Compensation Plan Helps Insurance Firm Cash In

At ConnectiCare, a Connecticut-based health insurance provider, company leaders say they believe that the quality of their employees—the skills and talents they bring to their jobs—are among the key drivers of business success.

As a result, the 555-person company takes the pay-for-performance model quite seriously, says Dick Rogers, senior vice president of human resources. ConnectiCare offers annual bonuses to all employees if operating income targets are met, recognizes the top 3 percent of employees with extra bonuses and offers cash awards for successful projects. The company also has noncash recognition awards, such as gift certificates to resorts and restaurants.

These practices can be time-consuming and arduous to implement, but the time taken to focus on talent management has paid off in the company’s overall success, Rogers says. The company was one of six featured in a recent report issued by the Institute for Corporate Productivity considering models for effective performance-management programs.

Talent management and incentive programs were key drivers of the company’s 15 percent growth rate in the past two years, Rogers says. He also points to the company’s turnover rate in its call center as one obvious indicator of employee engagement. While a 40 percent turnover rate is typical for many call centers of insurance providers, ConnectiCare’s turnover is in the single digits, Rogers says.

“We have a mission you can believe in and we believe that every single employee can make a difference,” he says. ” … It’s really not any one thing here. We just believe that you can’t underestimate the importance of talent, you can’t underestimate the importance of culture, and you can’t underestimate the importance of having human resource systems that are aligned with your mission and help drive the business.”

Meg McSherry Breslin is a writer based in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.