Horace Mann's mission of helping educators achieve lifelong financial success resonates strongly with the company's more than 1,700 employees. In interactions with customers, each other and all stakeholders, we aim to reflect the core values at the heart of who we are: compassionate, trustworthy, straightforward, approachable, respectful and knowledgeable. We believe that an engaged employee base is critical to deliver on our commitment to educators and achieve our business objectives.
We design our policies and practices with the goal of attracting and retaining top talent, while maximizing the employee experience.
Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits
In addition to competitive base salaries, every Horace Mann employee is eligible for an annual bonus program based on company performance and annual merit increases based on individual performance. We regularly evaluate highly skilled and hard-to-fill positions to ensure market competitiveness, to both attract and retain employees.
All full and part-time employees and employee agents who work a minimum of 20 hours per week are eligible for benefits. There is no waiting period for employees to access benefits.
Our benefits package includes:
- Medical, dental, vision, group life and disability insurance
- Up to $1,000 in employer contributions to health savings accounts (HSA) annually
- 401(k) contributions:
- 3% automatic employer contribution of eligible earnings
- Up to 5% additional employer match based on employee contributions
- Paid time off (PTO):
- New employees receive four weeks annually which increases with years of service, as well as 10 recognized holidays annually.
For more details, see our Total Rewards Program overview.
Work/life flexibility
At Horace Mann, our hybrid workforce model allows for more than 70% of our employees to split their time between in-office and remote work each week.
Our paid time off is split between two banks which gives employees the opportunity to use wellness time to prioritize their mental health. In our most recent employee experience survey, 87% of employees said they have the flexibility they need to balance work and personal responsibilities.
New parents receive up to four weeks of paid parental leave following the birth or adoption of their child. In 2024, 42 employees (23 women, 19 men) took parental leave, with twenty-one women (91%) returning to work afterward.
Our employee assistance program provides mental and physical health resources, including:
- Counseling services for major life changes, grief, and smoking cessation
- Annual wellness cost reimbursement up to $200 for fitness or weight-loss programs
Employee training and development
Horace Mann offers a comprehensive training and development program to help employees grow in their careers. Our approach includes:
- Comprehensive employee training and development program consisting of instructor-led classes
- Peer-to-peer learning opportunities
- Self-directed learning, such as access to an eLearning library
Training topics include leadership development, career skills and process improvement. In 2024, employees averaged 18.5 hours of training.
The company’s intensive Emerging Leaders program is a five-month, 100-hour class that brings together employees from across all areas of the company and country. The group focuses on:
- Communication skills
- Emotional intelligence
- Organizations influence
- Building cross-functional relationships
The program concludes with a capstone project that has proven to contribute to lasting organizational change.
Performance & Leadership Development
Employees and leaders have performance discussions as often as quarterly to benchmark progress and identify developmental opportunities, including potential career paths. In 2024, 98.4% of employees received at least one formally documented performance review.
Our new leadership capability model, encompassing five core competencies of Inspire, Enable, Clarify, Drive and Connect, is designed to empower leaders to excel in their roles, has been the focus of this year's targeted training initiatives. Moving forward, this model will be integrated into performance management processes to reinforce leadership excellence.
Inclusivity at Horace Mann
Horace Mann fosters a collaborative and inclusive organizational culture for all our employees, focusing on talent attraction and retention, employee engagement, inclusive education, community connections and workforce development. We believe embracing different perspectives advances everything we do — from how we serve our educator market to how we build our workforce, practices and processes.
Key initiatives to strengthen our culture:
- Inclusion and Engagement Committee: Focused on actionable steps to build an inclusive culture
- Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Support connection, mentorship, inclusion, and community engagement
- Educational Programming:
- Unconscious bias training (35-minute required annual module with real-world examples)
- ConnectEd corporate-wide educational program - Virtual, collaborative learning discussions utilizing curated books, podcasts and other media to broaden perspectives and awareness on meaningful topics and issues.
These experiences are open to all employees at all levels of the organization.
Employee Demographics (as of Dec. 31, 2024)
In 2024, Horace Mann hired 343 employees, including:
- 214 women (62%) and 129 men (38%)
- Breakdown by ethnicity:
- Caucasian/White: 210 (61.2%)
- African American/Black: 74 (21.6%)
- Hispanic/Latino: 12 (3.5%)
- Asian: 22 (6.4%)
- American Indian/Alaska Native: 2 (0.6%)
- Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1 (0.3%)
- Two or More Races: 16 (4.7%)
- Chose not to self-identify: 6 (1.7%)
The company’s voluntary turnover rate for 2024 was 13.76%. See our most recent EEO-1 report for additional demographic details.
Employee Experience and Engagement
We are committed to fostering a workplace culture built on meaningful connections, productive collaboration and open communication. Through intentional engagement and active listening strategies, we continuously seek employee feedback to create a more inclusive, innovative and supportive work environment.
In September 2024, we conducted a full employee experience survey achieving a 74% participation rate. Results highlighted key strengths, including:
- Work-life balance
- A respectful workplace culture
- Trust between employees and direct managers
Our overall engagement score was 72%, with retention at 76%, inclusion at 75%, and well-being at 77%.
Employees identified areas for continued focus, including total rewards enhancements, communication, recognition, and strategic alignment. In response, we implemented meaningful changes for 2025. For more information, see our Total Rewards Program overview.
To ensure ongoing progress, we continue to gather employee feedback and use it to inform meaningful improvements. Looking ahead, we will launch a pulse survey in spring 2025 focused on recognition and wellness, reinforcing our commitment to an engaging and supportive employee experience.
Additionally, we promote a “stay interview” process to stay connected with our employees and proactively address their needs.
Supporting causes important to employees
Due to the mission-centricity of our organization, we find that many of our employees are active in their communities and committed to charitable causes. To support employees and the causes important to them, the Horace Mann Educators Foundation matches employee donations up to $1,000 to qualified nonprofits annually.