Carmen Winters, DBZ
The Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, the Great Reset – whatever you want to call the last few years, navigating it has been extremely challenging for employers and HR departments. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote-first policies opened opportunities for retirement administrators and other support staff like never before. The employment pool is no longer tied to a 25-mile radius around HQ; now, you can recruit a TPA anywhere in the country.
After seeing how her life partner was excelling in a completely remote job, Carmen Winters left a large TPA firm that she had been with for 11 years and joined DBZ in early 2020. Although she received several offers, Carmen chose DBZ because the people she spoke with during the interview process not only communicated and demonstrated the requirements of the job but, more importantly, what the culture was like at DBZ.
“DBZ made it very clear that as a company they are always looking to improve,” Carmen says, adding they went far beyond the usual lip service. A few months into her job, Carmen was asked to join a working group. It consisted of a mixture of high-level and seasoned DBZ employees and a handful of new recruits. The goal of the group was to understand how other TPAs approached operations and then compare them to the way DBZ operates. This blending of ideas helped Carmen form both a professional and personal bond with the people she was now working with. “As a totally remote employee, I am surprised that I really feel like a valued member of the team.”
Carmen is one of a select group of advanced users for the new version of PensionPro which will be released later in 2022. The new release will boast a redesigned modern interface and is now 100% browser-based to meet the growing needs for remote employee support. “The new version is amazing. It is very intuitive and makes my job as a DC plan administrator a lot easier,” explains Carmen.
Carmen believes that the real benefit of the new version isn’t the advanced technology or the automation that it offers but the cultural elimination of micromanagement. In her previous roles, supervisors would check in regularly to get updates or share excessive files through email. Now, when her manager wants to see where she is on a particular case, she simply looks at Carmen’s dashboard. “I can’t believe that there is a TPA anywhere that isn’t using this system.”
The combination of advanced technology and a proven growth culture is going to serve DBZ very well in the years to come. As the war for talent intensifies, attracting and retaining the best employees will only be possible with a blended workforce and the systems that connect them. “Since we collaborate with people all over the country now, the standard for TPA work will inevitably increase. The only way to fight the bigger recordkeepers and their bundled low-cost service is with excellent customer service, and you need the best people for that.”
To connect with Carmen on LinkedIn, please click here.
We hope you check out PensionPro 2.0 at the upcoming sneak-peek demo. Sign up here.
