Best Places to Work in Insurance 2013: Dubraski & Associates Insurance Services L.L.C.

The staff of Dubraski & Associates at a company meeting this past May.

A flexible work policy and recognition of the value of a work/life balance are among the things that make working for Dubraski & Associates Insurance Services L.L.C., a brokerage that specializes in the health care industry, so special, say its employees.

Senior associate Joanne Dane, based in San Diego, said what makes Dubraski so different from other places where she has worked is that “I'm truly able to balance my work life and my family life.”

“I've been able to dedicate myself to my career without sacrificing the needs of my family,” said the eight-year employee.

The flexibility provided to Ms. Dane permits her to take two or three hours off during the day for a child-oriented activity, then finish up work from home at night, she said.

CEO and founder Robert J. Dubraski “trusts our level of expertise and knows if he gives us flexibility, we're going to give him and the company back 100%, and get the job done no matter how long and what it takes,” says Ms. Dane.

“We've built this company around people,” not cities, said Mr. Dubraski. “We made the decision from the beginning” to hire the best people and “let them live and work where they want,” he said. “We don't need a lot of bricks and mortar. We need good people.”

The company was willing to establish two offices in Minneapolis, said principal Cathy Sussman, because she and a colleague wanted to work close to their homes. Despite the higher cost of two offices instead of one, Mr. Dubraski said, “I see the value in that,” according to Ms. Sussman, who has worked for the firm since 2008.

%%BREAK%%

Senior associate Patrick Moylan, an eight-year employee, says he appreciates being able to work either from his office in Manhattan or his Westchester, N.Y., home, if that is more convenient. “The company is extremely flexible in creating a work environment that works for everyone,” whether they prefer to work in the office or remotely, he said.

Comments on the Best Places to Work survey include that all employees have access to management and are encouraged to offer ideas or suggestions. “It's definitely not a typical corporate employer. Every employee has a voice and something to say that our leadership will listen to,” said Mr. Moylan.

Ms. Sussman agreed. Six months ago, at a company meeting in Florida, “everyone sat around at a table, and said, "This is what we should be doing,'” said Ms. Sussman. “The company executed on almost all our suggestions.”

“This is a company that I plan on being with for the rest of my career,” she said.