Michael Phillips: “Our business involves a variety of jobs in IT.”

The Principal Financial Group is a 123-year-old financial institution in a traditionally laid-back and friendly Midwestern environment. But it gives its employees all the opportunities of a fast-paced global business. And the company has recently stepped up its diversity programs and recruiting efforts, says Michael Phillips, director of human resources.

The Principal offers a full range of financial services and is a leading national provider of 401(k) arrangements for small and medium businesses.

The company has a large IT department where jobs range from data processing to LAN support and systems integration, Phillips says. “Our business involves everything from asset accumulations like real estate to insurance, mortgages and banking, so there’s a variety of jobs in IT. I think it’s really important to IT professionals to be involved in a company like ours that has an IT focus and is on the cutting edge of IT products and services.”

The company develops its applications primarily in Oracle and Cobol, and like most financial institutions has a variety of legacy systems. “In the past we did a lot of in-house modifications to existing applications,” but the current thrust is toward a more standardized approach, Phillips notes.

The Principal Financial Group www.principal.com Headquarters: Des Moines, IA Employees: 17,000; 1,600 in IT Revenues: $513 million in 2001 Business: Financial products and services for individuals, institutions and businesses

In addition to back-office applications, new IT grads might be involved with jobs that meet customer needs, like servicing claims or finding new ways to do express processing. The Principal is seeking new and different ways of doing business with its customers, so employees need to be innovative, Phillips says. “We are looking for people who can take those standard platforms and find ways to better serve our customers.”

The company is very much interested in increasing the diversity in its workforce, Phillips says. “We have a global focus as an international company, and so we’re making sure that our employee base mirrors our customer base,” Phillips says.

Des Moines is a city of about 200,000 people. It is becoming more diverse, with growing Asian and Latino populations. For the past few years The Principal has participated in a recruiting program with area businesses and the Iowa Human Resources Recruiting Consortium. The aim is to attract minority professionals to Des Moines.

The Principal Scholars Program provides scholarship awards and internship opportunities to gifted minorities in IT and other majors.

The Principal is also emphasizing diversity in its national recruiting. It works with BDPA, and targets the University of Texas-El Paso, Howard University and Spelman and Morehouse colleges as primary recruiting schools.

The company hires as many as eighty-five student interns a year, and plans to offer about two-thirds of them full-time jobs when they graduate, Phillips says.

“We not only relate the internship job content to the students’ career interests, but we structure assignments to provide a variety of responsibilities,” Phillips says.

The Principal Scholars Program is a key outreach initiative designed to keep highly qualified minority students in Iowa. Each year, The Principal relies on local diverse organizations and college career centers to help it select four minority students for $5,000 scholarships. The program starts during the sophomore or junior year, so there are about a dozen Principal Scholars at the company at a time. They intern during the summer, living in housing that the company provides, and the company keeps in touch with them during the school year.

Principal Financial Group campus in the friendly Midwestern city of Des Moines, IA. The handsome Principal tower is at right.

All internships at The Principal include meaningful work, of course, and also fun activities like ice cream socials and baseball games. “At the end of the summer, the interns give presentations to senior management and each other. A lot of times, what they’ve learned relates directly to their classes at school,” Phillips says.

When new minority grads – former interns or not – report for work, affinity groups are put in touch with them to offer extra help if needed.

The company provides employee support through networking groups. Its diversity council includes representatives from Asian, African American and Hispanic groups, the Muslim Alliance and the Gay and Straight Alliance. Statewide, The Principal recently became a platinum partner of the Iowa Asian Alliance to help recruit and retain Asian professionals.

All employees go through a daylong diversity workshop. “We want our employees to embrace the diverse culture of our company and the diverse nature of our customer base. We serve all our customers better by understanding the needs of that diverse audience,” Phillips says.

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