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From left, wearing medals: Bryan Jenkins, Jason Finnian, Paul Melancon, Julio Fernandez and Buu Phan, the winning team from Gilsbar’s 2009 Exercise Challenge, hold up their prize belt. More than 40
five-member teams competed, logging in more than 7,000 fitness hours in eight weeks.
Photo by Shannon Diecidue
FIVE-TIME H O N O R E E
Gilsbar
Choosing to spend more time with a newborn
can often mean opting out of the work
force. But for Gilsbar employee Wendy King,
motherhood and working was a win-win game.
Twelve weeks after the birth of now 2-yearold
Grey, King took her dilemma to Doug
Layman, Gilsbar executive vice president and
chief sales and marketing officer, explaining
her desire to spend more time at home.
“It was a scary thing to come back in and
have that conversation. I was just kind of thinking
I might have to leave,” King recalled. “It was
funny that he even anticipated this would
come up. There’s still a place for me here,
which is incredible.”
Gilsbar temporarily gave King a position that
required only 32 hours a week. She eventually
transferred back to her old job once Grey started
preschool. King believes Gilsbar accommodated
her because the company appreciates
good talent.
It’s that kind of consideration that workers
say keeps Gilsbar rated as a top employer.
Executive Assistant Monique Jacobs said
Gilsbar proved its character just by hiring her
after she had been out of the work force for 15
years.
“I feel like they took a chance on me because
I had never worked, particularly as an administrative
assistant,” Jacobs said. “The qualities
(Layman) was looking for, he was able to see
that I possessed them in a personal interview.
They really hire with excellence.”
Gilsbar puts a lot of energy into maintaining
a healthy work force. Jacobs is a member of the
committee that manages the company’s wellness
program, a benefit that rewards employees
with “wellness bucks” as an incentive to
live healthy lifestyles. Employees can redeem
their wellness bucks in a number of ways,
including contributions to their health savings
or flexible spending accounts.
The program enabled Executive Underwriter
Lynn Trainor to quit smoking after 40 years.
Gilsbar allowed Trainor to enroll in a smoking
cessation program through St. Tammany
Nature of business: insurance administration
Where based: Covington
Employees: 323
Average starting salary: $46,184
Median salary: $36,400
Average employment time: six and a half years
Benefits: health care with 55 percent coverage, 401(k) with 3
percent match, dental, vision, prescriptions, continuing education
program, relocation assistance, telecommuting, flexible hours, job
sharing, employee recognition program
Wait time for benefits: 30 days
Paid days off: 23 on average
Web site: www.gilsbar.com
Parish Hospital, paying all costs and providing
weekly support meetings on company time.
“This is not something that they needed to
do. That’s my personal addiction. It has nothing
to do with Gilsbar,” she said. “It just promotes
good employee relations.”
Trainor has been a nonsmoker for two years
now.
“I quit, which is to me a miracle because I
smoked for 40 years,” she said.
Trainor earned bonus wellness bucks for
her success, as well as kudos from superiors.
She plans to redeem her wellness bucks to
buy a pair of walking shoes and will enroll in
the company-offered Weight Watchers group
next year.•
— Diana Chandler
22 2009 Best Places to Work