Dear potential applicant:

I didn’t always share this much information, but I realize more and more what a unique and special place we have in Assurance.  If I don’t tell you about that from the get-go, you won’t have it to consider as you decide whether or not to apply.  I don’t want you to miss out on Assurance or Assurance to miss out on you. So here it is–the good, the hard, and the amazing.

The Good

We work hard to make our employment relationships mutually beneficial, and we genuinely care about our staff.  Seriously. We actually care enough to be weird in some areas because we have found the normal way isn’t what is best for our team.  Our people are the greatest asset of our ministry, and we aim to have the way we do business reflect that.  We are a small, nonprofit, free health clinic, but we still offer the following benefits:

Paid time off. New employees accumulate PTO at the rate of 12 hours a month (18 days a year) and then in increasing amounts over time.  Time away from work is very important in our field. We actually want our employees to use the time they earn. So you don’t just get to accumulate it, you get to use it.^FT

Holiday pay.  Assurance employees have ten paid holidays off a year.  Used to having to work holidays? At Assurance, you will have every Christmas Eve and Day, Thanksgiving and day after, Good Friday, and more to spend with your family and friends.^{FT & PT}

Retirement savings. Assurance will match employee contributions to a simple IRA up to 3% of their pay.^{FT &  Some PT}

Benefit allowance [Note-If you are searching this list for health insurance, this is the section you are looking for]. Remember above when I said we are willing to be weird if it’s better for our employees?  Well, here goes.  We get that health insurance is a very important benefit for many people.  We’re a health clinic.  Trust us, we value health.  But we don’t offer an employer-sponsored health insurance plan.  What’s up with that?  It isn’t that we aren’t willing to.  It is that for most of our current employees, that is not what they have told us is best for them and their specific situation. Truthfully, it would probably make attracting new employees easier if we offered it.  But do you know who is the only group we are working harder to attract than the awesome new staff members we can’t wait to work with? The fantastic staff members we already have.  And so, we take a different approach.  We give our employees money.  Yep, you read that right.  Above and beyond their regular pay, we give a benefit allowance.  Our employees can use it however they please, but the driving hope is that those who are not covered by other health insurance plans will use it to get coverage that is just right for them.  If you’ve met our current employees, I am sure you agree they are well worth this unusual approach.^FT

          Life and short-term disability insurance are also provided. ^FT

^FT Indicates benefits offered to full-time employees and ^PT indicates part-time.

There are other benefits too.  Things like parental leave, bereavement leave, etc.  If there is something specific you are curious about, feel free to ask.

While what I have listed so far is good and important, the true highlights of our benefits package might be the less traditional things you will find as you read on later under “The Amazing.”

The Hard

There are a few things you should know about working at Assurance.

When our clinic employees are scheduled to work, we need them.  If you are looking for a job where you can set your own hours or work from home, our client care positions are not that.  We want to be honest with you about that.  Positions not directly related to client care can offer more flexibility which we would be happy to explore with you.

In our work, we step in to serve during what our clients feel like is one of the hardest moments of their lives.  They are precious women and men–you will love them–but they are also often in crisis.  Many of our clients have experienced or are experiencing incredible hardships, traumas, injustices, and just downright broken situations; we give them the safe, and I dare say sacred, space to share those stories.  Most of them are at least considering aborting their children, and some of them go on to do exactly that.  It is not possible to wade through all that with people and not get a little wet yourself.  None of us do it perfectly, but it is incredibly important that we who work at Assurance have the spiritual wisdom and maturity to deploy the protective gear and refreshment tools the Lord has given us both for our own well-being and for our ability to continue serving others well.

There is a serious spiritual battle raging, and you would be hard pressed to find a hotter battle zone than the one we stand on every day at the precipice of life and death.  I have great news for you though.  We know who wins!  And the Victor has provided for us armor which works and promises that are sure.

The Amazing

Anyone who has worked on our staff for any length of time would tell you that the best parts about working at Assurance are not going to show up in a traditional benefits package or job description.  This list will not come close to being comprehensive, but I hope to share enough of these other benefits to give you a taste of what a special place it is.

Your time is your time.  With rare exceptions (really, I promise they are rare) employees in client care roles are not just encouraged but expected to not work outside of work. If you are used to a job where you are expected to answer emails well into the evening, be on call, or take work home, you should know that none of the client care related positions require that. Positions outside of client care roles, in particular the Executive Director position, do come with some differences in expectation in this area.

Appealing schedule.  Our clinic is open Monday-Friday starting at 9 am.  Many find this schedule appealing including those who want to get their school-aged children off to school in the morning before needing to be at work.  We have some additional flexibility in setting schedules for those not in client care roles.

The way we practice is what you imagined when you chose your profession.^. You didn’t choose to become a nurse, counselor, or social worker to be told by an insurance company how many, or perhaps I should say few, minutes you are allowed to spend listening to your patient/client.  At Assurance, we sit and listen long enough to really learn what is going on with that unique individual and then care for them accordingly.  The ministry of our presence, time, and space to be heard is among the most important ways we care for our clients.  This is no small thing in this day and age.

You cannot be lukewarm in your faith and make it long-term at Assurance.  You might find it strange or even daunting that I list that as an amazing benefit, but it is.  Brothers and sisters, you will find that this work will force you, and our team will support and encourage you, to press into Jesus time and time again. It will be life-changing for you and your walk of faith.  You will also find that as you share the gospel in deed and word with our clients, you too are reminded again and again of that best news.  Don’t let this scare you but rather excite you.  Right now, the devil is whispering in your ear that you aren’t Christian enough.  He lies!  I assure you we aren’t some super Christians (if you’ve met me, I realize that last assurance was unnecessary). We are all just sinners in need of a Savior, but we have the great benefit of having no choice but to rely on Him for our work.  Therefore, we grow closer and closer to Him as we do.

You and everything you do at Assurance will be bathed in prayer.  This is no overstatement.  We start each day with prayer together, we have a whole volunteer committee whose sole purpose is to cover us in prayer, and we pause often to pray as we work.  Spend some time with us, and you’ll see and experience it for yourself.

We laugh a lot and have great fun together. Our work is heavy.  We take it seriously.  We don’t take ourselves nearly as seriously.  We also have pretty great senses of humor and enjoy each other.  We have a warm and caring workplace culture. As we closely work together in service to our clients, we get to appreciate the Lord’s unique giftings of the individuals coming together in a beautiful team.  Plus, the joy of the Lord is contagious, and we’ve got that in spades.

Your work will save and change lives and families for generations to come.  I don’t know how it gets more rewarding than that.

You get to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I cannot adequately describe the privileged and sacred work that we get to be a part of in the name of Jesus.  As a Christian, you are called to be that through your life in general.  But trust me when I tell you that our staff get to minister to people in a space that is extraordinary.

You get a front row seat to watch our miracle-working God do what only He can do. I mean that with all sincerity.

I hope after all that I have shared, you have an appreciation of just how unusual, in the best of ways, Assurance is.  Prayerfully consider if the Lord is calling you to apply to be our next team member.

Blessings,