Farmers Insurance is building up its brand in the Valley region. The nation’s third-largest insurer of personal auto and homeowners insurance has moved about 800 employees from its Simi Valley office to a recently renovated facility in Woodland Hills, and company officials say they plan to bring 400 more employees to the facility by early next year. The move to the 217,000-square-foot space at 6303 Owensmouth Ave. provides more efficient work space for about 930 Farmers employees currently at the site and helps to increase the visibility of the Farmers Insurance brand in the Los Angeles area, said Lonnie Sproat, vice president of service operations for Farmers. “We like having the visibility,” Sproat said. Farmers now has three large, lit signs on the two Woodland Hills buildings, and soon the commercial plaza where the offices are located will sport the company’s name, he said. Farmers had made several strategic moves to anchor its brand in Southern California. In February, the company acquired the naming rights to AEG’s proposed 1.7 million-square-foot football stadium and event center in downtown Los Angeles in a 30-year commitment. The company’s advertising and branding campaign has also focused on the company’s University of Farmers, an agent, claims, leadership and management training facility in Agoura Hills. The facility this year ranked first place in Training magazine’s annual “Training Top 125” awards program. For the Woodland Hills office, Farmers Insurance Exchange and Farmers Group Inc. signed a 12-year lease and have the option to expand its space. The site formerly housed operations for 21st Century Insurance, which Farmers acquired in 2009. Pete Moraga, spokesperson for the trade group Insurance Information Network of California, said branding is a crucial factor for auto insurance companies in the state. “Auto (insurance) is extremely competitive because we are an auto nation here in California,” Moraga said. “Because of that competition, obviously companies need to do everything they can do market themselves.” Employee Experience The Woodland Hills office does not greatly impact Farmers’ level of business activity in either Simi Valley or the San Fernando Valley, because it does not affect the number of Farmers agents and district managers working in the areas, Sproat said. The company moved more than 100 employees to its new building in May, conducted renovations in May and June, and moved another 700 employees throughout the month of July, Sproat said. Farmers has some employees in a second building next to the newly renovated facility, but the company plans to eventually move those operations to the upgraded site, he said. The Woodland Hills building is an upgrade from the older Simi Valley location, where the company was for 29 years. Employees at the new site have access to a 2,700-square-foot fitness center, an Internet café, alternate work spaces with a wireless Internet connection and break rooms with 50-inch flat-screen television monitors, Sproat said. The floor plans are designed to give employees the more natural light and to conserve energy, he added. “The building we’re in now is beautiful,” said Farmers business analyst Valerie Jasso. She said she likes the fact that each floor has its own refrigerator and break room. “It makes you feel like you’re more at home.” Another perk is that there are more restaurants and shopping destinations in walking distance, she said. In addition, the Woodland Hills site is located along the 101 corridor, which places the office closer to Farmers’s other area offices in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Los Angeles, Sproat said.
