Complimentary

CONEJO VALLEY

www.ValleyExaminer.com PublishedMonthly ReadershipEst.78,750 December2002

Farmersmovesto GoneioValley
by loy Silhn
-
Driving along the 101 freewat
through Westlake, the red Farmers
Insurance sign blazes against a new
office building, announcing the
Company's arrival. This is the second
largest property/casualty insurer in
California. Ironically ifs next door to
State Farm Insurance, the largest in
the state. BuL as Fur o$ ft"it
new office, state Farm"oi" pu""l"g a
r€location of its own.
rhe CEo of Farmers,
Martin Being
under
pr€ssure,
;";";
FeinsteLrknew he had to find addi
tional spacewhenhis corporateoffice
grew and he ran out of parking
spaces.The office, located on mid-
Wilshire and built in 1925,v!/as200
spaces shon, er-en atiter proriding
easy commute or aheady worked in
office' this dePartmmt was
$*T
Farmers encouraged employees to
"job switch" so that people far away,
who couldn't make the commutg
dranged jobs with people living dos-
er. This consolidation provided
opportunities and a clearer career
p"irr for employees. e*..ait g ;
Dulek, *ri" r"s ie""rt"a itt ;
";;tlt
transition and sadrrua r,r,*r. rr*".
ss@$W$qiw6#s@lgi....,tl-: lff:i
,trffi
! ;4
ffiffiG*&*F*
I"'Wi$*ffimml,,,it
ffi
trat b;tht colors improve *fifm"y
and attitude'
With the claims departmmt taking up
87% of the office, two .trlAller depart-
ments, Real Estate and Travel. fol-
lowe4 bringing a total of 330employ-
ees to the Conejo Valley in 66,000
square feet of space.
give to this com-
I-Tl-:{_Try* for one' '"The quality
- lunity? , fobs,
of the. labor pool is very good here,
n*:?tHtrtffrXffiJffi
skill setsand somea collegedegree,
and I think you find that out here,.
says Dulek. Applicants can apply at
farmers.com'oi- visit the wlitiate
office. With theevmtual relocationof
stare Farm, Duiek aiso thinks Farmers

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rng -tTaSa Ke-v Dnonrv It-nen sea-fCnfng -

tO t-^r3
for new space. But the large parking
Z
-

company will be relocating employ-

'The most important fting to ttre -Jsry Duldc vbe Reelldrt of R€al ees to established oificeJ ln
cEO was to create synergy and job Estate for Farm€rs Insurance Bakersfield and other areas in
opportunities for employees and pre- Califomia.
sewe as many iobs as we could" says office was designed and rcady for
* *tT:oT.T based on creating a
Ierry Dulek,- vice president of Real occupation ru"t"i th"tr *-" $.pi"
Estate for Farmers. The search for an remodel their Lit"rr*. Ii t""t'i geographic distribution of offices for
iD
annex to the corporate office spanned months to take a shell *a u" a ur" state Farm will main-
5: "*lTy'
tain a daims office here, but
most of soutlreri califorrda. " offices and cafeteri", itr"t l tu* .on. .smal]er
rhewestrake
bu'ding
met
the
com-ffi.LTffj,ffiS$4,tr ffi5T,ffJ#ffittffi;TJ*t
pany'sparameters
of priceandloca- theywouldimplement
therelocation
ilffil ;ffifr,
tion. But, when deciding which ;', ," :'- '- ;il*"";ffi
bold colons.' According to Jerry Dulek at Farnrers,
depadm€nts to move to th; office,
Farmers took a unique approactr. The technology moves the office cmrsolidated over
F- ,::t""t ,9
rhey.mapped
where uu*, ff"fJ":*#ffi"H'liJffiH:l
whidr depart- l#-.it_:#;j inr;im"T
"*.r"""
andfromthatdecided servicec€ntersfrom seventeento
iiil"""'t_*
ments to move. Since many employ- t;;#;tffi;
-, - -;
__ in-house
,_-;-__ _:";. nme'
an designer
- who has found
eesin the claims division rived witil
continuetron page27
FarmersInsurancebringsjobs to the ConejoValley,gets neededspace
continued[ro* page5
As a resulf Farmers, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Zurich Financial Service
f'tr in Switzerland (one of the largest
global insurance companies in the
world), is now operating more effi-
ciently.
Dulek, a company veteran of 26 years,
takes pride in the contributions of
Farmers. Th"y are a big contributor to
United W"y and participate in
Partners In Pride program, which
p>\ reactres out to communities by clean-
o ir,g up the freeway and assisting the
o droice. As it turned out, seardringfor
tg Poor.
FarmersInsurancehasa new homewith moreroom in WestlakeVillage This holiday season, this new office
contributed money to the Santa
Comes To Agoura food drive through
SteveBonifede a local Farmers agent.
Irr addition to gaining local business
support, Bonifedehas encouragedthe
330 employeesin the local office to
donate food and participate in the
sorting on Dec. 7 at the Do-It Center.
Santa will be flyirg ir by helicopter
and a droir will entertain the volun-
teers.
Ierry Dulek clearly feels that Westlake
is a business friendly environment
and that the company made a good
employeeparking spaceresulted in a
comfortable place to park.