Editors’ Note

Kim Chiodi was named to her current post in 2012. She joined Western & Southern in 1982 as a manager of training and personnel research. She left to pursue a career in consulting in 1995 and returned as Vice President, Field Human Resources, in 2008. Chiodi earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Xavier University and a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Akron.

Company Brief

With a heritage dating to 1888, Western & Southern Financial Group (westernsouthern.com) is a Cincinnati-based Fortune 500 diversified family of financial services companies. Western & Southern maintains very strong financial strength ratings from independent rating agencies.

What emphasis has this company placed on attracting and retaining top talent?

In human resources, our mission is to build a world-class workforce to support the attainment of our business objectives across all of our member companies. We do this in three ways: attracting talent, developing talent, and retaining talent.

Our talent acquisition team works hand-in-hand with our hiring managers. HR does not own talent. HR shares responsibilities for our people with our business units. The goal is to ensure that we are not just hiring for the right skills but for a strong cultural fit.

In addition, we aim for all candidates to have an outstanding candidate experience. Whether or not they are hired, they are potential ambassadors and recruiters of other talent, as well as potential policyholders or clients.

Our education and development team works closely with our business unit partners to combine classroom and online training with a really strong industry education program. They also consult with individual departments on team development and strategy execution. We have never downsized this team, even in tough times; that’s how important talent development is to Western & Southern.

Also, our associate relations team focuses on talent management to ensure our associates have a full, rewarding, and impactful career. When someone finishes their career at Western & Southern, we want them to be able to say they could not have enjoyed their careers more or done better anywhere else.

In the long run, talent retention is owned by everyone in our organization.

Do young people today understand the exciting things happening in insurance?

There is an entire universe within financial services so the career opportunities are endless. At Western & Southern, a full one-third of our positions are filled from within our ranks.

I also think the industry and those in it provide really good support for developing skills.

Financial services is also a great career because of the positive impact one can have on customers – it’s a place to make a difference.

How critical is it that diversity is mirrored within your workforce?

We believe that for our organization to be successful, everybody has to own the business. One of our cultural values is collaboration. We look for and reward people who can work well with others, value multiple perspectives, and are team players. Our experience shows us that when everyone works hard and contributes, we win.

We need diverse perspectives and hard work from everyone.•