Horace Mann's mission of helping educators achieve lifelong financial success resonates strongly with the company's nearly 1,500 employees. In a 2019 survey, almost 90% of employees and agents said serving educators is an important reason why they work at Horace Mann. 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.
Attracting and Retaining Talent
Our strategy to attract and retain talented employees is based on offering a competitive total rewards package and incentivizing high performers. All employees are eligible for our annual bonus program based on company performance. We provide comprehensive medical coverage, a 401(k) program with a 3% company contribution and additional 5% employee match, and a flexible personal time off policy that encourages work/life balance. In addition, employees at our Springfield headquarters can access free or reduced-cost preventive, diagnostic and medical care through our partnership with nearby HSHS St. John’s Hospital LeadWell health and wellness clinic.
To retain talent, we ensure employees are recognized and feel appreciated by celebrating employee achievements through our social recognition portal, as well as formal individual and team award programs. These include individual employee awards, Team Spirit awards, employee recognition trips and career milestone awards.
Horace Mann highly values education and encourages ongoing professional development through online courses, skills training, and a career development resource center. We provide bonuses and full reimbursement of costs for employees to obtain industry and professional certifications and designations from the Life Office Management Association (LOMA), The Institutes, The American College and other educational partners. We’re especially proud of our Emerging Leaders program, which enables a select group of individuals to network with others within their cohorts while exploring leadership concepts linked to Horace Mann’s Leadership Success Profile.
Supporting Employees through COVID-19
While the pandemic disrupted in-person professional development offerings, we were determined to continue facilitating our employees’ growth. We enhanced our online professional development offerings to encourage engagement for newly remote workers. These incorporate both self-directed learning and instructor-led classes over Zoom, with topics like leadership, process improvement and communication. In 2020, employees averaged 21 hours of training. We expect this average may decline slightly in 2021, as workers return to offices and we evaluate which of the new offerings were most effective.
During 2020, we adjusted our company practices and processes to best support employees in a pandemic environment. In March, we rapidly transitioned more than 95% of our workforce to working from home and implemented strict safety protocols for those still working in offices. These include contactless temperature kiosks and daily health screenings at each location; mask requirements; and encouraging social distancing through signage and capacity limits.
In the several months following the transition to a majority-remote workforce, we conducted three pulse surveys to gauge work-from-home effectiveness and help identify areas of focus. We found that 98% of employees felt supported by the company, while identifying new stressors on employees related to work/life balance. We responded by partnering with nationally known organizations to provide mental wellness webinars and partnering with a local yoga studio to provide weekly online classes.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At Horace Mann, we have long strived to foster an inclusive culture in which individual differences are recognized, respected and appreciated.
In 2020, we established an employee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council to help guide company initiatives and identify areas for focus. We also began a roll out of refreshed unconscious bias training to all company leaders, starting with the Board of Directors, senior staff and DEI Council members. Additionally, for the third year in a row, Horace Mann was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which recognizes corporate commitment to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality.
