BREAKING THE RULES

Rough Notes, Dec 2004 by Boone, Elisabeth

"When you're working in a distressed area and you have strengths, you can bring all those strengths to bear to differentiate yourself," he continues. "Not only do you make money on an account, but the account ends up having fewer losses and getting a better experience mod. At that point, the insured has a decision to make. The insured is likely to say, 'ACUITY helped me become what I am now from a safety perspective. Now that I'm a better risk, I'm not going to shop for price. ACUITY was there, they're here now, and they will be here in the future. I don't care if they're 2% higher-they're worth it.' "

At ACUITY, Salzmann says, "We have a battery of work comp strengths that other carriers just don't have. We've focused on the line, we've made it of central importance, and we're always striving to be even better."

Winning streak

In a volatile, even tumultuous time for the property/casualty industry, ACUITY consistently achieves impressive results on a number of fronts. Among these accomplishments for 2003 are a 92.3% loss ratio, 10 points better than the industry average; a record 35% increase in statutory policyholder surplus; and over 15% growth in premium volume. What's more, the company has tripled its contingency commissions over the past five years. ACUITY has won an unprecedented eight ACORD awards and has earned Best Company honors from a number of organizations, including Best Midsized Employer in the Nation from HR Magazine, Ward's Top 50, placement in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For, and PIA National Company of the Year. How does ACUITY do it?

Salzmann's answer is a four-letter word: team. "I know that's a worn-out phrase, but everything we do is centered around building a team," he says. "If you build a team, it's pretty hard to do something wrong-either wrong because it was stupid or wrong because it was unethical. I believe there's a 'light of day' test. If you're doing something that can stand the light of day, you're not doing something terrible," he says. "If a team is working on something, that's as 'light of day' as you can get. If I walk into a room with eight other people and the goal is to come up with the best solution to a problem, we argue it out until we get an answer everyone agrees with, or we don't go home that night. We just won't quit until it's done that day and it's done right," he declares. What's more, he notes, when discussing an idea, team members don't pull any punches. "If someone comes up with a harebrained idea, the other team members don't hesitate to say, 'That's a harebrained idea,' " Salzmann says. "The idea is dropped, and the team goes on to find a better solution."

He offers an example of successful teamwork: "We just finished a building expansion that more than doubled the size of our corporate headquarters," he says. "We formed a three-person team who had never handled a building project, not even their own homes. They interviewed architects and builders and chose one of each, and we hired an owner's representative. This six-person team finished our building ahead of schedule and under budget in time to run a sevennight open house in conjunction with a PGA tournament here in Sheboygan." For a Midwestern town of 50,000, this was a very big deal, Salzmann says. "We had the world of golf coming here, and everyone tuning in for a week. We gave every employee an extra vacation day, a ticket to the tournament, and full access to our food and beverage chalet, which was $150 a head per day. Also, employees and their families were invited to the open house, and they got the same gifts we gave our independent agents."