Today’s episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast explores innovative ways of sourcing the best talents for agencies. Host David Saltzman features Susan Rider, Vice President of Employee Benefits and Human Capital Strategies at Gregory & Appel Insurance, and they discuss disabilities, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Susan begins by sharing her own learning difficulties and how this shaped her interest in bringing in otherwise overlooked opportunities for her agency. She also goes more in depth in the specific ways Gregory & Appel taps talent, both from existing and prospective employees.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 02:16 Susan’s learning disability and thoughts on diversity and inclusion
• 06:44 Opportunities: Investing in employees with learning disabilities
• 10:39 Uncovering hidden talent and spearheading innovation
• 13:34 Inclusion in the company mission vision and volunteerism
• 17:47 Where to find great untapped talent

Quotes:

“We all learn differently, we all have great ideas, and when we come to the table with a diverse perspective, that helps keep things fresh and innovative for our clients.”

“In regards to training and scaling up and those types of things, it might take a little bit longer than a traditional employee but when you show them that you care and you’re empathetic for their needs, I think that translates to an engaged employee. And they stay with your organization more because you’ve invested time, money, and training in them.”

“I think a lot of people especially in this tight job market need to start thinking a bit more outside the box on how they can bring talents, how they can bring intellectual conversation, and how they can bring innovation to their agency.”

“Our human resource manager is our champion and so she’s done a lot of training with our management team so that we sort of remove our biases, if you will, and interview differently because things that are important to a traditional employee might not be as important to someone who has a different need or want.”

“Other people, based on their family situation or whatever, maybe they need an alternative work schedule so we try to look and see how we can adapt the role to fit what their needs are and we just have that open upfront dialogue with them.”

Listen to the Full Interview:

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