Operating ResponsiblyHelping OthersBeing Sustainable

2010 Highlights

Operating Responsibly
  • InformationWeek magazine named us to its annual list of the country’s most forward-thinking users of business technology, the InformationWeek 500. This is the 11th year we’ve received this recognition.
  • The Austin American-Statesman named us to its Top Workplaces in Austin list, based on anonymous employee surveys from area employers.
  • Military Times EDGE magazine named us to its Best for Vets list. We were ranked based on four criteria: military recruiting, recruiting, training/mentoring, reserve policies and corporate culture.
  • The Advocate, the longest-running publication for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in the country, named us to its list of the top 25 U.S. companies when it comes to LGBT issues.
  • We maintained a 100 percent Corporate Equality Index score from The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the U.S.
  • The St. Petersburg Times ranked Progressive as one of the Top Workplaces in Tampa Bay. It based rankings on employee responses to a survey on what makes an organization a great place to work.
  • We moved up 48 spots to number 161 in the 2010 Fortune 500, which ranks America’s largest corporations based on total revenues. We’ve made the list every year since 1995.
  • G.I. Jobs magazine named us one of the nation's Top 100 Military Friendly Employers based on such criteria as military hiring practices, benefits and differential military pay policies, hiring and training programs for veterans, and military recruitment. We’ve received this recognition two years in a row.
  • Experience, Inc. chose us for its Best Places to Work for Recent Grads list. We were one of only 20 companies chosen based on exceptional entry-level hiring and retention practices, benefits, training programs, growth opportunities and average starting salaries.
  • CIO Magazine named us to its CIO 100 list for our ability to easily expand our products and services to our customers. This was the second year in a row we’ve received this recognition.
  • The Cleveland Plain Dealer ranked us as one of the top workplaces in northeast Ohio.
  • We released our 2010 Report on Loss Reserving Practices in the Investor Relations section of progressive.com. The report explains how we use claims data, industry projections and other factors to determine how much money to set aside for paying claims.
  • J.D. Power ranked us 13th in its National Auto Insurance Study, in which car insurance customers rate satisfaction with their insurance companies. They also surveyed independent property/casualty insurance agencies and showed that we are highly regarded by our agents as well. Our 2010 ranking represents a jump of five spots compared to 2009.
  • LATINA Style magazine, a leading publication for contemporary Hispanic women, named us to the LATINA Style 50, its annual list of the 50 best U.S. companies for Hispanic women. The list is based on available leadership programs, employee benefits, and Latina representation in senior positions.
  • Keynote Competitive Research ranked us as the number one insurance website for the sixth year running, calling Progressive one of the most innovative insurance companies for user experience and online quoting process. We held this spot for 16 of the last 17 scorecard rankings published since 2000.
  • In 2010, employees countrywide participated in online workplace safety/violence training.
  • We distributed an extraordinary dividend of $1 per Common Share on Dec. 29, 2010 to all shareholders of record on Dec. 20, 2010 to share profits with those who invest in us.

Helping Others
  • For the second year in a row, we participated in the Austin, Texas Shattered Dreams event in March at a local high school to help students understand the potential consequences of drinking and driving.
  • The Corporate Art team loaned 13 works to the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland for its “From Then to Now: Masterworks of Contemporary African-American Art” exhibit.
  • In Georgia, Washington, Connecticut and Montana, we supported the National Auto Body Council’s First Responder Emergency Extrication program by donating vehicles to train rescue workers on the tactics and dangers of extricating accident victims from vehicles.
  • Working with the Connecticut Collision Repair Specialist organization, we also donated a hybrid vehicle for Connecticut firefighter training.
  • Employees in our Austin, Texas office participated in the 12th annual Mighty Dog Walk. Registration fees benefitted the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs organization, which trains dogs for people with disabilities.
  • Members of our Comparative Rating Group participated in the 5K Walk & Run for the Kids in April at The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to benefit the Cleveland Christian Home, a place for those struggling from mental illness, abuse and neglect. The group supported several charities throughout the year.
  • Employees from our Real Estate group once again took part in CanStruction, an annual event held in May to show off participants’ creative building skills using canned goods collected for the Cleveland Foodbank. For the 2010 event, we built a lighthouse out of nearly 2,000 cans later donated to the foodbank.
  • Approximately 175 employees, friends and family members participated in the Diversity Walk, Rock and Run in Cleveland in May, with the Progressive team collecting more than $2,300 for the Cleveland Diversity Center.
  • As part of a Hewlett Packard product purchase points program, we donated the equivalent of $88,427 to St. Martin de Porres High School in Cleveland, Ohio, to purchase HP products for the school.
  • We participated in and supported SMART Ride: a two day, 165 mile bike ride from Miami to Key West to raise awareness and funds to help people with HIV/AIDS in Florida.
  • In July, we opened the doors of our Rancho Cordova, Calif. offices to the public for a special viewing of some of the Progressive Art Collection. The show was titled “About the Right of Being Different” and supported diversity awareness.
  • Throughout 2010, we held several food drives to benefit local food banks in our large sites and several claims offices. In our spring food drive, we donated 6,603 lbs. of food from our Cleveland location alone. Many employees also volunteered their time to sort, pack and serve food for those in need.
  • Pet food drives were held in Michigan, Florida and Texas for local humane societies.
  • Progressive cosponsored the 2010 Race for the Arts in Sacramento, Calif. and fielded a race team. The event helps raise funds for arts and music in public schools.
  • Phoenix employees hosted their fourth annual Barnyard Booster Bash with the Phoenix Children's Hospital. At the event, car seat checks are done and booster seats are given to families in need. Car seat safety checks also were done in some of our Pennsylvania claims service centers in conjunction with local police departments.
  • In Tampa, we participated in Bark in the Park and the Humane Society Telethon to promote our pet injury coverage and help our furry friends.
  • Approximately 150 employees from Progressive’s African American employee resource group participated in five diabetes walks in October in Ohio, Maryland, Georgia, Florida and Texas. As a group, they raised more than $5,000 for the American Diabetes Association.
  • A team of employees dedicated their own time, sweat and resources to climb Washington's Mt. Shuksan in honor of a coworker who passed away from brain cancer. The group raised more than $35,000 as well as a company match for the Brain Cancer for Hope Foundation.

Being Sustainable
  • Our renovation of two, large volume air conditioning units in one of our Cleveland buildings yielded an energy savings of 333,930 kWh.
  • We fine tuned computer programs that use sensors to monitor the heating and cooling schedules in buildings to improve energy efficiency.
  • We managed equipment schedules to better align with building occupancy and save energy.
  • Employees across locations recycled eyeglasses, cell phones, shoes and more during our annual Environmental Awareness Week in April. In Cleveland alone, we collected 1,295 pairs of shoes, 282 eyeglasses and 167 cell phones to send to recycling organizations who repurpose them.
  • Seven of our regional facilities have met the criteria to achieve Energy Star certification.
  • Employees accepted Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency’s Commuter Challenge in July and earned first place in the region for using alternate transportation like biking, carpooling, walking or telecommuting for two weeks.  The 30 employees who participated saved a total of 5,187 miles of driving.
  • We received the Promise to the Earth Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for our two-year partnership to plant over 1.5 million trees when customers signed up for one of our Paperless options. The project was completed in 2010.
  • For the ninth time in the last 12 years, we made the NorthCoast list of the 99 best places to work in northeast Ohio. We also received a Special Category Award for Sustainability, recognizing our efforts.
  • We continued to replace six-cylinder vehicles in our company fleet with four-cylinder vehicles to reduce our impact on the environment. (See related chart under Numbers).)
  • We committed to use of Forest Stewardship Council and/or recycled logos on materials as appropriate so people understand the type of paper we use for various items they receive from us.
  • We cut paper costs by more than $92,000,increased information sharing and reduced paper use by putting two quarterly newsletters online instead of printing and distributing them.
  • We moved from using printed materials to flash drives for our Special Lines' sales organization mailings. We also use flash drives now for agent handouts following meetings.
  • We worked with ClearCarbon Consulting, Inc. to baseline our carbon footprint and improve our reporting.
  • We combined the company’s travel and expense systems into one tool to make the related processes more streamlined and electronic based, reducing paper use, infrastructure needs and costs.
  • We created environmentally friendly packaging for our Snapshot product, including reducing the size and amount of packaging used and printing instructions on FSC certified and 30% recycled paper.