People matter
Employee engagement
Our employees are engaged and strongly committed to giving back to our communities. We empower them to be generous with both their time and resources to foster inclusive, healthy places in which to live and work.
Employee volunteering
In 2023, we once again surpassed our 2025 engagement goal with 71% participation in our community programs through opportunities like:
Summer of Service
We celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Symetra Summer of Service program in 2023. During this annual, companywide volunteering event, employees take time during their workday to volunteer with colleagues, managers and senior leaders. This year’s program offered 84 in-person and virtual projects, from building houses to making meals and everything in between. 615 employees donated over 1,900 volunteer hours to 67 nonprofits in 18 states.
BOLD Program (Board Orientation Leadership Development)
Our BOLD (Board Orientation Leadership Development) program encourages employees to provide leadership and support to organizations in their communities by offering nonprofit leadership training and then matching program participants to nonprofit boards that align with their talents and interests. Nationally, employees currently serve on 27 traditional nonprofit boards and hold 12 leadership roles with six civic organizations such as chambers of commerce and financial industry affiliated organizations, with four new board members taking up roles in the last year.
Empowers Community Award
In 2023, Melissa Bamford was recognized as our Symetra Empowers Communities honoree for her commitment to volunteerism, employee resource group leadership and coordinating community service events for her team. One of her nominators cited Melissa’s “ingrained sense of what it means to be part of her community and the responsibility of being someone in a position to give back.”
Employee giving
In 2023, our employees donated over $1,214,000 (including company match) to support over 1,960 nonprofits nationwide and provided over 7,300 volunteer hours in our communities. Our annual employee giving events included:
Holiday giving
Our 2023 holiday giving campaign kicked off on Giving Tuesday with $23 in seed funds going to every employee-giving account. Almost 64% of employees gave to nonprofits in November and December, donating over $186,000 (including company match).
I CARE
I CARE helps employees identify and support nonprofits that mean the most to them—and amplifies their contributions with a company match. “One Good Thing” was the theme of our 12th annual I CARE campaign, during which employees pledged over $690,700 (with corporate match) and supported over 810 nonprofits across the country.
Employee board service
Symetra encourages employees to provide leadership and support to organizations in their communities. Employees are board members for organizations including:
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•American Institute Stuttering |
•Leadership Eastside |
Symetra Life Insurance Company (est. 1957) is a direct subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation. First Symetra National Life Insurance Company of New York (est. 1990) is a direct subsidiary of Symetra Life Insurance Company and is an indirect subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation (collectively, “Symetra”). Neither Symetra Financial Corporation nor Symetra Life Insurance Company solicits business in the state of New York, and they are not authorized to do so. Each company is responsible for its own financial obligations.
Symetra Life Insurance Company, 777 108th Avenue NE, Suite 1200, Bellevue, WA 98004.
First Symetra National Life Insurance Company of New York, New York, NY. Mailing address P.O. Box 34690, Seattle, WA 98124.