Alliant National has scored its eighth straight Great Place to Work® designation!
By Adam Mohrbacher
Alliant National was recently certified as a Great Place to Work®—its eighth straight certification. This honor reflects the hard work of many people to build a workplace where employees can bring their whole selves to work and contribute their unique skills, insights and experiences to the betterment of the organization and the agents it serves. Below, you’ll hear about some of the reasons why Alliant National gained its eighth certification and how this enables the company to deliver more for its independent agents.
Building solidarity and support with EET
Perhaps the most foundational element of Alliant National’s welcoming, inclusive and high-performing culture is its employee engagement team (EET). The EET was designed to create a working environment where every employee feels engaged, rewarded and personally committed. Kim Bergner, Alliant National’s Internal Auditor, recently spoke to the effectiveness of those efforts.
Bergner has been a part of the EET for two years. She described how one of its subcommittees, called “Knowledge Bytes,” offers employees a Zoom-based forum to showcase contributions and “explain their challenges and how others in the company can help.” From Bergner’s perspective, these programs are essential for fostering a positive work culture. “They build bridges and relationships between employees in different departments of the company,” she explained, which is deeply important in an era of remote work.
Creating future leaders through the Trailblazer Mentorship Program
The EET is just one of many initiatives that contributes to Alliant National’s Great Place to Work® status. A new program launched this year is the Trailblazer Mentorship Program. Structured as a seven-month initiative, the Trailblazer Mentorship Program pairs veteran employees with workers who are interested in improving their skills, confidence and careers. The program offers monthly group and one-on-one meetings where mentors and mentees connect to explore topics like goal setting, leadership and career growth—all within a safe and supportive space.
Bergner recently completed the Trailblazer Mentorship Program and has spoken positively about the effort. Another Alliant National employee who took part is Jace Coffie. As one of Alliant National’s youngest employees, Coffie represents the next generation of professionals that any underwriter should seek to cultivate and grow into a long-term employee. For Coffie, the program accomplished exactly that, helping him establish a solid foundation for a long and successful career. “This program has had such a huge impact on my first-year journey, and I know it will continue to shape me moving forward,” he said.
Great Place to Work® pays off beyond Alliant National
Investing in employee wellness, growth and development is about much more than the company itself. It also benefits stakeholders. Bergner notes that programs like EET and Trailblazers “build morale in the organization.” Higher morale, she continues, “can foster satisfaction, which can ultimately lead to longer employee retention.”
Time and time again, longer-tenured employees perform better on behalf of partners and customers. Data from Gartner showed that companies which successfully retain employees achieve 23% higher productivity than those that don’t. Glassdoor discovered a similar correlation between employee happiness and a company’s impact on its stakeholders. Its research showed that each “1-star improvement in an employer’s Glassdoor company rating out of 5 is associated with a statistically significant 1.3-point increase in customer satisfaction.”
Here’s to the next eight
Given this data, there’s no question about the importance of credentials like Great Place to Work®. This honor isn’t just something nice to tuck into a press release or fact sheet. Instead, it is a mission-critical priority for any business desiring to create positive outcomes for its employees, partners, customers and communities. Alliant National couldn’t be happier to have achieved this goal and its associated benefits for eight years and counting. And it looks forward to raising the bar for many years to come.
