Allstate was founded in 1931; it offered auto insurance by direct mail and through the Sears catalog. The company’s “You’re in Good Hands with Allstate” slogan was created in 1950 by Allstate’s general sales manager Davis W. Ellis. At the end of the decade, it was used in the company’s first network television advertising campaign, which featured actor Ed Reimers. Allstate added products throughout the 1950s, which included fire insurance in 1954 and then homeowners and life insurance in 1957. In 1953 Allstate began selling insurance to Canadians; and in 1964 Allstate Insurance Company of Canada was incorporated.
Then in 1967, the company’s home office was moved from Skokie to Northbrook, Illinois. Allstate became totally independent in 1995 after Sears divested its remaining shares to Sears’s stockholders. For more than 75 years, Allstate leaders, employees and agency owners have been passionate about leading positive change in this country. For instance, in the 1960s Allstate helped convince the government to make seat belt use mandatory; and, in the 1970s and 1980s Allstate played an instrumental role in advocating the safety benefits of air bags; and Allstate has continued to take a public stand on issues that are important to consumers.
In addition, Allstate is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer and one of the nation’s leading insurers in urban areas. Allstate credit it success to the company’s vision “Diversity is Allstate’s strategy for leveraging differences in order to create a competitive advantage” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2001, pg 215). In order to accomplish this task Allstate does this by its goal setting, diversity Index, reward system and by its ability to retain employees Allstate Competitive Advantage.
Allstate has a very good competitive advantage from their Diversity Index because the company has the ability to choose the best of the best from a variety of sources. Therefore, Allstate recruits from colleges and universities with the most diverse enrollments. The diversity index helps Allstate to obtain the best women for specific tasks as well as minorities who have proven to be very competent and successful at their given jobs. In addition, the diversity index also helps the company to grow in new innovative ways because each person of a different background brings a different set of culture and beliefs.
Creating an environment with a truly diverse spirit is easier said than done. It takes constant vigilance to keep that spirit alive in a big organization and to ensure that it does not exist in name only. Allstate has found that a structured measurement and feedback system helps foster companywide diversity beyond the recruitment stage. This measurement system helps glue the initiative to the corporate objective of increasing customer retention and sales. It also ensures managers are held accountable for creating a trusting and diverse environment for their employees.
The ccorporate diversity training programs aim is to help employees understand personal differences and how these differences influence our interactions, moral and work performance. Understanding diversity means having respect for individuals belief and cultural. That is why the company builds diversity into its performance model an employee can count on being treated with respect and dignity and in turn the company expects the employees to develop skills that would outperform the competition. High-Performance Reward.
With the uncertainty of today’s economy companies tend to cut corners and save cost so they tend not to give employees monetary reward but rather a thank you letter. This reward can be frustrating to an employee especially those who relied on that increase income to manage their day to day expense. Employees should be paid based on their value in the labor market. Skilled based pay programs would be a great asset and reward program for Allstate. Employees with highly developed skills and those that develop other skills could be of valuable assets to the organization.
Allstate gives its employees the tools, resources and opportunities that they need to succeed. The employees appear to be very motivated to work for the company with the reviews that are given by its diversity index. Thus some employees reach top out; this occurs when an employee master all the skills and reach the top of his/her pay scale which is a drawback to skills base pay. By adding new skills or giving employees shares can eliminate the problem of individuals topping out. Diversity Index and QLMS Provide a Motivation
The employee feedback system which measures employee perceptions is known as theDiversity index; it has become a great tool that Allstate uses. As a result, Allstate has been recognized as a leader in workplace diversity. Allstate recruit from universities with the most diverse population. Of the nearly 5,300 executives and managers 50% are women and 25% are Hispanics or people of color. Therefore, being a minority I would be very motivated to work for Allstate because of their Diversity Index and QLMS. Allstate is very committed to having a diverse company.
Allstate has always participated in the wellbeing of the community and looking towards helping minorities in the workforce. The diversity program works so well for Allstate employees because they evaluate their leaders in terms of their skill in building a strong supportive work environment for all employees. Everyone’s diversity skills are assessed through the extensive quarterly surveys that are conducted where employees are asked for anonymous feedback on how the company is getting along with its customers and employees.
The Quarterly Leadership Measurement System survey measures leadership effectiveness in managing the diversity in the company. These surveys are conducted at least twice a year. Unlike the diversity index, the QLMS measures employee’s perception of how well the company is achieving aspirations for its customers, shareholders and employees. The diversity index and the QLMS measure the effectiveness of Allstates’ diversity efforts. They are both compared so that you can identify any correlation between them.
The better the employees perceive their managers effort to produce a diverse work environment, the more satisfied they are which will entail them to greater customer satisfaction and retention. Allstate makes each employee feel as part of a team; a valued contributor to the success of the business. I would be very motivated by the Diversity Index and QLMS because the company takes the feedback of the employees to help build a greater company. When you are running a company the more feedback that you get from them, the greater chance you have of creating a great company/community.
Conclusion In order for Allstate to obtain its goal of being a diverse company it must have a succession program whereby those who come in maintain the goals and standards set by Allstate. Furthermore the company must develop a process to conduct assessment. Then Allstate needs to continue to measure employee’s performance to see that the goals are being met. Lastly, Allstate needs to have rewards set in place to have continued good performance by individuals.