At a recent MTM Board meeting, I was asked for a “wrap up” report from the spring dividend. It was the normal report with management members, but one set of numbers is worth sharing with our members. The question was how does the MTM dividend compare with similar and competing mutual insurance companies with special focus on mutual companies. Here was what was reported to the Board:

MTM returned 83.4% of its 2017 profit as member dividends. We reviewed 3 well-known companies to provide the following comparison. Company A, a nonmutual returned 7.6% of its profit as member dividends. Mutual competitor number one returned 18.9% while mutual company number two returned 5.3%. The MTM member owner dividend is in a completely different ballpark compared to commercial carriers, and even other mutual companies. These numbers prompted a whole different conversation of why MTM is so different.

The list included:

• The MTM Board that is made up of shop owners, CFOs, HR – VPs. There is no outside investor interest and no outside directors. Our Board and Committee members are focused on benefits for the MTM members.
• Our members are significantly more safety conscious as compared to the industry standard.
• Our claims people are frugal and spend claim’s dollars like it was our members’ money. And, that’s true because it is.
• Loss Control Focus: MTM has three full-time field Loss Control consultants. While this number may not seem terribly impressive, three people for 900 members (300 members per Loss Control rep) is most unusual. It is normal to see an insurance company give their Loss Control rep 3,000 accounts. In that case, the Loss Control rep can only see a problem account or a large account. While medium and small accounts are managed by mailers and webinars. MTM sees it differently, we specialize with direct, onsite member help. We want to be the safety manager, or at least part of the safety team at our member’s shop.
  Our Loss Control team is made up of:
  • Loss Control Manager – Ruth Kiefer
  • Senior Loss Control Consultant – Chris Demeter
  • Loss Control Representative – Travis Halsted

The years in the industry for these three are 12, 15, and 5. When I am asked how do they participate in member’s shops, I stress that we are consultants on the regulations that are enforced by MiOSHA. We do not take a forceful position, but recommend methods to assist our members rather than merely tell them things they’re supposed to do. There is a time that the consultant turns a bit more assertive, which is when a safety issue is clearly a violation of MIOSHA and, even more important, is dangerous for the employees. We get to see when bad things happen such as unguarded machines or equipment improperly used and the end result is never good for the employer or the employee.

You probably already know Ruth, Chris, or Travis, but anytime you need assistance from them, to answer a question via phone, provide a walk through please let them or me know. All the loss control focus that we put into this is clearly a benefit to our individual member’s premium (i.e., their experience modification), a benefit to the individual member on their dividend and the dividend for all MTM members.

Please enjoy the rest of summer.