"One way to be successful is to have employees know each other and trust each other," says Tom Raffio, the president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, a provider of dental benefits to individuals and organizations in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The 45-year-old, 175-person firm, which has offices in all three of the states in which it provides dental insurance coverage, has many measures in place for its employees to do just that.
Perhaps the most all-encompassing connection tool is the organization's quarterly "all-colleague" meetings, which are held at Northeast Delta Dental's headquarters in Concord, NH. The company demonstrates its commitment to employees by shutting down the business for a full two hours while it focuses on listening to staff concerns and recognizing outstanding work. "Tom will ask us, 'Do you understand all of what we've just talked about?' so he's sure everyone is on the same page," says Lis Anne Osgood, a 22-year veteran of the company who works in the customer service department.
For Jeff Landa, who has headed the organization's Vermont office since 1987, these meetings represent the end stage in an employee feedback process that starts small with weekly meetings and builds to include more worker opinions in multi-departmental meetings. "Tom is very big on communication; he wants to talk to everyone and get everyone's opinions," Landa says. This approachability has resulted in a casual, almost familial relationship between the employees and their boss. "Everyone refers to him by his first name, or by 'coach,'" he says. "No one is calling him 'Mr. Raffio.'"
The nickname "coach" comes from another feedback-gathering method Raffio instituted more than a decade ago: Coffee with the Coach. Once a month, Raffio invites a random group of employees, representing all departments, to have coffee with him. One of the questions he often asks them is, "If you were the CEO, what would you do differently?" The answers Raffio receives to that and other candid questions are invaluable in moving the business forward. "I just attended it last week," Osgood says. "One person in the group came in very well prepared. He asked Tom if Northeast Delta Dental could hire a webmaster. It then became a running joke for the rest of the session – Tom's answer to every question was, 'Our new webmaster will take care of that.'"
This camaraderie has fostered a work environment in which outside-the-box thinking is encouraged – and even in which mistakes are accepted as long as appropriate review of the situation and, where applicable, customer follow-up are conducted. The organization made local headlines a few years ago when the city of Manchester, NH, discovered that Northeast Delta Dental didn't make good on one of its service guarantees, which stated that 90 percent of a group's claims would be paid in 15 days. The city, a group customer, found that the company had paid 89 percent of its claims in 15 days, missing the guarantee's requirement by 1 percent. Northeast Delta Dental immediately sent a reimbursement check to the city totaling more than $13,000. "This refund comes as a pleasant surprise, as Delta's own staff audits this process," Manchester's HR director responded in a press release.
As a force within the dental industry – certainly in New England – one of Raffio's overarching goals for Northeast Delta Dental is to improve access to dental health care and education. To this end, the organization established a nonprofit foundation in 1995. Every year the company sets aside a portion of its estimated revenues for the foundation to fund oral health initiatives in its three states.
Besides the foundation, the company itself donates a considerable amount of time, finances and even meeting space to a variety of nonprofit causes. In total, its employees serve on 60 not-for-profit boards, including those for the American Red Cross, Easter Seals and Junior Achievement. "We find that organizations tap Northeast Delta Dental to improve their board operations and customer service," says Raffio. "And for our employees, it's a great way to keep their passions alive."
The leadership's blessing for employees to explore their passions (which includes allowing them to attend board meetings during company time) has translated into a highly committed workforce that displays strong retention: in 2005, the average employee tenure was 6.6 years. "It's all about the culture," Raffio says. "Happy, motivated employees translate to great external service."
Company: Northeast Delta Dental
Web site: www.nedelta.com
Industry: Dental insurance
Location: Concord, NH
Number of employees: 175
Sales: $190 million
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