Farmers Insurance Receives High Honors for World-Class Training & Development Program

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- At a special recognition event held February 1 in San Diego, CA, Farmers Insurance Group of Companies®  received an award for excellence and achievement in company-wide training and human capital development that recognizes Farmers for its unprecedented record of success in developing and nurturing excellence across the organization.

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From nearly 700 submissions received worldwide, representing many of the world's leading companies, Farmers was ranked 6th overall from among the Top 125 training organizations as scored by a distinguished panel assembled by industry-leading Training Magazine.  This achievement recognized Farmers for the success of its comprehensive training and leadership programs.  On top of this, Farmers was one of only three companies that received the added distinction of being recognized for global "Best Practices" for its Laboratory Learning environments – a learning methodology that has helped propel Farmers to not just national, but world-wide leadership in innovative learning and training.

"Achieving excellence in training and leadership programs doesn't just happen, it is the result of a team of leaders executing on our organization-wide commitment to developing the best people in the industry," said F. Robert Woudstra, Chief Executive Officer of Farmers.  "I want to particularly recognize Annette Thompson and Mike Cuffe, at the University of Farmers, for their leadership in bringing these honors to our company."

"I couldn't be more proud of all of the people at Farmers for this outstanding recognition," said Annette Thompson, Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Officer for Farmers.  "This is a win for all of Farmers.  We worked closely with others in the organization, especially Human Resources and Talent Management, to develop the final submission.  This award clearly demonstrates that we are onto something truly outstanding for the organization."

In only its second year of participating in this global competition, Farmers achieved the distinction of being recognized among the top 1% of training programs from throughout the world, outranking companies and programs with larger budgets and personnel.

"This recognition is seen as one of the most prestigious awards in the industry because of the number of outstanding submissions and the rigorousness of the evaluation criteria, which included both quantitative and qualitative benchmarks," Thompson continued.  "A number of areas were evaluated by the selection panel, including financial commitment, the diversity and comprehensiveness of programs offered, measurement tracking systems, human capital programs and, of course, the success of the programs," she stated.

"This win is a testament to Farmers commitment to its people," said Mike Cuffe, Vice President of Claims Training and Development at the University of Farmers and the lead architect of the learning methodology that received the "Best Practices" distinction.  "The Farmers training team is truly world-class and this is what helps us design best-in-class training for our people."

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be.  Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group.  The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit our Web site at www.farmers.com.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance Group of Companies