A major motivator for people choosing careers in education is its intangible rewards: The ability to make a difference in students’ lives and contribute to the greater good. But the combined burden of financial stress, heavier workloads due to the current U.S. educator shortage, and conflicting expectations of parents, administrators and lawmakers are driving more professionals out of the job they love.
More than a quarter of educators would be more likely to stay in their job if they felt more financially secure, according to Horace Mann research. We can help districts retain more educators through financial resources and support tailored to the unique needs of educators.
Supporting educators isn’t just part of what we do; it’s who we are. At the heart of our company is a deep appreciation and respect for the impact educators have on our children and our communities. Our business is focused on helping all educators achieve lifelong financial success – because they deserve it.
Financial Education
Horace Mann agents provide complimentary financial wellness workshops for educators at schools and online, including financial literacy, retirement readiness and similar topics. Each state has a different retirement system for educators, and some have more than one. We can speak to the requirements, benefits and idiosyncrasies of the respective systems and help educators understand their potential retirement income.
More than three-quarters of public school teachers (77%) are women, who have historically faced more challenges to financial security, including lower pay compared to their male counterparts, more career interruptions and a longer life expectancy. Our newest program is a workshop specifically tailored to help women prepare for retirement that takes these factors into consideration.
Student Loan Solutions
The U.S. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was designed to encourage careers in public service by allowing federal loans of public service workers to be forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments. However, navigating the process can be confusing at best.
Horace Mann has offered every public school educator in the country a complimentary Student Loan Solutions online account, which includes webinar education, online resources and expert loan coaches to help educators get the loan forgiveness they deserve. In 2023, the program helped educators identify more than $10.5 million in student loan forgiveness opportunities and find an average of more than $250 in monthly savings on student loan payments. The program’s lifetime total of forgiveness opportunities identified is more than $650 million.
Classroom Crowdfunding
Teachers regularly spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy classroom supplies for their students. As a national sponsor of the classroom crowdfunding platform DonorsChoose, Horace Mann provides funding for projects teachers have identified as critical to helping their students learn — and helps them keep more of their own money. Since 2010, Horace Mann and its representatives have donated more than $7.3 million to DonorsChoose projects — funding more than 29,000 projects and creating more than 2.7 million student learning experiences. In 2023, Horace Mann contributed $385,000 to DonorsChoose.
Educator Advantage®
We’re committed to helping educators protect what’s important to them, and our Educator Advantage® program is just one of the ways we thank educators for the work they do every day. The program provides educators with special benefits and extra coverages on their auto and home insurance at no additional cost, such as:
- No deductible on a covered vandalism loss at school or a school event
- No deductible on a collision claim at school or a school event
- Coverage if money or goods for a school event are stolen while in your possession
Horace Mann Insurance Company and its affiliates underwrite Horace Mann auto and home insurance. The benefits and discounts listed are only general descriptions of coverage and do not constitute a statement of contract. Additional terms and conditions, as described in the policy, must be met for the coverage to be provided. Not all discounts and benefits available in all states.
Responsible Business Practices
Horace Mann designs innovative products for the K-12 market to help educators to and through retirement. Products and services are centered around helping others, from offering affordable insurance to helping people prepare for retirement.
- We currently offer a mutual fund platform in Retirement Advantage® that has no surrender charges and does not revenue share with third-party investment firms, such as Vanguard, J.P. Morgan and Lincoln. Retirement Advantage® provides a competitive guaranteed fixed-income product as well.
- In addition to Retirement Advantage®, our current variable annuity products also have no surrender charges and no revenue sharing. These products provide a guaranteed fixed income rate with some of the lowest expenses in the industry.
- We clearly disclose the potential risk of our products in various ways, including descriptions of relevant investment risks and coverage considerations on our consumer websites and in our marketing materials.
Horace Mann representatives receive state-of-the-art training, putting customers’ needs first and we measure customer satisfaction through net promoter scores and other internal metrics such as the average time it takes to answer for those who call for assistance.
Our objectives for improving customer service include the percentage of inquiries resolved on a retail customer’s first call, a metric that improved over nearly seven percentage points between January 2022 and December 2023. Our representatives have a myriad of tools available to them to help provide solutions that are appropriate for their customers' situations. Representatives who are licensed and/or registered meet continuing education requirements set forth by their state and FINRA.
Horace Mann takes customer feedback very seriously, particularly those expressed in writing from customers or regulatory authorities. These written corporate complaints are managed by the Horace Mann Consumer Affairs Team in a fair, timely and transparent manner. The team has processes in place for analyzing corporate complaints to understand the underlying cause and mitigate future occurrences.
The total number of complaints received by the team was 597 in 2023, compared to 611 in 2022.
Recognizing outstanding educators
We believe it is important to recognize outstanding educators at both a national and local level. We partner with educational organizations and school districts across the country to award outstanding teachers, school employees and administrators.
The Horace Mann Educators Foundation partners with the NEA Foundation to recognize, reward and promote excellence in teaching through the annual Horace Mann Awards for Teaching Excellence. The company sponsors the Women in School Leadership Awards with AASA, The School Superintendents Association, as well as the District 186 Educator of the Year program in our corporate headquarters of Springfield, Ill. Local agents often partner with their school districts to offer recognition and sponsorships specific to that district’s needs.