The Value of Investing in Professional Development: Q&A with Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual

Offering professional development is no longer a nice-to-have-perk, it’s a strategic competitive advantage that drives everything from bottom-line results to employee recruitment and retention. In fact, 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development, according to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report.  

The Institutes had the opportunity to speak to board member and Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Co. President and CEO John Smith, CPCU, ARM, ARe, AIS about his organization’s investment in professional development. In the Q&A that follows, Smith shares PLM’s viewpoint on the value of learning and development, the measurable outcomes they've seen, and why they’ve made education a cornerstone of their talent strategy.  

The Institutes: Why is PLM committed to and investing in professional education for all employees?

John Smith: Our commitment to education and development is not based on a desire to hang up a lot of certificates; it stems from the belief that the company with the best people, at the end of the day, wins.

We believe the true value of an insurance program lies not in its price, but in the caliber of professionals who deliver exceptional expertise and service. Furthermore, we are committed to continuous learning, recognizing that without it, the competition will inevitably close the gap.

The Institutes: How has your team responded to the development program PLM provides access to and what results are you seeing?

JS: Participating in our education program is mandatory for all employees (yes, even me). We’re proud to say that 100% of our team has engaged in continuing education, with some returning to formal learning for the first time in years.  

Last year, our team of approximately 170 people took 196 Institutes designation exams. As a result, we earned 53 Institutes Designations, including several who earned CPCU®. Members of our senior leadership team are among those who completed the CPCU designation, including one member who started their CPCU program in 1986. I’ll never forget the emotion in his voice when he called, in tears, to share that he had passed the final part of the designation.

The Institutes: What additional training and development resources does PLM provide to employees?

JS: We do weekly in-house training sessions, provide personal employee coaches, and we send people to external classes run by reinsurers, NAMIC, APCIA, and many of our industry partners.  

Our leadership training is conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership. This allows our people to engage with professionals outside the insurance industry, helping to broaden their perspectives and strengthen their leadership capabilities. More recently, we’ve also begun working with the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) to provide our leaders with valuable international experience.

In the right circumstances, we will pay for advanced degrees in their entirety and freely invest in a set budget for anyone pursuing an undergraduate or a graduate degree.

The Institutes: Is PLM’s approach to professional development having a measurable impact on business?

JS: We maintain exceptionally high policy and premium retention rates and have achieved an underwriting profit in eight of the past ten years, alongside an operating profit in all of the ten years. Our education program, now in its sixth year and managed by a dedicated full-time leader, has played a significant role in this success.

More importantly, we are attracting new talent to PLM in part due to the program. I can’t recall a single instance where a candidate withdrew from the interview process because of our mandatory education requirement.

Additionally, we recently launched a succession plan built entirely around internal candidates, further demonstrating our long-term investment in developing and retaining top talent.