On Tuesday, Aug 17th, BCS Financials’ own Carmen Freeman, Director of Ancillary Products Business Development Sales, hosted a panel on culture, diversity, and communication in the workplace at the 2021 BenefitsPRO Broker Expo. Her panelists, Andrew McNeil of Arrow Benefits Group, Ed Ligonde of Nielsen Benefits Group (and 2021 Broker of Year winner!), and Eric Silverman of Voluntary Disruption, fielded a stream of questions ranging from the effects of making culture a top priority, best practices on communicating to a multicultural and multigenerational workforce, to the importance of engaging employees year-round and best practices on how to do that.
Additional questions came in from audience including “how do you communicate your culture and vet your culture during the hiring process?”. Ed responded that his focus in the office is “to ensure that everyone on the team is in a role where they can be their best self”. An open door/Zoom policy is emphasized to provide transparent communication flow to his employees. From a recruiting perspective, it’s about asking the right questions to make sure those who are applying actually want to be a part of the family…not just get a paycheck.
Eric’s method had potential new hires coming to the office and engaging with other employees before they took the role. Even going so far as to inviting them to the office while he was out of town. “Get real feedback from the people (current employees) that matter…and that effected my culture to the enth degree in the most positive way”.
Key takeaways from the 55-minute panel included:
• Recognize the lasting impact
• Take your communication from blah to ah-ha!
• Discover the game-changers
• Amp up the education
• Get creative
For more information, you can check out BenefitsPro’s write-up on this great session here. In addition, you can reach out to Carmen Freeman at [email protected] for follow-up information or general inquiries about our Voluntary EssentialCare products.
