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| | Sedgwick Recertified As Employer Of Choice
By Lonce LaMon - February 7, 2016
Last Wednesday, February 3, 2016, Sedgwick announced that the company had been recertified as an Employer of Choice® based upon their 2015 work year. Since 2004, Sedgwick has been certified as an Employer of Choice® each year with the exception of 2014, when they missed by a narrow margin, according to Sedgwick Public Relations Director, Catherine Bennett.
Sedgwick is the only risk and insurance services organization to be designated an Employer of Choice for 2015. The company may have missed receiving the designation in 2014 because of acquisitions, such as their acquisition of VeriClaim, which was completed on October 1, 2014, and Absentys, which Sedgwick acquired on December 1, 2014. Also in early 2014, KKR acquired majority ownership of Sedgwick.
“Sedgwick has been one of our most consistent Employer of Choice award winners,” said Joyce Gioia, CEO of Employer of Choice International, Inc. “It is impressive that, even through a series of acquisitions, they have continued to earn this coveted designation. Sedgwick’s dedication to their colleagues is evident in their improving scores.”
The Employer of Choice® concept centers around professionals wanting and preferring to work for a company. This means that workers—employees and contractors—choose to work for a particular employer when presented with other choices of employment. These certain companies can become certified by Employer of Choice International, Inc. by filing an application and having their employees fill out questionnaires anonymously. It is a rigorous evaluation process.
The criteria used for evaluating a company include its culture, enlightened leadership, care of people, growth and opportunity, meaningful work, compensation and benefits, making a difference, employee loyalty, and performance results. Perks and benefits can create higher levels of performance, greater life comfort, and workforce stability.
Darrell Brown, shown above at Sedgwick's suite at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in April 2013, is Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer. He is based at the Sedgwick office in Long Beach, California. photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved
This writer is not aware if Patriot National, based in Woodland Hills, California, has ever considered applying for designation as an Employer of Choice. But Patriot has an extraordinary perk that treats their professionals to lunch every day.
Close to the lunch hour, prepared food is brought in to the Patriot National office from some local eateries. Thus, employees can choose items from food carts which are brought before them. This is not a way to get employees not to take time out for lunch. The allotted lunch time is available for them personally. This paid for and provided lunch is merely a perk to assist the Patriot National staffers and contractors with their work day. More time can be allotted to running necessary errands at mid-day rather than spending time figuring out where to go and what to get for lunch.
Michael McFadden, above, is Executive Vice-President of Patriot National Insurance Group with offices in California in Woodland Hills and Rancho Cordova. Patriot National is a monoline workers' compensation carrier and they have the perk of having lunch brought in every day for their people.
Enlightened employers try to make their workers’ lives easier. They’ve realized the more they can help workers reduce their stress, the more productive those workers will be. These employers offer services such as concierge services, referrals to professionals for dependent care, and flexible work schedules to help employees cope with our time-crunched culture. When people feel better about their jobs, they choose to stay longer.
The trend today in benefits programs is towards offering a “cafeteria-style” program in which employees are given a certain amount of money they may spend and they get to decide where the money is spent. There’s a movement into an era of portable benefits, where workers will design their own unique benefits package and negotiate with prospective employers to arrange payment of their own costs.
Investments in wellness and work-life programs will pay off in productivity and reduced turnover. Turnover costs American business billions of dollars each year. By reducing employee turn-over, these companies are saving multiples on their investments in the long run. The mistake that most companies make is expecting these programs to pay off right away. Generally, it takes five years for wellness programs to pay for themselves.
On the Employer of Choice International, Inc. website, www.employerofchoice.com, a book is available called How To Become An Employer Of Choice which was written by the current CEO, Joyce Gioia and Roger Herman. The first chapter is available as a free download in PDF format. The entire book is available for purchase containing the information on how companies inspire workers to choose them over their competition.
Terri Browne, shown here at the Sedgwick RIMS Wrap Party in downtown Los Angeles in 2013, is Sedgwick's chief people officer. photo copyright Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved.
“Taking care of our talented colleagues is central to our philosophy at Sedgwick,” said Terri Browne, the company’s chief people officer. “Being recognized once again by the Employer of Choice organization reinforces our commitment to doing the right thing for the people who are the heart and soul of our company.
“In the last year, we’ve focused heavily on diversity and inclusion to help us leverage the wide-ranging talents of our colleagues, promote innovation, and foster an environment of engagement, fairness, and respect. These efforts are essential to our ability to attract, develop, and retain outstanding colleagues and allow everyone at Sedgwick to perform at their best,” Browne said.
lonce@adjustercom.com; Lonce LaMon, journalist - copyright Lonce LaMon and adjustercom; all rights reserved
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