Agency is a ‘Second Home’ for Employees

A home away from home might be just about the only way to sum up how employees at Heritage Insurance Agency in Chico, Calif., feel about their firm.

Employees there nominated Heritage as Insurance Journal’s Best Agency to Work For – West. The agency took home the silver award, earning high marks for performance reviews, and community service.

Employees writing in to nominate their firm peppered their remarks with phrases such as “just like home,” or a “second home,” so liberally that the many other compliments almost fade into the background.

“I don’t know how other to describe it other than, when you walk in the door you feel you are at home with one giant family,” one employee wrote. “Everyone from agency owners to employees to the office dog actually cares about our clients and our coworkers. You wouldn’t find a more compassionate, genuine, heartfelt, caring, professional group of go-getters anywhere else on the West coast.”

“The atmosphere is amazing and everyone really feels at home when they come to work,” wrote another.

“Heritage feels more like a second home than a workplace,” was another homey observation.

The agency reports roughly $2 million in annual revenue, and has 18 employees.

Steve Mora, the principal and CEO, who runs the agency along with his wife Kelly, the chief marketing officer, was asked why so many employees felt like their workplace was another home.

“Put people before profits,” was his immediate response.

He explained that when he started as an employee in the insurance agency business in 1998 working as a producer, he quickly understood that he wanted to start his own firm so he would be able to enjoy who he worked with and enjoy coming to work every day.

Heritage was borne out of the small agency the couple purchased, and then took full control of in 2014.

In seven years, they have nearly quadrupled revenue, and they try to add new team members every six months or so.

“When we add a new team member, it’s like we’re adding another family member,” Mora said. “‘We hire for character and not just experience. Everybody who works here is equal as a human being, which means there’s no room for hierarchy or beneficial treatment.”

The couple each grew up on farms, so it makes sense their specialty is agriculture.

One employee, who has worked for independent insurance agencies since the 1970s, feels Heritage stands far above the other workplaces across those many decades.

“I was warmly welcomed into this agency with open arms by the agency owners and as importantly by all of the staff,” the employee wrote. “This agency promotes continuing education for each employee and celebrates an employee when a goal is met — such as obtaining a designation. The atmosphere in the agency of family and true caring for one another is extraordinary and sets this agency apart from other agencies.”

Another employee, who started in the agency business a quarter-century ago, has worked at agencies that were good, bad and “extremely awful.”

“Heritage has been the only agency in my entire career to check all the boxes on my list,” the employee wrote. “I never felt heard or appreciated or empowered or seen. I’ve always felt like I was under a microscope and being used: watched, waiting to ‘catch’ me doing the wrong or incorrect thing. I never felt at ease or relaxed. They always felt toxic. Heritage is the opposite of all that. Here I feel at ease. At home. There is an interest in keeping me happy, interested, challenged, engaged, fulfilled, relevant.”

Heritage even challenges the old adage “the grass isn’t greener on the other side,” the employee continued. “Heritage Insurance Agency has proved this statement wrong. The grass is greener at Heritage.”