Allstate NI win Talent Management Award

Allstate NI is especially thrilled to have won the Talent Management award after winning the "Best Place to Work Award" and the "Work Life Balance Award" at the Irish News Awards inaugural event in 2007. Allstate NI is the largest IT company in Northern Ireland, providing high-quality, low-cost technology and business solutions to its parent company, The Allstate Corporation and its subsidiaries in the US.

The company was founded in 1999, with Allstate being one of the first major companies to invest in Northern Ireland after the Belfast Peace Agreement. Originally the company was envisioned to grow to 250 employees at their base in Belfast but very quickly Allstate realized the potential of the workforce in Northern Ireland and within 10 years the company had grew to 1500 employees based at an additional 2 locations, Derry and Strabane.

During this period Allstate NI has won over 50 highly prestigious business awards for its innovative programmes at local and national level including Investors in People. Using the Investors in People framework, the new company adopted a "people first" philosophy which consisted of 4 key components:

Identifying Talent - In 1999 there was a global IT skills shortage, to address the potential threat of a shortage of IT graduates, Allstate NI pioneered an innovative IT Bridge to Employment training and recruitment programme with the Department for Education and Learning.  This involved recruiting unemployed non IT graduates who could not find employment opportunities related to their degree subjects.  Since 1999, Allstate NI has recruited over 500 graduates through this programme and it has been acclaimed as one of the most successful recruitment and training initiatives in Northern Ireland.

Developing Talent - Anticipating future changes in the use of technology within the parent company, Allstate NI introduced a Strategic Skills Programme in 2007 through which 168 employees to date have been retrained to accreditation level in the latest technologies.

Engaging Talent - The Talent Management Strategy consists of the following elements: Succession Planning Process, Critical Talent Register, Career Advancement Programme, Fast Track Promotion, Recognition Programme, Compensation Programme, Work Life Balance Programme, Employee Engagement and Innovation Strategy.

Innovation in Talent - In 2008 Allstate NI developed 2 new innovative methods of managing talent within the company, the Inclusion Programme and RP3 (Right People, Right Place, Right Performance) Programme. The objective of the Inclusion programme is to create workplace conditions in which all employees can feel appreciated, valued, engaged and motivated in the workplace. RP3 is a high level job evaluation exercise by which Allstate NI intends to analyse every job in the company to provide clear career paths with greater opportunities and to assist performance management, resourcing and reward strategies.

Through innovative talent identification processes and recruitment, Allstate NI has managed to attract the best and brightest IT professionals locally and worldwide. Rose Kelly, Director of Human Resources commented, “The key to Allstate NI's success story is based on the simple strategy of creating a work environment to enable the company to attract the best possible talent and providing them with the right tools, opportunities and knowledge to do their job well.”