Despite cuts, American Family committed to St. Joe

Jan. 20--Despite a small reduction in staff, American Family Insurance in St. Joseph remains one of the city's largest employers.

Employment counts for the St. Joseph office have remained steady over the years. There were 758 employees in 2017 and 766 as of January 2018.

The company's structure and process changes, however, did result in the recent reduction of 22 positions, said Janet Masters, a spokesperson for American Family.

A majority of those jobs are in the St. Joseph office and in the areas of management and underwriting in the commercial and farm-ranch division.

"I want to emphasize that this decision was very difficult," Masters said. "We understand the impact on affected employees. It was only made after careful evaluation of all options."

Masters said American Family is assisting those employees through the transition. Impacted employees are able to apply for other positions within the company, and some already have found opportunities. Severance packages are being offered to those unable to find employment within the company or who choose that option.

There has been speculation in the St. Joseph community about layoffs and closures at American Family for several months, but Masters said the company is a stable employer and plans to stay that way.

"Some work will be transitioned to Homesite, one of our affiliates, but we have not sold off parts of our company's divisions the last two years," she said. "And while technologies can help increase efficiencies and replace some manual tasks, technology is not replacing employees per se."

American Family is the seventh-largest employer in St. Joseph, just behind Missouri Western State University, which employees 820, according to the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce records.

The top five employers still remain Mosaic Life Care, Triumph Foods, the St. Joseph School District, the Missouri Air National Guard 139th Airlift Wing and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Two years ago, American Family started $2 million renovation plans to the St. Joseph facility. The project included renovations to the 62,600-square-foot space that includes its second and third floors. A focus will be on interior upgrades on the east side of the campus and will include new finishes, fixtures and fittings.

The renovations are not only an opportunity to upgrade the interior of the building, but the company also is hoping to make the facility more energy efficient with the installation of green technology.

The renovations are a part of the company's broader commitment to sustainability and a healthy environment. The hope is to divert 90 percent of its waste away from landfills. For this particular project, American Family will send a majority of its construction waste to recycling and donated materials.

Jenn Hall can be reached at jenn.hall@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPHall.

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