The best of very many companies I've worked for was United HealthCare. Other people might have had different experiences. On one floor of an office building there might be several enclaves. Nobody talks in Financial, everybody watches American Idol in IT and not watching basketball in Legal is illegal.

My experience with the UHC managers, not just in one office but with the managers I met through travel to various Health Plans, was very positive if not the best of all the employers I've had. Some of the managers I met reported directly to Dr. McGuire and maybe because of their close proximity to Mr. McGuire I was rather saddened by a controversy around Mr. McGuires compensation. Executives pay is usually tied to company's performance to make their livelihood dependent on increasing company's profitability. As far as company's growth, hiring, employee retention and management policies UHC was doing great at the time.

Claire was my immediate boss and she had her own, very unique style, of running our team. She didn't consider herself a manager but on equal footing with the rest of us as far as every day responsibilities. She worked two jobs for she handled help desk inquiries and run training classes and in addition seamlessly kept us informed of what was going on in terms of new policies, reorganizations and similar information. She had a gift of being able to give us just the information we needed and sheltered us from too much corporate communication detail. She also planned well for we never had to work overtime or lacked work.

She was kind and respectful and had a parental style of managing without being condescending. She had strong family and spiritual values that reflected in the way she carried herself and related to other people. Looking back I appreciate her patience and the ability to overlook that since we got along so well at the team level we spent lunches fostering friendships in and outside of the department.

Nancy was Claire's boss and a true insurance executive in that she had worked for the industry for many years and had all the insurance licenses and certifications. Somehow she was feared by many which was more of a bow to her rank. She didn't read corporate communications: she studied them and taught us how to do the same. She would also take interest in our day to day work.

She cared in what shape our work would be delivered to other people inside of the company for whom we were working. She was conservative

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Best companies to work for?
We want to hear your view. Write now!