Central Insurance Companies
Integrity – Relationships – Excellence
Light Industrial – Heavy on Protection
Light industrial is a term you often hear when discussing commercial insurance, but what does it mean? Typically, light industrial refers to operations such as machine shops, sheet metal work (shop only, no installation), and manufacturing of metal goods, electrical components, and food products. Basically, producing or processing small goods.
BusyKid – Allowance turned to Financial Literacy for Kids
Like it or not, everything is going digital. Even famous board games that at one time appeared to be safe from ever being played in your hand, are now one touch away. During a family vacation to Florida, I was blown away to learn that all I needed to survive three days at the most fun and overcrowded places on earth was a phone or wristband. That’s right, no wallet, money, room key or purses. I never felt freer!
A Culture of Appreciation is Everything!
“Culture is Everything.” It’s a phrase I first heard from Mr. Bill Purmort, current President of Central Insurance Companies, and I think it’s a great way to introduce today’s blog topic…employee appreciation. Why? Because, tomorrow, March 6th, 2020, is National Employee Appreciation Day! Now, that’s a good reason, right?
As a fairly new employee at Central Insurance Companies, I can sense the culture around here. I can feel it. You may be wondering how does one sense and feel culture? Let me explain…
I’ve known Central for a long time; my mom has been working here since I was born! She’s retiring in less than a month after 38 years, all of them working in the IT department. Wow! That’s a really long time to be working at one place! But, I think that implies something about my mom: she’s a loyal employee who knows a lot about computers and has worked pretty hard to maintain her career for 38 years! And, I think the fact that she is among several others retiring soon after many years with the company can imply something about Central: Central must appreciate their employees and make it a great place for them to work. I can personally vouch for that.
For example, earlier this week, our VP of Human Resources and Facilities sent an e-mail to the entire company saying, “Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to Fulfill the Promise each and every day! Let’s celebrate with coffee and treats on Friday!”
How cool is that?! Free coffee and treats for all of the employees at Central, from Central. I can appreciate that, and it makes me feel appreciated. It’s a small thing, but small things add up and can make a big difference. That’s how I can sense and feel the culture! Very cool!
Check out these stats I found in a Forbes article about National Employee Appreciation Day. “As researchers, we know the real impact appreciation has on the workforce. We know that lack of appreciation is the number one reason people leave jobs (78%). We know that appreciation is the number one thing (37%) people say causes them to do great work. And, in fact, we could ramble on with statistics about how important appreciation is when it comes to average tenure, engagement scores and daily performance.” What more needs to be said?
How do you show appreciation for your employees? Here are some ideas:
1. Get to know your team. Life is too short to spend how many hours a day with people you hardly know and enjoy. Make time to talk to your employees. Show them that you are genuinely interested in them.
2. Encourage all to have a voice. While traditional methods definitely have their purpose, a new perspective on something may be what solves a problem down the road. Encourage employees to offer their opinions when they see fit, and communicate that from the beginning.
3. Recognize and reward good performance. This can be done with compliments, smiles, thumbs-up gestures, saying “thank you” or writing a thank you note, public announcements of achievement, promotions, and even giving casual dress days or time-off, etc.
4. Team Effort Celebration. Did the team pull together and get the job done? Throw an office pizza party. Like I’ve mentioned in a past blog, Teamwork makes the Dreamwork!
Good employees are one of the greatest assets of a company. Show appreciation (and not just tomorrow but throughout the year) and build a positive culture conducive to happy employees, happy customers, and therefore, overall success. After all, “Culture is Everything!”
Copyright © 2020 Central Mutual Insurance Company. All rights reserved.
Daylight Savings Time is Time to Check Your Smoke Detectors
Daylight savings time is coming up this Sunday! We’re going to “SPRING forward” our clocks (which means Spring is just around the corner. Yay!). Another important thing to do this weekend: check our smoke detectors!
Juice Jacking: What You Need to Know
We have probably all been to a public building where there are signs offering a free service to plug in your device at a charging location. Without thinking, we hurriedly plug in our device to the USB, by either using our own charger or ones that are built-in. It seems very convenient when we need a little more juice for our device, and we’re sure it’s safe and secure, right?
Equipment Breakdown Coverage Explained
Boiler & Machinery is an antiquated term once used to describe a separate policy that offered coverage for causes of loss such as mechanical breakdown, electrical surges, explosion of steam boilers, steam pipes, etc. This separate policy was needed because these causes of loss are excluded from most commercial property policies.
Teenage Driver? teenSMART is the Smart Choice for Safety and Savings!
If you are a parent with teen drivers in your household, you are probably constantly worried about them on the roads and are concerned about them safely getting from point A to point B. This worry is typically escalated during the winter months, especially if you live in an area that collects snow and ice, leading to bad driving conditions. It is important to make sure our teens are aware and informed about all driving conditions and situations. Luckily there are programs like teenSMART that can make new drivers more aware.
Medical Payments – The Forgotten Homeowner Insurance Coverage
There are a few homeowner insurance coverages that almost everybody has but very few think about. Personal liability is one of those coverages and even lower on the totem pole is medical payments coverage. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important (especially this time of year).
A Frozen Forecast Leads to Dangerous Driving
Many woke up today to the beauty of a winter wonderland, where everything is blanketed in bright white snow. It’s the kind of snow that’s best for when Anna and Elsa want to build a snowman, or for packing snowballs to throw at Olaf. Moist to wet snow makes the outdoors look so lovely because it easily sticks to everything, but it also makes for dangerous driving conditions (even for Sven and his sleigh).
Getting Personal with Agents and Underwriters
I’ve been working in the insurance industry for 18 years now. Currently, I hold a position as a Personal Lines Underwriter with Central Insurance. However, when I obtained my very first position as a personal lines customer service representative at a small independent agency in New York, I knew next to nothing about insurance (other than I needed it). And so, my career began. Over the next 18 years, I would gain a lot of knowledge about the ins and outs of the personal lines wing of this great industry. Having worked on the agency side and the carrier side, I consider myself lucky to have experienced the similarities and differences both opportunities provided.
