SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Assurance employees have a lot of praise about working at the insurance brokerage; praise that has landed the organization a win on the 100 Best Medium Workplaces list by Great Place to Work® and Fortune magazine for the ninth consecutive year. In a society where a unique and positive workplace culture drives talent retention and increasing revenue, Assurance has found a comfortable spot in the insurance space.
“We live in a society where organizations can no longer ignore the importance of company culture,” said Tony Chimino, CEO of Assurance. “Organizations that pay attention to providing a workplace environment that engages, recognizes and rewards employees are the ones who have the best people working for them, producing the best results.”
To determine 2018’s Best Small & Medium Workplaces, Fortune and Great Place to Work analyzed feedback from more than 158,000 U.S. employees. Feedback from Assurance employees ranked high. Ninety-five percent of Assurance employees feel that the company’s facilities contribute to a good working environment and that management is honest and ethical in its business practices. Ninety-seven percent of employees feel that they have great bosses and are part of an environment with great communication. Ninety-nine percent of employees feel they work in a great atmosphere. Assurance is the only insurance brokerage in its category on the list.
To foster an engaging, award-winning work culture, Assurance puts a heavy focus on sharing positive stories every day and encouraging appreciation among the entire staff. That means staff members are giving each other personal, handwritten thank you notes for going the extra mile or dishing out electronic high-fives for a job well-done that can be seen company-wide. It also means that staff members, no matter what their job level, are receiving phone calls from Chimino on their birthday.
“Personal interactions with employees can really humanize workplace relationships and remind people why they are part of this organization during the everyday shuffle,” explains Chimino. “We try to make the day-to-day life of our employees bigger than just working at an insurance brokerage.”
Ninety-nine percent of Assurance employees feel good about the ways the company and its employees contribute to the community. Community impact is a strong pillar within Assurance’s award-winning culture. The insurance brokerage’s Assurance Caring Together (ACT) program aims to support local charities throughout the year with donations as well as employee engagement in charitable giving of time. In 2018, 21 non-profit organizations received assistance from Assurance in the form of labor hours from employees – who are given a paid day off to volunteer – in addition to 19 nonprofit partners which will receive monetary donations from 1 percent of Assurance’s operating profit. The organizations that benefit from ACT are selected each year by the employee-run program.
Assurance is joined on the list by eight of their own clients.
“Our clients rely on us not only to provide the best insurance solutions for their business, but to help them create workplace wellness and culture packages that will uniquely engage their workforce and keep their employees healthy and safe,” explains Chimino.
It seems that work pays off. Assurance clients on the small and medium lists include West Monroe Partners; Burwood Group, Inc.; Sevan Multi-Site Solutions, LLC; 4imprint US Group, Inc.; FONA International, Inc.; Horizon Pharma, Inc.; ALKU; and The LaSalle Network.
In addition to a heavy focus on employee appreciation and the ACT program, Chimino and the ‘A’ Team at Assurance come up with new ways each year to enhance workplace culture and engage employees, from new wellness program elements to leadership selfie videos to communicate with employees. Other Assurance employee perks include insurance benefits, telecommuting options, birthdays off, tuition reimbursement, generous maternity/paternity leave and adoption assistance, commuter benefits, education rewards, shared success annual bonus program, employee referral program, anonymous counseling program, and other perks.
“We want to build an organization that employees want to work for,” says Chimino. “We spend as much time marketing to our own employees as we do externally to clients or customers. Employee retention is the key to customer success and increased revenue year-over-year.”
For more information about Assurance, visit www.assuranceagency.com. For tips from Chimino on calculating the ROI of company culture, click here.
About Great Place to Work®
Great Place to Work® is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through its certification programs, Great Place to Work recognizes outstanding workplace cultures and produces the annual FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For®" and Great Place to Work Best Workplaces lists for Millennials, women, diversity, industries and, internationally, countries and regions. Through its culture consulting services, Great Place to Work helps its clients create great workplaces that outpace peers on key business metrics like revenue growth, profitability, retention and stock performance.
About Assurance
Assurance is among the largest and most awarded independent insurance brokerages in the U.S. A “Top 50” broker and repeated national “Best Place to Work” winner, Assurance creates value by minimizing risk and maximizing health for 6,000 businesses and individuals across the country. Visit Assurance at assuranceagency.com.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/106a4d21-4c7f-4bb8-beb4-ab5aa75c058e