Employees at One Insurance Group attend the staff carnival.SUPPLIED
Nicholas Rawluk arrived as CEO at One Insurance Group Inc. in 2022, prepared to make the sort of changes in workplace culture he deemed necessary for the brokerage’s long-term success. “When I learned we started people at two weeks holidays, I said, ‘You know what? A job is two weeks, a career is three,’” says Rawluk.
“Long-term relevance means investing in ourselves,” he explains. “We want to ensure that we’re looking after our people and treating them right, because that’s how you attract and keep great people.”
An expanded 10-day sick leave soon followed, along with a lower, five-day short-term disability threshold and increased mental health coverage. “Anytime our employees bring forward a need, it’s something we will look at to see if we can enhance our benefit programs,” Rawluk says. “We even expanded our sick leave provisions so that employees can use it for appointments for their pets.”
One’s workplace culture continues to evolve, according to team lead Ashlee Schmidt — especially since a 2023 merger with BSI Insurance expanded Winnipeg-based One’s Manitoba branches to 28. “They clearly merged the benefit packages as well, taking the best of both,” says Schmidt. “We now have not just better vacation time and health spending accounts but a quite phenomenal 24/7 employee assistance plan.”
And those developments are only part of a steadily improving employee experience, emphasizes Schmidt, an eight-year veteran. “I’ve always loved it here, but we’re now a lot more connected across locations than we were before. We can work from other branches, which is a great way for us to get to know each other and really helpful for clients,” Schmidt says.
“Being able to immediately aid clients, who are often coming to you at one of the worst times in their lives, whether they’re in Altona and you’re in Winnipeg, is wonderful.”
That’s part of adapting to a constant state of change in the insurance industry, says Rawluk. “That’s why we’ve expanded massively in our HR and training departments, to assure our people that we’ll be there to help support them and have their backs.”
Schmidt deeply appreciates how One — where the majority of the workforce and executive team are female — supports continuing education and attendance at events like the annual Women in Insurance Summit.
“They also sent us to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction’s new Climate Resilience Centre here in Winnipeg. It was an opportunity to consider the catastrophic events that we’ve been seeing — last year was a terrible year of wildfires in Manitoba — and learn how to help educate our clients,” Schmidt says. “Agents can then advise clients on everything they can do, from types of siding to how far away from homes to allow foliage, to mitigate damage before a disaster strikes.”
Underpinning all of One’s recent developments is a commitment to clear communication in the workplace. “We are offering a lot of autonomy to staff and that requires accountability, which of course is a two-way street,” Rawluk says. “We have to build trust, and you do that by communication, by being present. The executive team, including me, regularly go around to the branches and meet with staff. Every branch.”
For One’s staff, their CEO’s frequent presence makes a huge difference. “Nick stops in at all branches. We get the chance to communicate with him and other senior leadership face to face quite often,” says Schmidt. “The communication and transparency in this company is amazing.”
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Video: One Insurance