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  | Spring 2009

Embracing Our Responsibility to You

By David Wylie
Editor

If you dropped $2 at Starbucks lately, you got more than just 20 steaming ounces of your favorite coffee. You got a cupful of a concept that is catching on in today’s marketplace: corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Companies that embrace CSR serve coffee in cups made with recycled materials. They donate to charitable causes and sell toys that are safe for your kids to play with. They want you to know they care about their customers, their community and the environment.

As the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, Texas Mutual Insurance Company takes CSR seriously. We don’t do it to get accolades, improve our public image or one-up our competitors. We do it because we care about all Texans. Here is a look at how we improve the quality of life in our state.

Boosting the economy
We have pumped more than $595 million into the Texas economy through our dividend programs.*

Dividends reward loyal customers who share our commitment to workplace safety. Many policyholders have used their dividend to build their business for the future.

“With all the headwinds we face in business, it’s wonderful to get a check in the mail,” said Rick Guerra, CEO of Pasta Ventures LTD and Costillas LTD. “It’s a significant portion of our premium. We can use it to pay bills and make sure our employees are taken care of.”

Promoting safe workplaces
Everyone has the right to a safe workplace. Unfortunately, safety training is often the first budget casualty in today’s struggling economy.

Texas Mutual's risk management partnerships give Texans the tools they need to prevent workplace accidents.

Since 1999, we have awarded nearly $1 million in grants to Midland College, Kilgore College and College of the Mainland in Texas City. The grants fund free safety training for employers, their employees and the public.

Making college dreams a reality
When accidents do happen, we work hard to minimize their consequences. Since 2001, we have granted nearly $273,000 in college scholarships to victims of catastrophic workplace accidents.

The Texas Mutual scholarship program is open to qualifying family members of employees who die from compensable injuries. Injured employees who receive lifetime income benefits, as well as their family members, are also eligible.

“This takes so much weight off my family and me,” wrote scholarship recipient Sammie Jo Parsley. “Though I will never be able to say it enough, thank you again for your help. College has been an exciting and maturing experience.”

Living united
Texas has the lowest percentage of adults with a high school education in the nation. Approximately 20 percent of our children are uninsured, compared with the national average of 11.6 percent.

“As the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, we feel a bond with all Texans, not just our policyholders,” said Texas Mutual President Russ Oliver.

“During these uncertain economic times, it is more important than ever to help our neighbors in need.”

Texas Mutual employees have responded, donating $1.5 million to our annual United Way campaign since 1993. Many have also lent their time and talent to United Way partner agencies, given holiday gifts to the elderly, and hosted food, clothing and school supply drives.

Operating with integrity
In late 2001, an investigation revealed that Houston-based energy giant Enron hid debt — some reports claim up to $1 billion worth — from investors. The company went bankrupt. Thousand sof its employees and investors lost their savings, pensions and childrens’ college funds.

The Enron scandal will forever serve as a loud wake-up call to corporations that operate without integrity.

Texas Mutual’s internal audit division ensures that we operate efficiently, transparently and, above all, honestly. The team reports directly to our board of directors so that it remains objective. Every employee can report unethical practices through a secure website accesible from their computer desktop.

Staying green
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker struck a reef and dumped approximately 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound near Alaska.

Casualties included up to 500,000 seabirds, 5,000 sea otters, 300 seals, 250 bald eagles, and billions of salmon and herring eggs. Two decades later, officials are still undoing the damage.

Texas Mutual’s operations will never have an Exxon Valdez-like impact on the environment. Still, we do our part to keep Texas beautiful.

Our annual report is printed on paper provided by the Forest Stewardship Council, a nonprofit organization committed to responsible management of the world’s forests. We recycle paper, plastic, cardboard and aluminum, and we use biodegradable or biocompostable products in our café and at our coffee bars.

We conserve resources, too. Our facilities are outfitted with low-flow toilets, reflective roofs, and high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment. Our interior and exterior lights are on timers, and our sprinkler systems comply with water authority restrictions.

Standing for more than the bottom line
Texas Mutual is not here to make a profit. Our mission is to provide a stable, reliable source of workers’ compensation insurance for Texans.

Our management, staff and board of directors have made a long-term commitment to Texas employers and their employees.

Other carriers may abandon you when the market is no longer profitable. We will be here as long as Texans need reliable, competitively priced workers’ compensation insurance.

*Past dividends are not a guarantee of future dividends. The Texas Department of Insurance must approve all dividends.

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