Staff of NH Life Insurance Co. hold a Bamboo Forest box installed at corners of hallways in the 

office as part of the Staff Happiness Index Project to strengthen in-office communication.(Photo on courtesy of NH Life)

  NH Life Insurance Co. said its officers and staff have been strengthening the company’s diverse programs to boost the Happiness Index through the window for free communications between management and staff under the Officers and Staff Happiness Project, the company said on June 5.

NH Life has been operating “bamboo forests” installed at corners of the hallways in their offices where CCTVs are not installed, allowing staff to anonymously deposit their opinions including suggestions and advice to management, which sometimes include laudatory remarks about fellow staff members for work well-done. These remarks are then presented to the CEO to read.

The results of the suggestions or recommendations by staff in the hands of top management have been posted on notice boards in the office as executives and staff hold a number of Three-C Day events, which focus on clients, co-workers, and the company’s progress.

The company has also allowed the “Three Nothing Day” and “Happy Day.”

The Happy Day falls on the day before a holiday and everyone in the company is expected to leave the office at exactly the time they are scheduled to get off. There are also all kinds of activities for pleasure including tours so that the staff are recharged when they return to the office.

The company has also been holding a number of events designed to boost office productivity and improve the office work processes such as CoP (Community of Practice), a program to improve various issues on reform and management with staff members allowed to participate on a voluntary basis as well as the opportunity to seek study subjects of their choosing.

President Na Dong-min of NH Life said, “We will work harder to find and launch diverse programs designed to create a superb corporate culture so that staff can enjoy their work at the office and family life at home.”

The company, on the occasion of its first anniversary in March, introduced a number of new policies for the benefit of its customers including a 1 percent cut in the interest rates on loans both on credit and mortgages, with the exception of loans based on insurance contracts.

For the benefit of senior customers, the company raised the age of policyholders who can benefit from the “No Dividend NH Non-Life Insurance Products” launched in October last year to 70 from 65.

President Na said, “It has been because of the support of our customers that we have made such huge progress in our initial year of operation with greater than expected results and growth amid stability. This year, too, we will forego outlandish growth and make efforts to make our operations solid with excellent products and services centered on the customers.”

The NH Damage Insurance will enable policyholders to get insurance benefits in times of death and incapacitation caused by accidents, including hospitalization expenses due to injury from accidents, and if they live to age 70, they can use the insurance premiums at maturity. It is, in fact, a lifetime insurance product.

A special thing about the insurance product is that farmers and people in the animal husbandry business can also subscribe to it, for it removes their classification as being in a dangerous occupation. The expanded age limit to 70 years is expected to benefit senior residents in the farming regions because the insurance premiums are quite low.

One of the many benefits offered to the people by NH Life on its anniversary in March is the lowering of the maximum interest rate on loans to 14 percent per annum, and the interest rate on delinquent interest payments will drop to 15 percent per annum. The company’s housing loans bear an interest rate 5.38 percent lower than those charged by commercial banks.

President Na Dong-min of NH Life Insurance Co.