Diversity In Action

Native-serving Amerind gives priority
to diversity

"It's hard to find a diverse workforce, so we want people to send in their resumes even when we aren't recruiting," says the human resources director

Native American-owned Amerind Risk Management Corp gives high priority to diversity and needs IT pros. And that, says CFO Mike Jennings, means plenty of career opportunities available. Fifty-seven percent of the company's employees are Native Americans, Jennings says.

A group of federally recognized tribes established Amerind in 1986 to protect themselves, their treasuries and their enrolled members from unforeseen or catastrophic financial loss. Amerind protects life and property from fire, natural disaster and similar events, and offers workers' compensation insurance to employers. Today, more than 450 of the 536 federally recognized tribes are covered.

Amerind has 207 equity members that have $8 billion in property protection for homes, commercial properties, eldercare centers, warehouses and the like. On the individual homeowner side there are about 7,500 policy holders, and under workers' compensation there are eighty affiliates representing 80,000 employees in thirty states.

With such a huge task serving so many people, IT pros are in high demand, says Nancy Serna, communications director. Specific jobs include quality control, which involves testing and integration among multiple systems; and programming analysis in process areas such as the portal, imaging or business reporting.

"We are a Microsoft platform proprietary software company, so we do our own programming in-house," Serna says. "With members in so many states we do as much as we can through the Internet and go paperless at the same time." Programming is done in .Net and ASP and portal development utilizes HTML.

Amerind has some entry-level positions, but since it's a technically oriented company, even employees who just process applications need a basic understanding of what to look for and how their decisions affect the business as a whole. "We have both an underwriting team and a finance team," Serna adds.

The company is in the process of launching a much more comprehensive product requiring a relationship with another company that would provide Amerind with liability re-insurance, Jennings says. "If this product takes hold and is welcomed by our members and their tribal affiliates we could be expanding twofold within the IT area."

Stefanie Suazo, human resources director, says Amerind still wants people to apply for jobs, even when none are posted. "It's hard to find a diverse workforce. Send in your resume even though we aren't actively recruiting," she says.

To find Native candidates, Amerind works with Native American organizations in schools in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and other southwest states. Jennings is also on the finance committee of AISES in Albuquerque, NM.

"Last week we attended the Native American career fair at the University of New Mexico. We also look at Haskell University in Kansas," Suazo says.

"About sixty-five percent of Amerind employees are women, which leads to a more inclusive attitude," Suazo adds. Diversity councils and employee resource groups "almost aren't needed."

"Such a large part of our staff is Native American, and respect for others is a traditional way of life. I come from the Midwest, and it's been an eye-opening experience to see the traditional ways of our employees' lives and be given the opportunity to participate in them," Jennings adds.

Personal career development is also important to Amerind. There are monthly training sessions for younger team leaders in the organization, and the company wants its team leaders to encourage self discipline and decision-making in their staffs.

Besides education assistance and professional development opportunities, Amerind offers a scholarship program for college and technical school to members of the tribes it serves. "The tribes submit their guidelines to us for approval and then select their own participants," Jennings says.

Amerind employees are active in their local communities, sometimes volunteering individually, other times as organized groups, in the Head Start program of the various pueblos. There are also local programs for Thanksgiving baskets and holiday gifts, and national programs like diabetes, and breast cancer awareness and Junior Achievement.

"We've developed a Native American initiative approved by the national Junior Achievement office that includes an add-on module relevant to Native Americans and their community life," Jennings says.

Amerind offers flexible schedules for work-life balance, and there's a fitness center, but so far no on-site child care and no domestic partner benefits.

"We recognize there's an evolving workforce out there, and we're an evolving company. We recognize the need to evolve and be flexible," Suazo notes.

D/C