SFM has long had a goal to increase the percentage of its charitable giving to 2% of pre-tax profit.
And the company will reach that threshold in 2024.
“SFM is proud of our commitment to giving back to the communities we serve,” said Terry Miller, President and CEO. “Reaching this milestone is a major accomplishment and further cements SFM as a leader in the communities we live and work — as evidenced by our corporate philanthropy.”
With the additional charitable funds set to be issued in 2024, SFM has become a member of the Minnesota Keystone Program, which promotes corporate philanthropy by recognizing and honoring companies that donate at least 2 percent of their pre-tax earnings to charitable organizations. Some of the state’s largest and most well-known employers are part of the program.
In 2023, SFM contributed to more than 200 charitable organizations. Strategic Business Units previously made many of the decisions about where funding would go. But in 2024, teams within SFM will have a bank of funds and decide which organizations receive charitable donations.
“I like that a lot of it goes through the employees,” said Dave Kaiser, SFM’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “Then they’re deciding how to give back to the community that’s close to them. It makes people feel more of a part of what we’re doing.”
Its internal Connecting to Communities (C2C) committee
External applications for donations
The Bob Lund Scholarship
Volunteer efforts
“Being part of the Minnesota Keystone Program is great, but it’s just a good thing to be a good corporate citizen,” Kaiser said. “We feel a responsibility to support nonprofits and are proud of what SFM and our employees do for the communities we serve.”
About the Minnesota Keystone Program
The Minnesota Keystone Program, administered by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, promotes corporate philanthropy by recognizing and honoring companies that donate at least 2 percent of their pre-tax earnings to charitable organizations. In 1976, 23 Minnesota companies created this program (originally known as The 5% Club) to recognize and encourage charitable giving in the state. The commitment of Minnesota Keystone participants continues to serve as an example to other businesses, both here and around the globe, and to sustain Minnesota’s spirit of generosity and sense of community. Qualifying companies have an operating presence in Minnesota and donate cash or in-kind donations, including pro-bono services, and/or employee paid volunteer time. For more information, visit www.minnesotakeystone.org .
Sarah Hunter recently took over as SFM’s VP of Operations.
A former attorney with more than a decade of experience in workers’ compensation, Hunter will work with SFM’s current Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Dave Kaiser, until his retirement at the end of 2024.
In her new position, Hunter will help drive SFM’s big-picture strategy and develop plans for the company’s future. She previously served as VP of Claims at SFM.
In 2018, Hunter came to LSH, the in-house legal firm at SFM. She was looking for a new challenge and wanted to learn more about the business side of work comp.
“I kind of always had SFM in my sights. They’re known as the best carrier in the state,” Hunter said. “I told myself if something opens up there, I’m going to go for it.”
Once she got experience in other aspects of the company, she looked for leadership opportunities outside of the legal side of SFM.
“In learning more about the business side of things, I thought, this is pretty interesting. When the VP of Claims position opened up, I realized it would be a good way to change up my career,” Hunter said. “I could still use my workers’ compensation experience and legal knowledge and training. And there’s a lot of strategy that goes into handling claims. I was able to use those skills that I’d developed as an attorney and it all worked out.”
Hunter said she enjoyed her time as VP of Claims but wanted to expand on her role at SFM and take on more responsibilities for the direction of the company.
“SFM is great that they’re willing to take chances on people. They have faith in them,” she said. “If you’re doing good work, they give you that chance and give you the support to be successful.”
In her time at SFM, Hunter said she has been impressed with how closely the company adheres to its values.
“They show us that they care and appreciate the work that we’re doing,” she said. “That’s everything from wellness programs and special events to compensation and how they treat employees. They know that our strength comes from the people with their boots on the ground.”
Her promotion went into effect in early April 2024.
Hunter grew up in St. Paul, Minn., and attended St. Scholastica in Duluth before earning a degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She lives in Champlin, Minn., with her husband and two daughters.
SFM recorded yet another excellent year in 2023, continuing its strong performance across all core metrics, from policyholder retention to new business and total written premium.
“We are proud of our accomplishments from the previous year,” said Steve Sandilla, SFM Senior Vice President. “Our focus on customer service has continued to foster our growth and sustained success.”
Highlights from 2023:
96.3 percent policyholder retention rate
Added 7,257 new policyholders, resulting in new business premium of $34 million
Total written premium for the year: $271.6 million
Combined ratio was 96 percent – 12th straight year under 100 percent
SFM Foundation up to $3.7 million in total scholarships awarded
Other SFM numbers of note
SFM partnered with more than 3,000 independent agents in 2023 and closed out the year with its number of businesses served surpassing 50,000. That adds up to more than 500,000 covered employees.
Meanwhile, as a servicing carrier for the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Plan, SFM’s Superior Point division served approximately 13,400 employers, representing $20 million in premium. SFM has also been selected to serve up to 20 percent of the Wisconsin Assigned Risk Pool, accounting for 3,800 employers and $12.5 million in premium.
Additionally, SFM Risk Solutions provided third-party administration service to 32 self-insured clients in 2023, including two large groups with over 1,600 individual members. The service has not lost a client to a competitor in 16 years.
SFM also continues to expand. Its ratio of premium and policy counts between its home state and others is shrinking. And that’s a good thing — SFM is diversifying and expanding its footprint in the realm of workers’ compensation insurance. SFM is still the No. 1 workers’ comp carrier in Minnesota.
Licensed in 34 states, SFM is now serving policyholders and partners with agencies in:
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Nebraska
South Dakota
Kansas
Indiana
Tennessee
That ongoing growth and success can be attributed to many factors, Sandilla said, including SFM’s focus on serving customers and the relationships built between the company and agents.
“SFM’s agent partners know our reputation as the work comp experts in the industry,” he said. “We continue to make the best outcomes for clients our primary focus and we are thankful for the trust of our agents and policyholders year after year.”
SFM recently made several enhancements to its resource catalog.
The resource catalog is a massive repository of useful information for agents and policyholders. It includes posters and training guides about safety, in-depth plans for employers to successfully report, manage and prevent injuries, and handouts with additional workers’ compensation tips and best practices.
The aim of the latest updates is to create a better user experience for policyholders and agents. Upgrades were based on feedback from internal stakeholders and research conducted by SFM’s User Experience team.
At a high level, the upgrades make it easier for users to discover the available resources and make the catalog more searchable. People are also able to more easily download and order resources.
“SFM has a wealth of assets to help our policyholders. These upcoming improvements will not only help users find and utilize our expertise, but hopefully reduce claims and bolster the bottom line for all of our stakeholders,” said Sara Goese, Senior Web Content Developer at SFM.
The upgrades to SFM’s resource catalog include a more user-friendly layout, the ability for people to see all resources at the click of a button, the inclusion of language filters and more.
Specifically, the improvements include:
Users will no longer lose their original search term when clicking in and out of resources
The catalog “remembers” where users were on the previous page when clicking into resources and returning to the previous page
Loading indicators were added to tell users the system is working on displaying their search results
All search results are displayed on the same page, eliminating the need for users to click through pages of results
“SFM takes great pride in helping our policyholders maintain safe and healthy workplaces,” Goese said. “Our resources ensure employers have the tools they need to implement programs and procedures that develop strong return-to-work strategies, stay on alert for potential pitfalls and enhance their ability to keep their workers productive and on the job.”
Lastly, the search functionally was improved across the website in general in addition to the resource catalog itself. Check out the latest updates.
SFM recently made additional enhancements to its SFM Agency Manager (SAM) system.
The improvements will help streamline the process for agents and are part of a continual effort to make SAM more user friendly.
To begin, when an application is declined, users will automatically be directed to a declination page, with the option to print a declination letter. The page also displays contact information for the underwriter associated with the application.
“Agents have already loved it,” said Ashley Butcher, SFM Underwriting Technical Specialist. “They don’t have to wait for an answer and have had a really positive reaction to that update.”
Meanwhile, applications now require agents to enter either the company’s federal employer identification number or the employer’s social security number. This will allow agents to see whether it is a second application from the same business.
Other updates to the SAM system include:
A screen showing all open applications, regardless of whether they were entered through SAM, email or physical mail
Asking for loss history information earlier in the process
Other design improvements to make SAM easier to use
“SFM is committed to continuously improving our processes to help our agent partners and policyholders,” Butcher said.
While agents often hear frustrations from clients when it comes to dealing with third-party vendors for premium audits, SFM continues to conduct nearly all audits in-house.
In a typical year, only about 1 percent of SFM policyholders’ premium audits are handled by a vendor partner. And in 2023, SFM completed more than 19,000 audits.
“A lot of times, policyholders are used to dealing with an employee who works directly for their insurer, and they can be leery of providing sensitive documents to an outside vendor,” said DeAnne Misgen, SFM’s Premium Audit Team Leader. “At the same time, for employers that prefer or are accustomed to an in-person audit, that can also pose a challenge, because most third-party audits are conducted remotely.”
SFM’s premium auditors also have years of experience in the field — some have more than 20 years of experience, and Misgen herself is approaching the 20-year mark in the industry.
SFM is committed to helping injured employees get back to work safely and quickly. And that starts with our online Claim Connection portal.
Once an employee has filed a workers’ compensation claim, they receive an email that outlines the information available for them on SFM’s website. This includes:
Getting the status of their medical and wage-loss payments
Setting up email or text alerts on upcoming payments
Looking up their claim number and other details about their claim
It’s SFM’s goal to make it convenient for injured workers to get the information they need at any time.
Remind policyholders to tell injured workers to register for our Claim Connection portal so they can track the progress of their claim.
“I think it’s really important for us to be a strong part of the community that we operate in,” said Dave Kaiser, SFM Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “That’s through charitable giving and working with local businesses, but that also means supporting local artists. That philosophy has been the SFM way forever.”
The creative process
In the fall of 2023, Dungey and Tillotson toured the SFM offices in Bloomington, Minn.
“Their eyes were just bubbling with ideas,” Kaiser said. “They came back with a booklet of art that was just brilliant. There’s no other way to explain it.”
As the process moved along, Dungey and Tillotson began researching and reaching out to artists whose work they thought would make sense in the space.
“Indigo Morning 2,” by Amy Tillotson
“From the start, our goal was to present a variety of art that was cohesive and not only original, but also contemporary, timeless and suggestive of a positive energy,” said Dungey, who describes her own work as non-representational and abstract mixed media.
Notably, neither Dungey nor Tillotson had prior experience as an art consultant.
“We are artists first, not professional art consultants. But we each possess experience that contributed to the work as a whole. Working together on this project, our roles became clear where each other’s strengths lie,” said Tillotson, who has a background in exhibit design. “Rita has a very good knowledge of artists in our community. She attends local art exhibitions regularly and familiarizes herself with the artist’s work over time. … Her background in psychology and social work lends itself to empathy and seeing things through other people’s point of view.”
The SFM team had only small suggestions for the types of art that would be included, such as different textures and mediums, said Kim Thelen, SFM Information Services Project Manager. Also, SFM wanted original work for the office’s “neighborhoods,” which are named after U.S. National Parks. Original pieces were created to reflect the attributes of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Acadia, etc.
“It was fun for us and for everyone that we took out the traditional middleman of the art consultant,” Thelen said. “Because it let the artists continue to be creative — and the money we paid went to them instead of a consultant. It was such a fun experience.”
The final pieces were installed in March 2024.
Bringing it all together
SFM largely let Dungey and Tillotson drive the process, with the pair offering a few suggestions for each space and the internal company team eventually making selections from there.
“Flock of Trumpeters,” by Steve Hemingway
Even when SFM was asked for feedback regarding the paintings representing national parks, it was more of a hands-off approach.
“I didn’t want to get involved in that,” Kaiser said. “When they did the custom neighborhood paintings, they reached out to Kim and me to get ideas. And we both said no. We wanted the artist to do what she does. To me, that was the beauty of the process.”
The works include diverse mediums — two-dimensional paintings and sculptural (ceramic, wood, metal and mixed media), in addition to the national park paintings, which were created by Emily Donovan , who has a studio in northeast Minneapolis.
“We were happy to hear that SFM wanted to invest in a body of local, original artwork rather than the framed prints you so often see in an office setting,” Tillotson said. “We wanted to suggest artwork that represented a variety of mediums and styles but would be inviting and further enhance the designer’s choice of a natural color palette in paint color, wood, textiles and living walls.”
Still, as is the case with art. It’s subjective. Kaiser’s favorite piece is “Flock of Trumpeters,” by Steve Hemingway . For Thelen, it’s “Wish,” by Eleanor McGough .
“Wish,” by Eleanor McGough
“If you have an office full of disagreements about the art, you did your job,” Kaiser said. “It’s in the eye of the beholder, right? That was the point — to express different things. We’ve got metal grates and swans and petals. We have all kinds of stuff. And that’s the cool part.”
Dungey said she enjoyed helping SFM in purchasing art for their new space and collection.
“We are pleased with the excellent selections they made and are grateful for the support, trust and collaboration with everyone at SFM. It is our sincere hope that the art will bring enjoyment to staff and clients for many years to come,” she said.
Connecting through art
In the end, the artists said they appreciated working with SFM on the project.
“Overall, I think the project was a success,” Tillotson said. “We hope the employees of SFM enjoy the artwork that was selected. We understand that art can be highly subjective and hope there is enough variety for everyone’s tastes. Rita and I would not hesitate to work with SFM in the future.”
Added Dungey:
“It was an honor and privilege to work with SFM on procuring and installing art in their newly remodeled space. From start to finish, it was truly a team project, involving collaboration with my project partner Amy Tillotson and the design team of Dave Kaiser, Kim Thelen, Abby Halland, Barb Etzkorn and Paul Johnson, who all contributed to making the entire process flow with ease.”
SFM recorded yet another excellent year in 2023, continuing its strong performance across all core metrics, from policyholder retention to new business and total written premium.
