Why Totem?

Whether you’re a public school district or a private sector employer, we use evidence-based solutions and personalized service to help you offer better benefits for your people and your bottom line.

Totem is the benefits consulting firm that does much more than consulting.

Our mission is to be there for everyone. That means we show up — without question — for our clients, for our employees, and for our clients’ employees.

We take a holistic approach to employee benefits — providing much more than benefits consulting because we know that’s what it takes to ensure no employee — your or ours — gets left behind. Our goal is to ensure your employees fully understand how to take advantage of their benefits program to maximize your overall ROI and improve employee recruiting, retention and satisfaction rates within your organization.

When Debbie Schultz, Totem President, became a third-generation employee benefits professional 40 years ago, she quickly noticed that too many organizations were stuck with “benefits in a box” solutions that weren’t scalable as their business grew and the needs of their people shifted.

Senior Leadership Team

 Helping you be there for everyone.

Totem team

When Totem was founded in 2010, Debbie’s commitment to bringing employers everywhere a higher standard of care was the tip of the spear as she launched her own business. To this day, Totem remains 100% independent with no plans to sell or merge as a way to ensure our clients are never pigeon holed into cookie cutter benefit solutions that don’t serve them well.

No matter how many advancements we bring to our industry, one thing will never change: Our commitment to helping our clients be there for everyone.

We’re not like other consultants.

How does your benefits consultant stack up?

Key Features
Incentives
Conflicts of Interest
Vendor & Carrier Options
Medical Plan Strategy
Employee Engagement Rate
Performance Guarantees
Annual Medical Savings
Medical Out-of-Pocket
Totem
More revenue when the client saves more
100% aligned to client’s needs – no kickbacks
100% of Vendors and Carriers
100% quality driven
High
Performance-based Compensation
8-29% annual savings
Decreases annually
Other Brokers & Consultants






Zero Savings (6-11% annual cost increase)
Increases annually

Results Totem Delivers

10.5%

reduction in turnover

8-29%

savings in
medical spend

12.5%

increase in perception of benefits

700% +

increase in employee engagement

Our Approach

We don’t do cookie cutter.

Evidence-Based Solutions

The Totem way of navigating healthcare starts with data. Every solution we recommend is supported by your specific data — not just what works for others or what’s popular.

Employee-First Mentality

When designing and implementing a benefits plan, all aspects of the employee and HR staff experiences are at the center.

Cultural Fit

We take the time to evaluate every company’s workforce and demographics to ensure we are providing exactly what resonates with your employees and your organization’s culture.

Crawl, Walk, Run Approach

Good things take time, and the processes we implement continue to payoff as time goes on. This means we don’t implement every solution or change in the first year. We understand that employees are more likely to adopt change when introduced incrementally.

Benefits Plans Custom Built For You

Every single benefits plan, communication strategy and 3-5 year roadmap is completely unique to each individual Totem client. No templates, no repurposing. 100% custom every time.

Why Employers of Choice Choose Totem

We receive the absolute best and greatest that Totem can provide

Honestly, I’m not sure that Totem can do anything better. We receive the absolute best and greatest that Totem can provide and we are so fortunate to partner with them. They are thorough, forward thinking, respectful, timely, and dynamic in communication.

—Martin Sekulski, Benefits & Risk Analyst
Marco’s Pizza

Totem works really well negotiating with vendors

Totem works really well negotiating with vendors to keep our rates low. They are responsive and address employee’s concerns in a timely manner.

—Employee Benefits Specialist
Public School District

Totem meets and exceeds our expectations

Totem meets and exceeds our expectations and I cannot think of anything that they can do better. They communicate quickly and if they don’t know the answer they will find someone who does. They are friendly, helpful and understand how each school system and employee is unique.

—Benefits Coordinator
Colquitt County Schools

What Clients Can Expect from Totem

Additional Services
Year-Round Benefit Services Center
Benefits Administration (Software & Service)
Plan + Vendor Management
Mobile-First Benefits Website
Year-Round Campaigns (Text + Phone + Email)
Totem
In-house at ZERO Extra Charge
Other Brokers & Consultants
Outsourced + Extra Charge

Our Senior Leadership

It’s nice to put a name to a face.

Debbie Schultz Totem

Debbie Schultz

President

Geoff Rowson Totem

Geoff Rowson

SVP of Consulting

Heather Sjogren Totem

Heather Sjogren

SVP of Operations

Wendy Hendrickson Totem

Wendy Hendrickson

VP of Account Management, National Accounts

Jose Castano Totem

Jose Castano

VP of Technology Solutions

Annette Griffin Totem

Annette Griffin

SVP of Client Service

Carlene Wilkinson Totem

Carlene Wilkinson

Director of HR

Our Mission

Be there for everyone.