Recognizing the Value of People

The people-first culture at Rogers & Gray Insurance is one of many reasons its employees believe the South Dennis, Mass.-based agency is a great place to work. The agency was nominated by its employees and won Insurance Journal’s Best Agency to Work For – Silver award for the East region this year.

When asked in an anonymous survey why Rogers & Gray Insurance is a great place to work, one employee summed it up by stating, “It’s simple – we care.”

The family-like culture employees described in the survey began in 1980, when the father of Chairman Michael Robinson and President and CEO David Robinson purchased the agency with just 12 employees. Since 1980, the agency has continued to grow to 10 offices and 165 team members, David stated.

“What keeps us here is paying claims that make people whole, helping people protect what they’ve worked really hard for, growing our organization and creating jobs,” he said.

Indeed, Michael explained that Rogers & Gray has worked to continue growing by maintaining a forward-thinking attitude.

“We are never stagnant,” he said. “We are always looking for improvements and growth. That is exciting and infectious. The new people who join Rogers & Gray – particularly from other insurance agencies – are so surprised and delighted by this. They’ve not experienced that kind of mindset before at other agencies.”

As one example of this mindset, Michael pointed to the agency’s launch this year of its program called Monomoy Insurance Group, which was created to meet the demand for Massachusetts coastal homeowners insurance and to serve the needs of underserved insurance markets, according to its website.

“We saw a gap in our particular marketplace, developed the program, found the reinsurers and other partners and issued our first policy in less than 18 months,” he said.

David added another focus for the agency is to become as efficient and scalable as possible while leveraging changes technology is bringing to the insurance industry.

However, Michael and David both added that success in moving the agency forward begins with the same focus the agency has had since its onset – the people.

“Every organization wants to be Google, but we all can’t be,” Michael said. “So instead of thinking you need to have an open bar every Friday, ask employees what they want – what is most important to them.”

Employees that nominated Rogers & Gray agreed that focusing on its people is something the agency does well.

“Every voice is heard and respected at Rogers & Gray,” one employee wrote. “Employees are assets and are appreciated for all they do.”

In addition to its employees, Rogers & Gray works to establish a connection with its clients and its community, employees who filled out the survey added. Employees pointed to the agency’s efforts in the past 30 years to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless each year at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and its ongoing relationship with Together We Rise, in which the agency collects donations to stuff bags for children entering foster care in an emergency situation.

In addition to the community as a whole, employees said each client is an important focus for Rogers & Gray. One employee in the survey pointed to an example of a Rogers & Gray customer who was in an auto accident in which he and his wife were injured. A few of the agency’s client managers took time on a Saturday to go to their home and mow the lawn, weed and clean up their yard for them, the employee explained.

“To Rogers & Gray, our clients are family no matter how large we grow,” the employee wrote. “This is just one act of kindness, but the list is endless of examples like this. We truly value our clients and will do anything for them.”

At the end of the day, David added that the values the agency places on teamwork and building a family-like culture are what he believes have kept the agency strong and will allow it to continue to grow.

“Every single one of our team members works so hard every day to make R&G a really great place to be,” he said.