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The Power of Supporting Parents and Caregivers
For working parents and other caregivers, finding a balance between the priorities of work and family is a constant challenge. Over the past couple years, many working parents and caregivers have been particularly challenged to keep up with their personal and professional responsibilities. Employees with young children may still face issues finding childcare due to current health concerns or limited availability.
During these challenging times, having the support of colleagues and access to resources has never been more important. Our Working Parent and Caregiver Resource Group provides a forum for employees to network, share tips and resources and show support for each other as they strive to balance their personal and professional commitments. Some of the support and resources include:
- Live, Hosted Events – covering a broad range of topics and activities, from quick coffee chats, to kids’ dance parties, photo shares and panel discussions.
- Real-Time Open Forum – using Microsoft Teams, this forum was created so members can collaborate with other working parents and caregivers to answer real-time questions as they arise.
- Homework Helpers on Demand – employees willing to share their time virtually with a child of a Travelers employee who needs help with homework.
The Working Parent and Caregiver Resource Group was established in September, 2020 as a result of the pandemic and currently has over 1,300 members. This voluntary resource group is led by a team of selected employees to foster a supportive environment for parents and caregivers. All Travelers employees and temporary employees are welcome to join.
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Tara Spain Honored for Helping Empower Women Entrepreneurs
A Connecticut nonprofit that helps women build businesses has presented Tara N. Spain, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Travelers Foundation and Assistant Vice President, Community Relations for Travelers, with a 2021 Impact Award.
The Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) recognized Tara for “fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and social change at Travelers and beyond.” The organization recognized honorees at its annual luncheon in October.
Travelers has partnered with WBDC for a number of years. Last year, Travelers helped launch its Equity Match Fund, which was designed to bring equitable resources to women entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut during the pandemic.
“The decision to establish a relationship with WBDC was easy because their mission to support economic prosperity for women aligns well with the values of Travelers – and my own personal values,” says Tara, who has worked at Travelers for 16 years. “WBDC is driving a collective effort to reduce the barriers that women business owners face, and I am proud to partner with them and be recognized by them.”
Watch Tara’s remarks [34:44] in the video below.
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TRAVELERS PLEDGES TO BECOME CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2030
Travelers announced in April its commitment to become carbon neutral across its owned operations by 2030. The pledge is a key component of Travelers’ ongoing and broader sustainability strategy.
“We take a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to sustainability,” said Alan Schnitzer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Travelers. “Through this commitment and other aspects of our longstanding approach to changing climate conditions, we are addressing a risk we all face and standing up to the responsibility we have to leave a better world for our children and future generations. We are pleased with the progress we have made over the years to reduce our carbon footprint, and we are proud to take our efforts to the next level.”
The company has made significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint, cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions* by more than 40% between 2011 and 2020. Over the next decade, Travelers will achieve carbon neutrality by reducing or offsetting an additional 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of eliminating the impact of about 125 million vehicle miles. In this way, Travelers will be doing its part to align with the target set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit the global temperature increase in the 21st century to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The company has made significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint, cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions* by more than 40% between 2011 and 2020. Over the next decade, Travelers will achieve carbon neutrality by reducing or offsetting an additional 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of eliminating the impact of about 125 million vehicle miles. In this way, Travelers will be doing its part to align with the target set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit the global temperature increase in the 21st century to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This initiative is the latest in a series of enhancements Travelers has made in recent years to make its operations more eco-efficient. These include, among others:
- Cutting energy consumption in half at its largest owned campus (in Hartford, Connecticut).
- Increasingly relying on renewable energy sources to supply electricity at its owned facilities.
- Ensuring all of its owned campuses are ENERGY STAR® certified.
In addition to minimizing Travelers’ carbon footprint, the company’s climate strategy includes providing risk management products and services to alternative energy businesses through its Global Renewable Energy Practice, thereby facilitating the transition to a lower-carbon economy. In 2020, the company grew this business by approximately 40%.
More information about the company’s eco-efficient operations and climate strategy is available at sustainability.travelers.com.
Reforestation Commitment
For years, Travelers has supported American Forests, the country’s oldest nonprofit conservation group, to protect the nation’s forests and promote reforestation. In April 2019, Travelers launched an important and impactful initiative with American Forests, committing to fund the planting of one tree for each Personal Insurance billing account converted to paperless billing. Since then, the company has funded the planting of 1.5 million trees in areas most in need of reforestation while lowering its paper consumption by tens of millions of pages.
The company announced that it is extending its support of American Forests and expects to plant an additional 1.5 million trees by June 2022.
“Ensuring the vitality of our forests is critical to minimizing the effects of changing climate conditions,” said Michael Klein, Executive Vice President and President of Personal Insurance at Travelers. “We are excited and extremely proud to deepen our relationship with American Forests, and we look forward to making an important contribution to the reforestation of some of the country’s most endangered ecosystems.”
“Through our partnership with Travelers, we have made a substantial impact on some of America’s most essential natural landscapes – helping to grow forest resilience in the face of a changing climate and create a better, healthier environment for everyone,” said Jad Daley, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Forests. “We are grateful for Travelers’ generous continued support and look forward to achieving this new goal together.”
Customers can opt in to paperless billing, manage their accounts and access online claim resources by visiting MyTravelers.com.
*Scope 1 emissions include those that are directly generated by the company’s activities, and Scope 2 emissions include those that are indirectly generated by energy purchased by the company.
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Women’s History Month at Travelers – Debbie Brown’s 35 Year Legacy
How long have you been with Travelers?
I’ve been fortunate to celebrate 35 years with the company. I started at Travelers as a Medical Case Manager, acting as liaison between our claim representatives, doctors, employers, and injured employees to ensure the proper medical care was in place to get them back to work.
What is your career background? How did you discover Travelers?
I have degrees in nursing and started my career in insurance. To be honest, I never knew that insurance companies hired nurses. It was 10 years after graduating that I was looking in the newspaper to see what was available for nurses if I moved back to the city I grew up in. I saw a Travelers job ad in the Sunday paper. It sounded interesting and I was one of four nurses hired for the claim department to pilot a new team to handle medical malpractice and Workers’ Compensation cases. The rest is history – 35 years later.
What has kept you with Travelers?
I found over the years there have been 2 key factors that have kept me here.
First, the opportunities. You truly own your own destiny. After my first role as a Medical Case Manager, I went on to serve as a Workers’ Compensation Claim Professional, an HR Manager, an Underwriting Development Program Director, a Talent Acquisition Manager, and more. In total, I’ve held 12 different positions across Underwriting, Claim, and Human Resources during my 35 years at the company.
Second, the people. Travelers encourages a diverse workforce of people who bring many ideas, skills and experiences to the table. This collaborative environment allows each of us to contribute to the success of Travelers while we grow and develop. It’s this and the leadership balance that helps drive the innovation which sets us apart.
Can you tell us about any stand-out moments you have had?
While I have had many unique and challenging opportunities over the years, one that I think about often is being given the once in a lifetime opportunity to create, develop and run the Underwriting Development Program for 7 years. It afforded me the career satisfaction of bringing the next generation of underwriters into the insurance industry. It was deeply gratifying to see how Travelers’ leadership took a vested interest in the programs and kept in contact with many who completed the programs.
What would you tell someone who was thinking about exploring a career at Travelers?
The opportunities are endless. Remember, it won’t be easy, but you must start somewhere. This is just the first step on the stairwell, so don’t give up, and know that the best is yet to come!
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Purpose-driven Technology Careers
By Mojgan Lefebvre
EVP, Chief Technology & Operations Officer, Travelers
This post is featured as an article on Mojgan Lefebvre’s LinkedIn profile page.
As a talented software engineer or data scientist, when you imagine your dream job, you may envision working in a thriving “startup” culture of innovation. You may look for a place where you can learn and work on a diverse set of technologies, from internet-connected devices and deep learning models to intelligent process automation, blockchain and machine learning.
Maybe insurance doesn’t immediately come to mind. But if you knew the extent of technology’s impact on the industry and the really cool work we do at Travelers in the Analytics and Tech organizations, you wouldn’t look further. I’ll share with you a few reasons why you should seriously consider a career in technology at Travelers, a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business.
As a new computer science graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1990, I couldn’t have predicted a career path leading to my current role. I’ve always been drawn to opportunities that balance the transformative benefits of technology in people’s lives with the practical business outcomes that enable companies to grow. I recognize that same spirit of purpose-driven career choices in many of our Travelers’ technologists today.
I entered the insurance industry in 2010, after working across Asia, Europe and the Americas in the fields of high-tech and health care. I was amazed at the level of investment that the IT organization was making and how heavily the industry relied on data, analytics, risk management and digital capabilities.
In 2018, I was drawn to Travelers’ storied reputation for constant innovation in the world of insurance – especially the way the more than 165-year-old insurer nurtures and supports an openness to change. We’re focused on continuously transforming the way we engage with customers and collaborate with partners while extending our competitive advantage in risk expertise.
This work spans all our major business lines and has made a tangible difference in how well we were able to respond to the pandemic. I am proud of the way our Travelers teams have risen to every challenge over the past year.
Last March, we pivoted to a remote work environment. Our goal was to keep our people safe without compromising the high-quality service we provide to our customers, agents and brokers. To do that, our Tech and Operations teams had to equip 30,000 employees with all the necessary tools. And they did it seamlessly – we didn’t miss a beat.
Our success was the result of sound business continuity planning and the investments we have made in processes, tools and technologies over the years.
For instance, our AI teams quickly spotted unanswered questions related to COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic. Our data science and engineering teams jumped on the opportunity to improve our AI algorithms to quickly recognize COVID-related questions. This ensured that we could improve the customer experience by answering questions more accurately through our chatbot. With the volume of increased queries, the AI models continued to learn and improve over time.
Another example is our expanded Claim Virtual Visit tools, which Travelers’ Claim organization built to help our professionals safely interact with customers, claimants and other third parties and virtually conduct property or auto inspections. We saw the use of these tools multiply during the pandemic. Our cross-functional agile teams also got the opportunity to continually adjust capabilities based on customer feedback.
Across the insurance value chain, Travelers is leveraging advanced technologies, such as geospatial and deep learning models to come swiftly to the aid of customers whose houses are damaged from wildfires or weather disasters. Such solutions not only create a positive experience for our customers but also keep our employees safe as they work with our claimants. These are just a few examples of how our technologists see their work making a difference in people’s lives.
None of the above can happen without the talented technology professionals who recognize the vast career opportunities the insurance industry has to offer. During the pandemic, Travelers hired and virtually onboarded more than 300 employees into our Tech organization, and we remain committed to recruiting great new talent. Our technologists and data experts will continue to play a key role in helping to automate and improve the experiences of our customers, agents and brokers throughout the insurance life cycle.
If what you’ve read sounds like the kind of place where your dream job could flourish, I invite you to discover your career under the umbrella.
Connect with Mojgan Lefebvre and other Travelers technology leaders on LinkedIn.
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Solving for Today Through Predictive Modeling Competition
How does a large company tackle complex business challenges in imaginative ways? One effective method is to tap into the creativity data-driven employees bring to the table, providing them development opportunities and generating outcomes to create the products that best serve our customers.
Bring on the friendly competition.
During the 2020 Virtual Predictive Modeling Competition, 75 companywide data scientists, data engineers and technology-oriented employees formed into 21 teams with one challenge: to develop a new model that helps our Claim organization more swiftly predict the severity of an accident at faster rates and improve payout predictions.
The eight-week competition gave participants the chance to work with new technologies and frameworks that deepened their skillsets and provided opportunities to collaborate across departments. The event was sponsored by Travelers Claim Business Intelligence and Analytics (CBIA) and Enterprise Data and Analytics (ED&A).
Teams relied on their knowledge of AWS cloud technology, graphics processing units, unstructured data sources and machine learning to analyze a range of information to develop and build their models.
According to the competition winners, reviewing data from customer interaction with claim handlers was paramount. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but our model predictions were sensible and could predict high severity claims with a high level of confidence,” said Murat Yasar, Analytics & Research, Business Insurance.
“I saw the competition as a great challenge. It was also a great way to network and share knowledge – which is really a precious opportunity, especially during the pandemic,” said Susan Ye, Data & Research, CBIA.
Travelers began these modeling competitions in 2016 with the goal of providing training opportunities around deep learning and image analytics. But the impact of the work goes far beyond training.
“The winning solution from the 2018 competition is still being used at Travelers – it’s like a Swiss army knife for data scientists,” said George Lee, who leads the Data Science team in ED&A’s AI Accelerator. “That’s our hope for this year’s winning solution.”
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Claim Professionals Deliver on the Travelers Promise During Trying Times
Our claim professionals are continuing to deliver on the Travelers Promise, to take care of our customers, communities and each other, which has become increasingly important during the upheaval and uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
Just before daybreak on a Monday in mid-April, a severe windstorm swept through Charlotte, North Carolina, damaging properties across the region. After the storm passed, Erin Karaffa packed up her drone and her personal protective gear, ready to start conducting property inspections and helping our customers recover.
Within a few hours, Erin, a Property Claim professional in our Virginia-Carolina Claim Center, had spoken to a customer whose home was damaged by a large falling tree. Because of the extent of damage to the attic, Erin couldn’t conduct a virtual inspection, so she set up an in-person inspection for the following day and arrived on site in protective gear, following social distancing guidelines.
“I like to give customers a heads-up and call from the driveway to say, ‘I’m here. Are you comfortable with me coming in? I have a mask and gloves on,’” Erin explained. “I want to make sure they’re prepared. Even though you see a lot of people wearing masks, it can still be intimidating.”
In addition to inspecting the interior damage, Erin used a drone to assess the damage to the roof and then issued the customer’s claim payment via ePay, Travelers’ secure electronic payment system. “The tree impacted a pipe that came out of her roof,” Erin stated, “and it shattered all the way into the attic and down into the crawlspace, so she needed to get a plumber in there right away. ePay helped her do that.”
The customer was so pleased with Erin’s prompt, professional response despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 that she sent a heartfelt letter of thanks. “You had a caring demeanor and were very thorough, professional, diligent and knowledgeable about what to do,” the customer wrote to Erin. “Travelers is fortunate to have an employee like you, especially during this pandemic that our world is dealing with.”
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Tech Inventors Awarded U.S. Patents for Designing Forward-Looking Solutions
Members of the Car Dealer UAV Team.
For more than 165 years, Travelers’ innovative employees continually ask themselves and their colleagues, “what’s next?” And throughout the years, their curiosity has led to the development of creative solutions recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office.
Check out what creativity looks like at Travelers in the following six U.S. patents received this year by members of the Travelers Technology team.
- Electronic Auto Policy ID Card (U.S. Patent No. 10,636,096).Michal Sterzycki and his team are meeting our customers where they are by enabling auto customers to create and download an ID card, receive it via email or text, and save it to their Apple Wallet. The card contains instructions on filing a claim and deep links to the user’s policy info.
- Car Dealer UAV (U.S. Patent No. 10,592,934). Ian Michel, George Lee, Pee T Lim and John Han devised the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to capture images for immediate analysis and damage estimates. Imagine the system being used to efficiently determine the amount of damage to a vehicle fleet at an auto dealership after a severe weather event.
- Digital Forensics Lab (U.S. Patent No. 10,546,133). Krystopher Aurigemma, Roy Emmerthal, Patrick Griffin, Eric Raabe and James Shanley received a patent for creating a system to analyze digital media devices infected with malware, using virtual desktop sessions to provide flexibility in the deployment of processing resources and isolation of threats.
- Mobile Risk Assessment Tool (U.S. Patent No. 10,586,193). Steve Roach participated on a team that identified how real-time video analysis of property conditions can aid the underwriting process. Consider a subject matter expert observing assessor data collection and providing real-time guidance to optimize the data collection process and minimize the need for multiple trips to gather supplemental information.
- Virtual Co-Location (U.S. Patent No. 10,574,942). Doug Roy and Ryan Scanlon introduced the use of an Internet of Things (IoT) device that connects remote workers with their teams using host device hardware sensors and a client software app to communicate status changes in each location.
- Data Archival and Retrieval Tool (DART) (U.S. Patent No. 10,635,688). Venkatraman Raman designed a reusable metadata-driven, sustainable data transfer framework that simplifies data complexities, access, availability and analysis onto a single platform.
Through Travelers’ Innovation Jam Hackathons and day-to-day innovative thinking, our multi-disciplinary teams will continue to put their creative minds together to produce solutions that make a difference in the lives of our customers and each other.
As we look forward and wonder what’s next for our business, are you wondering what’s next for your career in technology?
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Travelers to Reach Goal of Planting 1 Million Trees
Travelers to Reach Goal of Planting 1 Million Trees in Partnership with American Forests
Through its partnership with American Forests, the oldest nonprofit conservation group in the nation, Travelers will soon reach its goal of planting one million new trees.
In celebration of the 50th Earth Day, and in keeping with the company’s dedication to environmentalism, Travelers is also continuing its partnership with American Forests through April 2021. Through this partnership, Travelers has planted one tree for every Personal Insurance customer who opted in to paperless billing in 2019. The company will continue these efforts and expects to plant up to a half-million more new trees.
“We are proud to have reached this important milestone and to continue our successful partnership with American Forests,” said Michael Klein, Executive Vice President and President of Personal Insurance at Travelers. “We are committed to operating our business efficiently and sustainably. This program achieves both, by creating a convenient experience for our customers and meaningfully reducing our paper usage and carbon footprint.”
“With Travelers’ support, we planted 1 million trees in some of America’s most endangered forests – taking 1 million steps for safe, healthy communities and a vibrant natural environment,” said Jad Daley, President and CEO of American Forests. “We are very grateful to Travelers, one of our largest corporate partners, and excited to continue working together to make a positive impact on our planet.”
Additionally, Travelers regularly implements cost-effective ways to positively impact the eco-efficiency of its business. Other measures include:
- Reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 35% since 2011.
- Reducing energy consumption by approximately 50% since 2006 at its largest-owned campus.
- Relying on renewable energy sources for 17% of the electricity consumed at its owned facilities.
- Ensuring its owned campuses are ENERGY STAR® certified.
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