On a snowy day in Colorado, Pinnacol Assurance’s vice president of human resources is elated when the Denver headquarters is nearly empty.
Executive Summary
By listening and caring for employees—and being flexible about work-life benefits—Pinnacol Assurance helps to strengthen customer interactions and stay true to its mission to lead "a revolution in caring for people, businesses and communities" in Colorado. Here, Barbara Brannen, vice president of human resources, gives some specific examples of talent management practices that create a caring culture.“That makes me really happy,” Barbara Brannen told Carrier Management, sharing her typical reaction when the workers compensation insurer calls a “Level One”—a communication to all workers alerting them it’s dangerous for them to be out on the roads. “There really isn’t any reason for you to be in the building. You can complete your work from home because everybody here is set up with laptops.”
“‘Level Two’ means you really do have to stay home. We aren’t planning to open the building. The roads are really that bad,” Brannen added. “We’re a safety company, so it’s really important that we show people how to practice working safely,” she said, highlighting two things about the culture of Pinnacol that employees appreciate.
