Assurance Maximizes Employee Potential with Cornerstone

Cornerstone’s solutions for recruiting, learning and performance have helped one of the largest independent U.S. insurance brokerages recruit and retain top talent, enable more frequent and meaningful feedback, and foster mobility within the organization
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — July 31, 2018 — Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD), a global leader in cloud-based learning and human capital management software, today announced that Assurance, one of the largest and most awarded independent insurance brokerages in the U.S., has seen incredible success using Cornerstone’s suites for Recruiting, Learning and Performance to provide an exceptional employee experience for its team.

Assurance minimizes risk and maximizes health for over 6,000 businesses and individuals across the country through a suite of insurance solutions, including business insurance, employee benefits, financial services, private insurance and surety. Although Assurance ranks as a mid-size business with 500 U.S. employees, the company is experiencing a growth rate of 10 to 15 percent and plans to expand across the country, opening four more offices in the next five years.

With more than $100 million in revenue and a 98 percent client recommendation rate, the company credits its success to its employees with the mantra “happy employees equals happy clients.” Because of Assurance’s highly employee-centric culture, company leaders chose Cornerstone in 2014 to help better support each individual employee and enable them to learn and grow within the organization. Assurance was looking for a solution that would enhance their culture, instead of replacing it. Cornerstone helped to facilitate Assurance’s “DNA” performance management process, which stands for Dominate, Navigate and Appreciate. In the past five years since signing on with Cornerstone, Assurance has positively enhanced its talent management strategy. Some of the company’s talent management successes to date include:

• Improved feedback process to boost day-to-day performance. Before Cornerstone and the DNA Performance process, performance conversations at Assurance were often difficult. Now, with a new feedback process in place, managers say they feel more empowered to have frank, honest conversations with their team members. This updated process has also been very impactful for employees who now know where they stand and look forward to receiving feedback throughout the year to improve their day-to-day performance.

• Maximized the value to each employee with development goals. The company prioritizes cross-training to maximize the value of each employee. This is critical to a mid-size brokerage like Assurance as it ensures there is always an employee who is primed and ready for a new role should one become available. Assurance is able to make staffing decisions that are not only right for the company, but also in the best interest of the employee.

• Streamlined compliance reporting. Previously, reporting on continuing education (CE) credits to maintain licensure was a manual and time-consuming process. The system’s flexibility allowed Assurance to add a custom field for CE credits, which has resulted in easier reporting and a more streamlined process.

• Created a centralized place for all learning content. With Cornerstone, employees can easily access content whenever and wherever. The centralization of all Assurance’s learning content has helped empower employees to develop and learn in a very self-directed way. In 2017, Assurance logged more than 9,000 hours of training in the system.

• Increased visibility into employee engagement and performance with data insights. Prior to Cornerstone, review data was saved, but not leveraged for analysis. Now, that information is used not only to drive learning and improvement, but also to plan development for individuals. By reviewing questions employees and managers completed, Assurance has gained more insight into employee engagement and performance, allowing leaders to see what goals and aspirations employees have at the organization.

Comments on the News

“For any business, it’s critical to ensure that every investment made is one that will have an impact and drive the business forward. For us, Cornerstone was an investment which allowed us to provide every person at Assurance an experience that’s as unique as them,” said Michele McDermott, senior vice president of human resources at Assurance. “As we expand our business and add new members to our team, we know that Cornerstone can grow with us, and help us maintain and continue to refine this amazing employee culture we’ve built.”

“Of our more than 3,200 clients, we honor only five every year with a Client RAVE Award. This year, Assurance was not only a finalist in the Visionary in Performance Management category but also a winner in the Transformational HR and Talent Strategy category. It’s no surprise that Assurance was honored twice this year given the company’s commitment to providing an exceptional work environment and culture for its people,” said Chris Stewart, senior vice president of global customer success at Cornerstone OnDemand. “Assurance is proof that investing in your people will lead to happy customers and better business results.”

Additional Details

• To learn more about Assurance’s recruiting, learning and performance management initiatives, visit www.cornerstoneondemand.com/clients/assurance.

• For more information on Cornerstone’s product suites, visit www.cornerstoneondemand.com/products.