Glatfelter: Exercising skills, hard and soft

The features are something above and beyond a competitive pay program and benefits package that the employee-owned company can offer, its president and CEO Anthony Campisi said.

Glatfelter Insurance , which saw nearly 2 percent growth in revenue in 2016, has roughly 520 employees overall, 370 of them at its main offices. An employee-owned company, it is one of the largest privately-owned insurance brokers in the U.S., serving more than 30,000 clients.

Campisi, Glatfelter Insurance’s leader since December 1999, said providing access to exercise is just part of “a corporate culture that cares about the health and welfare of our associates (employees).”

The firm also reimburses off-site employees at its other locations for memberships at local health clubs, said Glatfelter’s vice president of human resources, Suzanne McConkey.

Campisi, as a veteran CEO, was asked by the Business Journal what he wishes he had known about employee recruitment or retention earlier in his business career.

“Always make sure the job is a good ‘fit’ for an individual’s personality,” he replied. “It’s easy to assess an individual’s education and work experience, but much harder to determine if the individual possesses the right soft skills (emotional intelligence) for the job and work environment. It’s almost always the soft skills that determine a successful employment relationship.”

McConkey said the firm relies on the standard interview process for most of the positions it fills.

“We use a series of behavioral questions during our interviews to learn how the candidate has responded in previous situations, with the thought that past behavior should be a prediction of future behavior,” she said. “We ask questions regarding conflict resolution, teamwork, communication style, preferred work environment, customer service, etc.”

Glatelter uses the “Caliper Profile” employee-assessment for interviews done to fill sales and management positions, McConkey said.

The assessment “measures an individual’s job-performance potential, and helps to determine which candidate may be best-suited for a given job based on their intrinsic motivation relative to the role’s responsibilities,” she said. While it is viewed as an additional tool in determining if a candidate is a good fit for a position, it is not the final deciding factor, McConkey added, noting that hiring managers also have their own ways to assess soft skills.