State Farm and Country Financial plan to keep most of their employees working from home through at least the end of the year because of the pandemic.
State Farm public affairs specialist Gina Morss-Fischer said the insurer had a small number of employees return to work at the company’s offices, starting in mid-July.
“We are continuing to monitor data closely, using caution and care in the decisions we make about location readiness,” said Morss-Fisher. “After evaluating input from a variety of sources, we did pause broader re-entry into Bloomington facilities. Current plans are to revisit this in early 2021.”
Employees in essential office roles have been working on site since March, she said.
Country Financial also is allowing its employees to continue to work from home through the end of the year.
“The coronavirus pandemic has created significant challenges for many of our employees, including concerns with child care and supporting remote learning,” said public relations specialist Chris Coplan.
Coplan said a majority of employees in County Financial's corporate and regional offices have worked remotely since mid-March.
Illinois Farm Bureau coordinated its return-to-work plan with County Financial. The Farm Bureau said about 15% of its staff has returned to the office.
“These employees volunteered to come in based on their job functions and their feeling that they could be more productive working from the office,” said Chris Magnuson, executive director of operations, News and Communications for the Illinois Farm Bureau.
Based on data from the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, State Farm had 14,200 employees in McLean County as of 2018, County Financial had 2,034 employees in Bloomington-Normal as of 2018. Illinois Farm Bureau has about 285 employees in the county
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