Verisys Embraces Professionalism in the Workplace

by John P. Benson, CEO, JD, AHFI, CFE, CIFI

As the pre-election rhetoric ramps up and the water cooler talk occasionally gets heated around current events, again, I’d like to post the essence of what I sent to my team in June when we were barraged by divisive public speech in the media. I’ve removed company specific lines and added a few comments and now reiterate my messaging:

We, as citizens and colleagues, should aspire to operate in a manner that is civil and respectful at a minimum. And, hopefully, thoughtful, kind and compassionate. Being a team means supporting each other to help us achieve satisfaction in our personal growth, as well as success for our customers, and for Verisys.

The public discourse has become less than civil. High-level individuals in the business world, the White House and Congress lower the bar daily with name calling, fear mongering, racial and ethnic slurs, harassment, and threats. They are setting a very bad example—one that is not welcome at Verisys—just because they are behaving badly, does not mean it is now okay to behave that way here or, really, anywhere.

Wearing a badge of honor for no longer being politically correct is a ridiculous notion. Blurting out caustic, racist and denigrating slurs is never acceptable. There is much to be said for keeping your personal poison, if you, sadly, harbor such thoughts, to yourself.

If you have jumped on the unfiltered denigrating bandwagon, I would ask you to please excuse yourself, Verisys is not the place for you. And, if you think this is about politics, it is not. We respect any party you hail from, the religion you choose to follow, or not, and your place of origin. We value all races, heights, weights and ages. We encourage and support those with disabilities. We honor your choices of gender and sexual orientation. You are all free to be who and what you are, and what you choose—and do so without fear of discrimination, harassment or recrimination.

There will always be those whom you may not like, get along with, or agree with—whether it’s their style, personality, politics or position on any of the myriad of issues we are all confronted with daily. No one is asking that you like everyone. But you sure as heck need to treat them as you would have others treat you . . . with dignity and respect.

Verisys is an organization that embraces diversity. Diversity has made us all who we are. The differences between each of us are minute compared to that which is shared by all of us. Genetically, the difference between any two humans is less than 1/10th of 1%. Focus on the 99.9%.

Verisys has a mission. We are a business, a collection of talented people whose shared goal is to improve the delivery of health care in the U.S. by protecting patients and reducing fraud, waste and abuse. Those patients could be you, your mother, father, children, and any family member or dear friend.

Leave the non-work related stuff at home, Verisys and its mission is not a political or religious platform. Resist the notion that because those in power choose to behave badly, it is okay for you to emulate that behavior at work—it is not.

I hope to inspire you to do your best work, be the best contributor, the best colleague, and the best person you can be.

Let’s get the job done for those who need our help.

by John P. Benson, CEO, JD, AHFI, CFE, CIFI

John P. Benson is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verisys Corporation. He sets the strategic and product vision of the company and is responsible for leading the company’s day-to-day operations. Mr. Benson is known for being very client focused—as he takes special interest in sales, implementation, and client relationships, working directly with Verisys’ key customers to solve complex problems around screening, verification, monitoring and credentialing.

Mr. Benson started his career as an insurance fraud investigator, which later led to his developing and leading large Special Investigation Unit (SIU) programs for two major U.S. insurers. Mr. Benson has demonstrated his passion for bringing transparency to health care and insurance systems by using sophisticated data analytics interwoven with traditional investigative methods. During his career, he has held executive positions with increasing management, product development, market planning and strategic responsibilities with such companies as LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Concentra, and Axios Data Analysis Systems.

In 2005, Mr. Benson joined John O’Shaughnessy at Government Management Solutions (GMS), then just 12 team members, to form Verisys. From there, Verisys’ revenue and profitability have consistently grown year-over-year, and under Mr. Benson’s leadership, Verisys Corporation has acquired the firms ReferencePro and Accreditrust, and serves clients with more than 250 team members nationally.

Mr. Benson is a serial entrepreneur, disruptor, passionate techie, product development junkie, and sought-after speaker. He has also served on editorial boards for insurance industry publications, and chaired committees for industry organizations and for a State Department of Insurance. Mr. Benson is recognized amongst his peers as one of the most knowledgeable subject-matter experts on health care data in the U.S.

Mr. Benson holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola University of Los Angeles.