Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2019
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Engaging the Nationwide Workforce

By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:25
ShareBar

Abstract

Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this case tells the story of those efforts to bolster employee engagement as a key part of the company’s strategy to recover from the financial crisis (which it did far more effectively than most of its peers, rising in the Fortune 500 ranking as a result). From 2008 to 2013, Nationwide has seen employee engagement improve from the third to the sixth decile of Gallup’s North American Finance and Insurance workgroup database. The case details the multi-pronged human capital strategy that Rasmussen and King implemented. It concludes by asking students to consider: will a new initiative aimed at moving Nationwide’s dozen brand under a single umbrella jeopardize the culture gains that Nationwide has achieved over the last six years?

Keywords

Talent and Talent Management; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Insurance; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Psychology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Ohio

Citation

Bernstein, Ethan S., Jessica Gover, and Sarah Mehta. "Engaging the Nationwide Workforce." Harvard Business School Case 420-036, October 2019.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Ethan S. Bernstein

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March–April 2022
    • Organization Science

    Uncovering the Mitigating Psychological Response to Monitoring Technologies: Police Body Cameras Not Only Constrain but Also Depolarize

    By: Shefali V. Patil and Ethan Bernstein
    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Skills-First Hiring at IBM

    By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah Mehta
    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Tensions at SearchLight Cures

    By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta
More from the Authors
  • Uncovering the Mitigating Psychological Response to Monitoring Technologies: Police Body Cameras Not Only Constrain but Also Depolarize By: Shefali V. Patil and Ethan Bernstein
  • Skills-First Hiring at IBM By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah Mehta
  • Tensions at SearchLight Cures By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College