Wisconsin-based Loss Prevention Specialist Carl Gruber received SFM’s most prestigious service excellence award for 2022.
The Richard J. Marshik Service Excellence Award goes to one SFM employee annually who exemplifies the level of service that has become SFM’s hallmark.
Gruber’s passion and dedication to providing incredible service to policyholders, workers and his team helped earn him the award. He regularly goes above and beyond to ensure that all customers are 100% satisfied, focuses on building and fostering solid relationships, takes a hands-on approach, regularly offers coworkers assistance, communicates well with customers of all types, and has a positive personality that is “infectious.”
Gruber’s job is to help SFM policyholders reduce or eliminate workplace injuries. He offers each customer a truly unique experience that focuses on the employer’s individual risks. Policyholders rave about how easy he is to work with and how he’s able to motivate employees to work safely. His warm, enduring and sincere nature tears down any barriers or apprehensions. People take precedence over policy, resulting in a safer work environment for policyholders.
“Not a working day goes by where Carl doesn’t make me smile or feel appreciated,” said one of his award nominators. “The Dick Marshik Award is the ultimate recognition an SFM employee can receive. I don’t know another SFM employee that deserves such recognition more than my coworker and good friend, Carl Gruber.”
As I look at our extraordinary results over the past 12 months, I’m struck with gratitude for the unwavering belief our partners have shown in SFM. Through the whirlwinds of a global pandemic and continued economic uncertainty, policyholders are consistently choosing to stay with SFM, and independent agents are bringing more and more new accounts into the fold.
Ever since the opening chords of the pandemic, we’ve heard the refrain: “When will things get back to normal?” Well, after three years and countless bewildering developments, I’m convinced that pre-pandemic “normalcy” isn’t on its way back anytime soon. In its place, we’re discovering new realities that present us with new challenges. I’m confident that facing these challenges together will bring out our collective best. As new realities emerge, let me assure you that SFM will be a steadfast, positive partner.
We work hard every day to live up to our reputation for providing the best customer service in the business. Our commitment to service excellence is the foundation for the success we share, and I believe the results will bear that out every time.
Reflecting on the positives of the past year
As we work to finalize year-end numbers for 2022, some remarkable highlights have emerged:
SFM’s policyholder retention level of over 96% demonstrates industry-leading customer loyalty
New business continues to come in at a record pace
Audit additional and endorsement premium revenue continues to track ahead of our projections
Impact from medical inflation has been mild
Paid losses on older claims have come in better than expected, signaling prior year loss reserve releases
Policyholder surplus generation has exceeded expectations, furthering our commitment to growing surplus faster than premium
Our 2021 combined ratio of 90% made it 11 consecutive years below 100, and 2022 is on track to make it 12 in a row
New mission statement, renewed dedication to our continuing mission
As we build on our foundation of exemplary service, we’ve taken some time to reflect on the words we use to describe this commitment. We saw an opportunity to develop language that expresses the “why” that motivates each of us to make a positive impact through our work. After careful consideration, we’ve updated our mission statement to:
“Inspiring safer workplaces by protecting workers from harm and helping the injured recover.”
While the language itself is new, the sentiment that it conveys has been central to our company culture all along. We’ve always believed in taking care of employers and their employees, and through these words, we reaffirm the principles we’ve held since the very beginning.
I would like to thank our valued agency partners for sharing our dedication to service, safety and positive results for our customers. We look forward to succeeding together for many years to come.
SFM’s territory expansion hits a new high as we broaden our appetite in Kansas and continue efforts to grow in Tennessee in 2023.
Agents asked, we answered
SFM is expanding our appetite in Kansas to include policies over $25,000 in premium starting in 2023.
We’ve had tremendous success with small business since we entered the state in 2020 and our team has built terrific relationships with Kansas-based agency partners. Over the past two years we’ve written approximately 500 policies across 142 governing class codes, totaling $2 million in in-force premium.
The feedback from agency partners about our service model and ease of doing business has been overwhelmingly positive, with several agencies telling us we’re their go-to work comp carrier and requesting we write some of their larger accounts. We are excited to provide this increased appetite to our partners so that they can offer our top-notch services to more Kansas employers.
A new year, a new state
SFM will start writing business in Tennessee in the first half of 2023 and we’ve already begun appointing new agency partners.
SFM’s territory expansion team continues to meet with key industry contacts in the state to develop relationships with regulators, agencies and agency associations. The company recently joined the “Big I” Insurors of Tennessee.
Employers don’t always know how important it is to report work injuries immediately.
As an agent, you can provide vital information on how timely reporting can impact the trajectory of a workers’ compensation claim.
The following are just a few of the benefits of reporting injuries right away:
Start the claim off on the right foot. Reporting injuries immediately lets workers know their employer wants to see that they’re taken care of. It also gives their claims representatives time to gather all the necessary information to determine whether a claim is compensable.
Avoid state penalties. States limit the amount of time between when an employer learns of an injury, and when the claim is accepted or denied. If the claim isn’t reported to SFM in time to meet the deadline, the employer could face fines.
Get more out of accident investigations. Reporting right away gives employers and claims representatives the best chance of finding out exactly what happened while it’s still fresh in the minds of the employee and witnesses. This helps employers take steps to ensure that a similar injury doesn’t happen again. It also helps claims representatives learn whether the employee’s account of what happened is accurate and identify any third parties that might have been at fault.
Take full advantage of the nurse option. Injured workers can get a treatment recommendation from a registered nurse when employers report immediately through the SFM Work Injury Hotline. This can prevent unnecessary hassles and costs and get the injured worker the best care for the injury — whatever that may be.
Encourage employers to report injuries to SFM first
To reap the benefits of reporting right away, it’s important to have employers report injuries directly to SFM first, rather than your agency. If you would like to be notified immediately anytime a claim is reported, you can set up alerts in SFM Agency Manager (SAM). Click on “manage alerts,” and then select the “FROI received” alert option.
For your clients, our Work injury claim packet is a handy resource that employers can reference to help them report and manage workplace injuries.
Elyse Porter is a member of SFM’s newest class of claims trainees, which started in June of 2022. She now handles claims as part of our Small Business Accounts team.
SFM’s claims training program helps recent graduates and those changing careers get into the field of workers’ compensation claim handling. It’s one way we’re ensuring that we continue to maintain our high standard of claim handling for years to come.
Tell us a little bit about your background. I spent the last 10 years of my career being a preschool teacher. I was living in an early education environment throughout the pandemic and then decided I needed to make a change. I have a family connection to an SFM employee who let me know about the training program. It was the right time to make the change and she had nothing but good things to say about SFM.
Is there anything you’ve been able to carry through from your preschool teaching experience that relates to your current role? Most of teaching 4- and 5-year-olds is related to social emotional learning and the idea that we as humans need to be taught how to self-regulate and deal with the natural emotional swings that humans have throughout the day. When helping people, especially people who are going through really challenging moments in their lives, it’s extraordinarily helpful to have the background to think, “This is a person experiencing this emotion. This explains their behavior.” And, “This then is how I need to meet them in this moment,” to help them traverse what is a really complicated system when you’re not usually in it.
How would you describe your role in a nutshell? I tend to say that I am someone who helps people navigate the workers’ comp system. My job is to help ensure that workers can understand and get access to the things they need to recover, and also to help employers through the process. Especially in small business, this is potentially their first claim ever, so they have no experience with this system as a whole. It is a lot of teaching in that I am walking people through an entirely new system that they’re unfamiliar with, but has really substantial impacts on, especially the worker — their health, their well-being, their family’s well-being. It has really substantial impacts on their daily life.
Is there a time that stands out to you when your job was particularly rewarding? I got an email last week from an employee who recently had surgery and is now experiencing the wage-loss benefits of workers’ comp for the first time in her career. She has been in her career for decades and she sent me this really kind email just saying that she really appreciates how competent I am and that it’s made her experience better. There’s not much better than being able to meet someone in a challenging moment and making their life easier instead of adding burdens onto their plate.
What do you like about your job? I like the variation from day to day. There’s a joke within the claims community that there is no concrete answer because every claim is different. The reality is that I can have employees with very similar injuries in similar time frames and there’s very little overlap as far as how their claims progress or what is needed with each claim, and I like that variation. I like that every day is a little bit different, but I can still make substantial and meaningful impacts in people’s daily lives.
What’s most challenging about your job? I think the challenging bits are trying to meet people’s needs from a distance. In my prior job, I was in person. If a family, a child had an issue, I was able to build rapport in person and have meaningful conversations face to face. With this job that’s not what it is. I’m trying to build rapport and meet needs through the phone or an email and that’s a different process and just requires a little bit of a different response to it.
What words of wisdom do you have for employers? I think earlier is always easier, so the sooner things are reported, the easier it is to allow things to progress in an easier fashion for all parties. Also, it’s OK to not know the system. I’m here to help you navigate the system. It’s complicated and really varies from case to case. Even if it is your first claim or it’s your 10th, but this one’s different, it’s OK to not know. It’s OK to rely on SFM employees to help guide you through, because that that’s what we’re here to do.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am currently trying to complete a goal of hiking in every state park in the state of Minnesota. It was a hobby I started during the pandemic to help self-regulate and really work on my own well-being and mental health through a hard time. It’s been a couple years and I’m more than halfway through. I think I’ve hiked in 47 of the 66 parks now. I just did a long weekend the beginning of November and did nine parks along the North Shore and hiked 23 miles over four days.
You can now set up AutoPay and one-time payments for your customers while binding new business in SAM.
Quick tips:
To set up payments, you’ll need to have your customers’ financial account information on hand when you bind.
We accept credit cards for accounts under $10,000 in premium.
For AutoPay, we require that you keep a consent form signed by the policyholder on file at your agency. You do not need to return this form to SFM.
Your customer will be able to manage AutoPay after binding by creating an account at sfmic.com/pay.
Adding payments is optional. You’ll still be able to continue through the binding process without adding payment information.
To change or cancel AutoPay, you will still need to contact SFM’s billing department, or have your policyholder create an account at sfmic.com/pay. We plan to add this ability to SAM in the future.
We’re adding this new feature in response to agent feedback. We hope it will streamline the process of setting up AutoPay for new customers for you and your agency.
Since SFM was named a servicing carrier for the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Insurance Pool in late 2021, new pool business has been coming in steadily and is currently ahead of plan.
SFM is one of five servicing carriers who are each handling 20% of the Wisconsin residual market as part of a five-year contract with the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau (WCRB). SFM anticipates hitting the full 20% in Wisconsin assigned risk pool premium – approximately $12 million – by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Staff expansion
To service this continued growth, SFM is expanding its Wisconsin-based assigned risk pool operations. As part of the WCRB contract, SFM initially only onboarded new business, and renewal business was kept with existing servicing carriers. As we get close to the one-year mark and in anticipation of the first round of renewals in January 2023, we added a premium auditor to our Wisconsin-based staff. We also recently hired a local claims representative. We plan to hire a second Wisconsin auditor who also has safety experience to provide both premium audit and loss prevention services to Badger State residual market employers.
Directing your clients
Agents and employers in the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Insurance Pool can find resources and contact information in the “State programs” section of sfmic.com.
The SFM Foundation’s in-person fall fundraising event returned in November 2022 after a two-year hiatus, and the results surpassed expectations. The event took in nearly $35,000, an astounding 75% above the $20,000 goal. Taking expenses into account, this results in approximately $15,000 for the Foundation’s scholarship program.
The event was hosted at the Westin Galleria Edina and included wine, beer and cider tasting, raffles, holiday shopping and a week-long virtual silent auction.
“It was wonderful to see so many returning supporters and all the new faces at this year’s event,” said SFM Foundation President Linda Williams. “The sponsors, liquor partners, donors, vendors, volunteers and attendees all played an important role in us exceeding our fundraising goal. You truly helped make a difference in the lives of the students and families impacted by work tragedies.”
Williams and the rest of the SFM Foundation team are already planning next year’s golf events. Mark your calendars for Monday, June 12, 2023, at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury, Minnesota, and Monday, May 22, 2023, at Hyperion Field Club in Johnston, Iowa.
The SFM Foundation provides scholarships for students whose parents were seriously injured or killed while working for Minnesota or Iowa employers. SFM Foundation is an affiliate of Kids’ Chance of America in Iowa and Minnesota, and is also known as Kids’ Chance of Iowa. To learn more about the cause, visit sfmfoundation.com .
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds both proclaimed November 7-11, 2022 Kids’ Chance Awareness Week.
The aim of the Minnesota and Iowa proclamations is to increase the visibility of Kids’ Chance of Minnesota and Iowa and help spread the word about scholarship opportunities for families affected by workplace tragedies.
SFM Foundation is an affiliate of Kids’ Chance of America in Iowa and Minnesota, and is known as Kids’ Chance in Iowa.
Fall fundraiser coincides with Kids’ Chance Awareness Week
Help the SFM Foundation celebrate Kids’ Chance Awareness Week by taking part in their fall fundraising event this week.
The Foundation’s in-person event returns after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. Enjoy an evening of wine, craft beer and cider tasting, raffles, silent auction, appetizers and shopping from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, November 10 at the Westin Edina Galleria in Edina. Proceeds help fund multi-year scholarships for Minnesota and Iowa students affected by workplace injuries.
Whether you attend the in-person event or not, anyone can participate in the virtual silent auction. Bidding opens on Monday, November 7 through the ClickBid fundraising platform and will conclude at 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 10.
Visit the ClickBid website or text “SFMFoundation” to phone number 56651 to participate in the silent auction.
Our work toward adding efficiency for agents continues.
SFM has entered into agreements with both IVANS and Vertafore to better understand how we can integrate with their distribution platforms.
Through these partnerships, we intend to explore opportunities to allow agents to quote and submit risks to us within their agency management systems. We expect this to be a multi-year effort, and SAM will continue to be available for agents to easily submit business to SFM online.
We continue to work on SAM enhancements as well. Work is currently underway to allow agents to set up AutoPay or make the first payment while binding in SAM.
We value agent feedback
Many of our enhancements start with feedback from agents via surveys and suggestions made to SFM underwriters and employees.
Thank you to the many agency partners who completed our recent survey. We read every response and consider all suggestions.
If you have a suggestion, please don’t hesitate to share it with your underwriter, or contact us using another method.
