Allstate's CHRO On How The Company Has Evolved, Skills For Employees Of The Future, And Why It Is Good To Be Uncomfortable

Harriet Harty is the CHRO for Allstate Insurance Company Harriet Harty is the CHRO for Allstate Insurance Company. She is responsible for developing their talent strategy and the tools and programs to enable the enterprise to attract, develop and retain engaged and talented employees.

Since joining Allstate in 1995, Harty has held a number of key human resources positions. She was senior vice president, with responsibility for executive, broad-based and sales compensation; benefits; communications; finance; talent and leadership effectiveness; and home office client partnership. Previously, she led the human capital solutions function, which included strategy, employee value proposition, workforce relations, workforce insights, workforce technology and the AskHR call center. Harty began her career in the compensation area, working her way up to leadership of the compensation and executive compensation function.

Allstate was founded in 1931 and is the largest publicly held property and casualty insurer in the US. It serves more than 16 million households. It is a company with 35 billion dollars in revenue with 43000+ employees globally - most in US and about 8000 outside of US.

Differences at Allstate in the last 20 years from her experience?

• Innovation – it is part of their everyday "business as usual" now as compared to years ago when it was something considered out of the box thinking
• Less 'silo'd' – you can see the power of working across teams.
• They have defined their purpose in a more articulate manner.
• Added technology – the ability to quickly react is much larger due to technology.
• Changes to physical space – they have revamped offices. They wanted space to be more collaborative, instead of high walled cubicles
• This change brought down the hierarchy and changed the culture. It made supervisors much more available to employees

Harty has been at Allstate for more than 20 years for 2 main reasons. First, she

has always had the opportunity to grow and develop herself, through different

assignments, a project, etc… And secondly, because of the people. She considers

the people of Allstate her second family.

Some trends Harty is paying attention to at the moment are, the changing workforce (the demographics, how many baby boomers will be retiring) and disruptive technology that will have an impact on jobs. Allstate is beginning to focus on training employees skills that will help them in their job today, but also 5, 10, 15 years in the future.

What skills will leaders need in 2025?

• Agile mindset – being able to act quickly and decisively to conquer something
• Innovative – someone that can think out of the box, challenge the status quo and take a lot of risks
• Versatility– knowing how to motivate your group and team.

To leaders, Harty says, "It's ok to be uncomfortable – there is likely a lot of uncomfortable coming." This is where you can learn and move forward.

Her advice to employees is similar to the advice for leaders– be uncomfortable. Also, take advantage of the training available, talk with your leader about your aspirations, and jump in – rather than be on the side lines.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Allstate's HR department structure
• Traits of future leaders
• Six leadership principles for all employees at Allstate
• How Allstate has evolved over the last 20 years
• What it's like to work at Allstate and why Harriet has been there 22 years
• Skills leaders and employees need for the future