Selling Employee Passion

Feature: Talent Acquisition Special Report: Burnishing the Brand

Selling Employee Passion
SFM focuses on bringing in young talent who can be shaped to fit today's customer service-oriented culture.
By Patrick J. Kiger

orkers' compensation insurer SFM focuses on bringing in young talent who can be shaped to fit today's customer service-oriented culture.

    "Our employment brand is, 'Employees are the heart of our success,' " explains Jody Rogers, SFM's human resources administrator. "We're selling the idea that you can come here and grow professionally and become an expert in this field. This is a company where we've gotten very good at what we do, where we respond to external and internal customers, where everybody is part of a team and gets timely information."

    "We communicate the brand in a lot of different ways," Rogers continues. "It's in how we write and phrase our job postings, in what we say when we go to speak at insurance clubs and career fairs. I don't say, 'This is our culture' and why, but I get across the message that it's about our employees and how passionate they are."

    SFM relies upon employee referrals to find talent, though the company doesn't have a formal program that provides incentives for leads.

    "We've found that we really don't need it," Rogers says. "Employees like working here so much, they give us referrals without compensation."

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Workforce Management, October 22, 2007, p. 42 -- Subscribe Now!

Patrick J. Kiger is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. E-mail editors@workforce.com to comment.