When Brittney McKenzie was hired as a paralegal at Nassau Financial Group, she didn’t have a lot of experience, but she joined the financial services company with attributes quickly spotted by her managers: ability and potential.
Six years later, McKenzie is now assistant vice president, contracting and strategic sourcing at Hartford-based Nassau — heading up everything from competitive bidding for services to approval of payment of purchases.
“The company puts people before positions,” McKenzie said. “They consider the strengths of an individual, and then, based on your strengths, you’re allowed to grow and thrive in whatever role best suits you. I’ve experienced that firsthand here. They see the potential in you, and they allow you to make an impact.”
Those workplace attributes and others have led employees to nominate Nassau — with 300 employees in Connecticut, largely in downtown Hartford’s iconic “Boat Building” — as a Hartford Courant Top Workplace, achieving that recognition nine times since 2016, including the last four consecutive years.
“It is a terrific accomplishment to make this list for so many years,” said Bob Helbig, media partnerships director at Energage, an employee survey company that oversees tabulation of Top Workplaces nominations. “What it shows is a deliberate, thoughtful effort to create a great work environment. It doesn’t happen by accident. And they are in a tough competitive industry which makes it all the more challenging.”
Smaller company culture
Nassau established a presence in Hartford a decade ago when it acquired and took private The Phoenix Cos., an old-line, but financially troubled insurer in the midst of a turnaround. Its majority shareholder is Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm.
In a city with the headquarters of such insurance giants as The Hartford and Aetna, owned by CVS Health Corp., Nassau considers itself a smaller employer, focusing on annuities. As of March 31, Nassau had $24.4 billion in assets under management and more than 350,000 policies and contracts.
Soon after taking over Phoenix, Nassau’s senior leadership introduced dramatic changes in the workplace — welcomed by employees — that are now emblematic of its culture.
Phil Gass, Nassau’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the culture, at its core, is defined by “what we call ‘extreme ownership.’”
“Every person in the company really owns what they do,” Gass said. “It matters a lot. And people care. You really care about the product, and you care about getting stuff done.”
A culture of extreme ownership is “about really not saying ‘That’s not my job’ or just staying in your own little lane,” said Joleen Speight, vice president, strategic…
Read More: CT’s Nassau Financial Group. ‘They allow you to make an impact’
