9SEPTEMBER 2022me, because I would have expected technology departments to lead the charge in remote work.At Acuity, we have fully embraced remote and hybrid work arrangements. People throughout our company, including IT, can choose where they want to work. Today about 20% of our IT staff are fully remote, and we are entirely comfortable with that. This has not only led to increased job satisfaction but has also opened up a nationwide talent pool to us. 5. Show people they are valued At an insurance company, the focus of business is on the needs of policyholders, with claims, billing, and other customer-focused processes being most visible to the public. It's important that everyone in IT, whether they are new to the company or someone who has been here for decades, to understand how vital they are to those processes. Our President and CEO, Ben Salzmann, likes to say that Acuity is a tech company inside an insurance company. The point is that we don't just write code and create systems--everything we do in IT supports our mission of being there when bad things happen to our customers and helping them rebuild shattered lives.We continually work to demonstrate that connection and give people a sense of importance and accomplishment. There isn't a single way that we do this--it's baked into the fabric of our culture. It includes regular events such as quarterly, companywide "Town Hall" meetings and monthly "Lunch with an Officer" sessions. It includes my weekly "Meetings with Marcus" sessions where I show people first-hand how their work fits into the larger corporate picture. It also includes our migration to Agile development, which has dramatically increased the amount of personal interaction between IT and end-users and provided transparency into how the work we do impacts everyone. In short, recruiting and retaining great people in IT requires an unrelenting effort to build and maintain a workplace where people feel supported and valued. This effort cannot exist in isolation. It requires a companywide commitment to being a great place to work and a company people are proud to be part of. There are no shortcuts to tackling the talent crunch, but putting in the work will pay dividends. Recruiting and retaining great people in IT requires an unrelenting effort to build and maintain a workplace where people feel supported and valued
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