Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ), a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Newark, is the only licensed Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan in New Jersey and is the state’s largest health insurer. The Plan provides health insurance coverage to nearly three million people throughout all of North, Central and Southern New Jersey. Horizon employs approximately 4,500 workers.
Horizon’s goal is the same as it has been since 1932 – to provide individuals, families and groups in New Jersey with convenient access to quality health care, wherever they may live or work.
Supervisor Candidate Development Program
(Leadership Development)
The Supervisor Candidate Development Program was initiated to help facilitate the inclusion of high performing persons of diverse backgrounds and women in the supervisor job group. Under the program, this access is achieved through skill development/enhancement and individual counseling.
The initiative centers on division-level recommendations and selections from a pool of high-performing employees, with a particular focus on the participation of candidates of diverse backgrounds and women. The employees are selected based on high performance ratings, a strong desire to become a supervisor, and a demonstrated aptitude for supervisory level work. Work experience and educational background are also considered in the selection process. Participation is voluntary and does not guarantee promotion.
Critical to the success of the effort is the partnering of the participant and direct supervisor, since on-the-job supervisory assignments are included. Another important element is the interaction and feedback provided to the candidate and supervisor by an assigned coach.
This initiative has enabled Horizon to better ensure that there is a level playing field for high performing persons of diverse backgrounds and women to advance to supervisory positions. Over the past six years, more than 70 percent of the promotions from the initiative were obtained by diverse employees.
