March 30, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded Americans of a reality we at Horace Mann have long appreciated: How important educators are to the success of our children, our communities, and our country. Supporting our educators is critically important to our country’s future, especially at a time where financial concerns and educator burnout are poised to exacerbate a nationwide teacher shortage.

Education is a noble profession, one that should allow for a lifetime of financial success. At Horace Mann, we believe that by helping educators succeed financially, we succeed as a company – and we have a nearly 80-year history to prove that strategy is sound. To help even more educators, we plan to grow our company significantly over the next several years. (You can read more about our strategic growth plans on our investors site.)

In addition to our traditional suite of individual protection and savings products, this year we will have an additional segment to offer educators protection. With the acquisition of Madison National Life Insurance Company, we will offer employer-paid group products such as life, disability and specialty health insurance coverages. School districts are increasingly looking to attract and retain highly qualified teachers by bolstering employee benefits packages, which means Horace Mann can provide educators with more protection. Now, whether educators buy insurance products and contribute to savings plans themselves, or receive benefits through their employer, Horace Mann has them covered.

In addition, we continue to offer a number of complimentary resources to help all educators achieve a lifetime of financial success: Financial wellness workshops, federal student loan forgiveness guidance and funds for classroom supplies that can alleviate the need for teachers to buy them with personal funds. 

Expanding ESG commitments

A natural extension of our commitment to our educator customers is a desire to have a positive impact on all our stakeholder groups, through integration of ESG factors into both our day-to-day operations as well as long-term planning.

Our commitments to being a responsible corporate citizen include:

  • Environmental: An understanding that we must reduce our carbon footprint and manage climate change risks. We plan to reach net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions by 2050, with half of that progress accomplished by 2030. We are on track to reach our “halfway point” ahead of that 2030 goal.
  • Social: A passion to have a significant positive social impact on America’s educational community, our employees and the communities in which we live and work. We are taking concrete actions to further Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in our workplace, and the Horace Mann Educators Foundation gave more than $300,000 in the past year to support projects that included educational and community initiatives to support people in reaching their full potential.
  • Governance: A resolve to hold ourselves to high ethical and stringent risk management standards. Our Enterprise Risk Management function oversees the identification and assessment of risks —such as data security — and the execution of coordinated corporate strategies to ensure we effectively manage the impact to our business and our stakeholders.

Incorporating stakeholder feedback and priorities

A commitment to ESG is a commitment to continually discuss and re-evaluate priorities and progress. In late 2021 and early 2022, we solicited feedback on the ESG topics of most importance to multiple stakeholder groups: Customers, investors, employees, agents, community leaders and company leadership.

What we found is that while issues like business ethics and data security and privacy remain top priorities across stakeholder groups, human capital topics such as DEI and employee development and retention grew in importance since our last stakeholder engagement survey. Horace Mann is committed to providing each of our employees with the opportunity to reach their full potential, and we will take this and other stakeholder input into account as we update our long-term ESG plan this year.

We look forward to continuing the ESG dialogue with our stakeholders and updating you on our continued progress. In the meantime, we also welcome your feedback on our initiatives at csr@horacemann.com

Marita Zuraitas, President and CEO of Horace Mann, wears a blue blazer and looks confidently into the camera.

Sincerely,

Zuraitis-Marita-signature

Marita Zuraitis

President and Chief Executive Officer