Allstate

Allstate Insurance Company was founded in 1931 as a division of Sears selling auto insurance by direct mail. It’s since grown to become the largest publicly held auto and home insurer in the US.

Allstate employs over 40,000 people. In addition, it contracts with over 11,000 exclusive agents who act as its sales force. These positions are competitive; for example, Allstate’s Jessica Masterson told us that in 2015 the company received 386,000 job applications, and from those candidates hired 7,742 new employees and 1,020 new agents.

Among the many ways Allstate supports its employees is through mentorship. Director of Talent and Leadership Effectiveness Dianne Ferrara pointed to a new program in which “our Executive VP of HR reached out and selected five women to mentor.” It didn’t stop there, though—each of those women then chose five women to mentor herself; and so on. Called Power of Five, Ferrara deemed it “an organic method” of female executives both receiving help and paying it forward.

Allstate is also highly committed to community and philanthropic efforts. According to Aisha Ghori Ozaki, who when we spoke with her had been with Allstate only six months, “Those things stood out to me immediately; (charitable causes) that I was involved in separately, when I came here it was just amazing to notice how woven into the culture (they were); it was such a reassurance as a new employee…I felt that I picked an organization that really had that heart and soul.”