a new position that has been created for a Software Quality Assurance Manager. This new role will develop, establish, and enforce quality assurance processes, standards and measures for our Information Services group.
Overseeing a contingent of QA Analysts the Software Quality Assurance Manager will direct research and development in support of business cases, proposed projects, and systems requirements over the course of software development lifecycles. They will also apply proven analytical and problem-solving skills to help validate IS processes through careful testing in order to maximize the benefit of business investments in IS initiatives.
As one might expect, successful candidates for this role should bring extensive knowledge and experience overseeing the design, development and implementation of quality assurance standards and practices for software testing along with the strong knowledge and proven ability to train Quality Analysts to work in an Agile Scrum development methodology. Excellent coaching, listening, presentation, and interpersonal skills, strong knowledge of system testing metrics, best practices and methodologies, and direct hands-on experience with ad hoc query programs, automated testing tools, and reporting software are also required.
A Bachelor’s degree in software engineering, computer science, or business administration is preferred along with at least 5 years direct experience managing all aspects of a QA team.  Prior QA Manager or QA Lead experience for major application integration and/or major application product release is preferred. If this sounds like your background we would love to hear from you and ask that you please complete an application on-line.

Executive Assistant opportunity is now available!

Pinnacol Assurance is seeking an Executive Assistant to support our Vice President of Medical Operations and Healthcare Strategy. If you have experience as an Executive Assistant and are one of the best at supporting the work of your senior manager this might be the right opportunity for you!

The right fit for this position includes a self-starter with a very high level of initiative, exceptional verbal and written communications skills including world-class phone etiquette, a  focus on outstanding customer service and professionalism, and the ability to coordinate and manage complex projects and deliverables.

Candidates must also bring the ability to maintain effective working relationships with personnel involved in the operations of the organization and to communicate effectively with external stakeholders. Excellent organization skills and the ability to multitask and change direction are also an important requirement for this position.  

This role requires a team player who is able to participate and contribute to department initiatives and willing and flexible to help others. Excellent computer skills in word processing (55 wpm), spreadsheets, electronic presentation software are also critical.

If this Executive Assistant opportunity sounds interesting please apply via our company website.

Wellness continues to pay dividends for one of our retired alumni

We have a blog similar to this one that goes out during the year to our Pinnacol alumni. The average tenure at Pinnacol is 10 years so when employees leave they tend to want to stay informed about what's going on with the company and with other alumni. Recently one of our alumn's shared that she had completed quite an athletic accomplishment.

Wellness initiatives at Pinnacol are nothing new and our benefits team of Vanessa and Paige do a tremendous job of creating a unique blend of offerings to help employees stay healthy.

One of our alumn's, Anne, has taken wellness to a whole new level having just completed an Ironman competition held in Boulder. No stranger to long distance events this was her second Ironman. Anne retired from Pinnacol several years ago and clearly hasn't slowed down at all. Congratulations Anne on quite an accomplishment. Knowing Anne, she's probably already training for Ironman #3!

Pinnacol Foundation awards $400,000 in Scholarships for 2014-15 school year

For the upcoming 2014-215 school year the Pinnacol Foundation has awarded $400,000 in scholarships to 113 students across Colorado.

“We are immensely proud of each of these students, and especially proud of the 61 scholars who are first generation college students,” said Carole Sumption, chair of the Pinnacol Foundation Board of Directors. “We are delighted to be able to help these students as they work toward their academic and career goals, and know these students will soon be making valuable contributions to our Colorado communities.”

Over the last 14 years the Pinnacol Foundation has given scholarships totaling nearly $3.3 million to the children of Colorado workers who were killed or seriously injured in work-related accidents. Created in 2000, the Pinnacol Foundation assists those families after a workplace accident. Since the Pinnacol Foundation’s inception, it has awarded scholarships to over 400 children of injured workers. The average scholarship amount is over $3,500 for the upcoming school year. Students may use the funds at any accredited institution of higher learning for vocational training and undergraduate degrees, and may reapply up to five years or to age 25.

One of this year's scholarship recipients, Samantha Manion, has a father who was injured in a work related traffic accident which left him permanently disabled. Samantha, who will be attending Community College of Denver this Fall, is one of the many first generation college students awarded a scholarship this year. Samantha shares, “The Pinnacol Foundation has done so much to help me with my goals. It is really great to be able to focus on what I actually want to do instead of worrying about how I am going to pay for it.”

To qualify for a Pinnacol Foundation scholarship, a student must be the natural child, adopted child or stepchild of a worker killed or seriously injured in a compensable work-related accident while employed by a Colorado-based business. The Foundation grants scholarships to students regardless of the insurance carrier.  Scholarships are awarded based on the severity of the parent’s injury, financial need, academic achievement, social responsibility (including employment), recommendation letters and a personal essay. Scholarship applications are accepted annually February 1 through April 15.

Product Manager - Enterprise Content Management position now available!

We are looking for an ECM Product Manager to drive the vision and roadmap of our enterprise content management product to ensure business success. Products include electronic capture, business process management, document retention and retrieval. Collaborating with developers, IS managers, business analysts, and executives to meet the business's needs, this position ensures the overall success of these products, not just the delivery of software.

While not an actual management position this role is responsible for assisting in all management functions of the team including: hiring, discipline, establishing performance expectations and providing performance evaluations to staff, time keeping activities, etc.

Candidates should have experience implementing taxonomies, metadata and workflow in content management and collaboration solutions along with experience designing, developing and implementing an Enterprise Content Management solution utilizing Kofax, Perceptive/ImageNow or similar system (experience in these solutions would include document management, document imaging, and workflow). This position requires broad knowledge of systems that integrate with ECM technologies, including Oracle Weblogic, Oracle Forms, communication technologies, and multiple backend database technologies.

Candidates should also bring proven leadership skills with the ability to effectively lead product vision and a small team of software developers to achieve that vision. A Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience on a year for year basis in Computer Science, Information Systems, MIS or Related Field along with 5 years of advanced technical IT experience (i.e. programming, quality assurance, business analyst, etc.) is required and candidates should also have 3-5 years' experience working with Enterprise Content Management and collaboration technologies. Insurance related experience is a plus.

If you are interested in this role we'd love to hear from you! Please apply via our company website.

Quick update on some of our open positions!

I just posted a new opportunity for a Business Services Representative. The Business Service Representative, or BSR as we call it internally, is a great opportunity for folks with strong PC/software skills, math aptitude, excellent communication and customer service skills and the ability to type 35 wpm to join our company. No specific insurance experience is required which opens the door to far more candidates than our openings that do require a specific industry background. The BSR role is also one from which we routinely promote to higher level positions.

As mentioned above, some of our job postings do require specific industry backgrounds and I had posted one of these a couple of days ago. We are looking for an experienced Marketing Representative who brings a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience along with prior marketing and sales experience in the insurance industry with proven results. Property/casualty insurance and/or Colorado agent and Safety Group program experience is required for this position.

We also have a variety of other opportunities including Ruby and Java Developers and Nurse Case Managers among others. You can always see a complete list of our opportunities at our company website.

Pinnacol expands its presence on Western Slope

Pinnacol's new Grand Junction offices recently had their Grand Opening. We've had an office in Grand Junction since 1993 but with 5,000 square feet of space the new location now includes additional meeting and training space. Our CEO, Phil Kalin, was in town to celebrate the Grand Opening and he pointed out that Pinnacol covers nearly 7,000 policyholders in western Colorado. Pinnacol is also allowing the Western Slope Safety Council to use the new office's training space at no charge.

I was out in Grand Junction a couple of months ago when we were hiring for a new Business Services Representative and had an early peek at the new offices and they are very nice. To see some local coverage of the Grand Opening click here to see a local T.V. segment or here to read  more.

Bike To Work Day Part Two...

As I mentioned in yesterday's post Pinnacol employees were excited about participating in the annual Bike to Work festivities. Everyone made it in safe and sound. There seemed to be a lot more rest areas set up this year than last and they all seemed to be doing a brisk business when it came to providing refreshments and nourishment. If I have one suggestion to the folks that put on this great event it would be to encourage these rest areas to be open for the return trip in the afternoon. Most riders can get into work in the morning with no problem but the rest areas can perhaps prove most helpful for the afternoon ride after a long day's work and now tired muscles. I had mentioned that our CEO, Phil, was planning to participate and true to his word he made the jaunt to the office with the rest of us. Hopefully for most participants it won't be another year before they saddle up and ride, but if that is the case we'll look forward to seeing them again in 2015 and a special Thank You!!! to all the volunteers and staff who put on this year's event...

Bike to Work Day 2014 is upon us!

Denver's Bike to Work Day is tomorrow and you'll see thousands of cyclists making their way to and from work. We have 19 employees signed up including, for the first time, our CEO Phil Kalin. Phil is an avid cyclist who despite the demands of his role still finds time to get out on two wheels. Denver's Bike to Work Day is actually about a month behind the rest of the country where May is usually celebrated as Bike to Work Month. Given our weather its probably a good idea to wait until June. I was mountain biking this last weekend in the mountains and was still having to hike-a-bike through snow drifts at the higher elevations. I don't think the forecast for tomorrow includes snow but I can remember some Bike to Work events from years past where the morning ride was under clear blue skies and the ride home was spent slogging through afternoon thunderstorms and downpours. Ahh, the joys of cycling!

This year there is more than the usual amount of construction impacting a lot of the major bike routes so if you see cyclists on your favorite road it may be that they have been displaced from their normal paths. The good news is that motorists should see less traffic on the road, at least of a motorized nature. For some riders tomorrow is just another day of commuting on two wheels but there will be a fair number of cyclists who will be nursing some sore muscles by the time they get home tomorrow night. I rode in this morning and saw only a handful of other riders but I know tomorrow it will be downright crowded. The Denver Post estimates there will be in excess of 30,000 cyclists participating this year and Denver's event is second only to San Francisco which draws upward of 40,000 riders. Those 30,000 Denver cyclists represent approximately 25,000 fewer vehicles on the road.

If you have never participated, the folks that put this event on (the Denver Regional Council of Governments) do a nice job of arranging all sorts of events and rest areas across town that make it easier for cyclists not used to much saddle time to get where they are going. So if you have a bike sitting at home now is the perfect time to dust that saddle off, oil up that squeaky chain, pump up those soft tires and head on out with the rest of us. You'll have lots of company and a great time!