Elephant Auto Insurance is new in town, and its unusual approach to office life is making it stand out.
"Everyone is encouraged to participate in building our company and our culture," said Elephant President and CEO Andrew Rose.
The company employs 60 people at its offices in western Henrico County.
"As a team, we actively solicit ideas from employees in every part of our organization. We want people to bring new ideas to solve problems, take on projects and be cultural leaders in our company."
To establish an environment in which employees feel the company cares about them, Elephant gives 3,000 pounds sterling ($4,552.32) worth of stock in its parent company, Admiral Group plc, to employees, Rose said.
"The little things make a difference," he said. "Like posting our to-the-minute sales information and tracking our sales goals on a whiteboard for everyone to see. Not everything we post is a metric, however. . . . Currently on our displays are pictures of our newest employees, a volcano -- a few people got trapped in the U.K. [United Kingdom] because of the ash -- and a new sandwich that got a lot of attention in the office."
The company has encouraged teamwork to paint a mural in the office, and employees are working on a music video.
"When we moved into our office, one of the things we did was to set up the kids room, the game room and the Wii room. We wanted employees to feel welcome in their space," Rose said.
"Our employees own our culture," he said. "We want feedback -- and lots of it. We constantly ask for feedback."
Rose said one reason the company's British parent picked the Richmond area was because the region has a pool of good candidates to hire.
"We are a bit zany, so we try to expose candidates to this culture," Rose said.
In hiring, "we have been known to fire on people with Nerf guns, ask about your thoughts regarding zombies and speak to them in French. . . . We are looking for people who are passionate, open-minded and willing to try something new."
Rose said Elephant's executives see no conflict between profitable growth and a relaxed and friendly corporate culture.
"When people like what they do, they do it better," he said. -- David Ress
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