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Announcing: The Principal 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security 2007

September 17, 2007 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The Principal Financial Group^® today announced the 2007 winners of The Principal^® 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security. The independent panel of judges—all experts in employee benefits—praised the winners for their consistent, holistic approach to providing a broad range of benefits. Judges also noted increased trends toward wellness initiatives, face-to-face benefit and financial guidance at the worksite and continued commitment to auto savings tools.

The national program, now in its sixth year, honors growing businesses (five to 1,000 employees) which offer excellent benefit programs that give employees an edge in achieving long-term financial security.

"The Principal 10 Best Companies understand and demonstrate that taking care of employees is taking care of business," said Renee Schaaf, vice president at the Principal Financial Group. "These companies face the same challenges as any other business today—skyrocketing health care costs, stiff competition for recruiting the best employees, and the ever-present pressure to do more with fewer resources. But through wise investments in employee benefits they've faced those challenges—and are helping to ensure their employees' financial security. We are proud to showcase them as role models for other growing companies."

This year's winners come from a variety of industries, including public policy, mining, government consulting, financial services, and petroleum. The companies range in size from 21 to more than 750 full and part-time employees.

The Principal 10 Best Companies—2007 are:

• Badger Mining Corporation, Berlin, Wisc.
• Business Roundtable, Washington, D.C.
• Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmermann, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.
• LMI, McLean, Va.
• National Futures Association, Chicago, Ill.
• Placid Refining Company, LLC, Dallas, Tex.
• PMSLIC Insurance Company, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
• ProAssurance Corporation, Birmingham, Ala.
• Society Insurance, Fond du Lac, Wisc.
• The Surplus Line Association of California, San Francisco, Calif.

View profiles of The Principal 10 Best Companies for 2007.

Judges noted that, in return for outstanding benefits, employees of The Principal 10 Best Companies are showing increased commitment and loyalty to their employers. The winners have turnover rates significantly lower than others in their industries, with an average annual voluntary turnover rate of 7.7 percent, compared to the national average of 21.6 percent.

"Employers that recognize the needs of their employees and really try to bring value through a benefits program are much more successful as organizations ," said David Wray, member of the judging panel and president, Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America. "The Principal 10 Best Companies program provides a wonderful slate of examples for other organizations around the country."

A summary of best practices gleaned from the winners will be published in a best practices guide in January 2008. "The Principal 10 Best Companies program is an extraordinarily effective way of highlighting, for all employers, the best practices they can follow if they want to be the ideal place to work and the winner in the job market," said Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO, Employee Benefit Research Institute, and member of the judging panel.

Key trends

When comparing this year's winners to those from previous years, judges identified several key trends among The Principal 10 Best Companies:

• Significant growth in commitment to wellness: The majority of winning companies provide extensive wellness programs including health screenings, disease management and incentives to encourage healthy lifestyles. "All the evidence would suggest that those will not only be healthier employees but more productive because they know the company cares about them," explained Tim Welsh, director, McKinsey & Company, and judging panel member.
• More one-on-one benefit guidance: All of The Principal 10 Best Companies—2007 offer some form of one-on-one financial or benefit guidance. "It's not enough to save. It takes planning to figure out how to make it work and these employers are providing that," said Dan McCarthy, consulting actuary at Milliman USA and judging panel member.
• Continued use of "auto pilot" and "do-it-for-me" retirement savings options: The majority of this year's winners offer some kind of auto savings tools with 80 percent making lifecycle funds available in their retirement plans. "By offering things like automatic enrollment or contribution acceleration, it makes it easier for employees to get into the program to begin with, and to continue to save at the proper amount going forward." said Nevin Adams, editor-in-chief, PLANSPONSOR Magazine, and member of the judging panel.

"I think the importance of The Principal 10 Best Companies program is that it demonstrates how companies that provide this kind of financial security really do become employers of choice," said Corey Rosen, executive director, National Center for Employee Ownership, and judging panel member.

Expert Judges Determine Winners

A distinguished judging panel of business leaders and employee benefit experts worked with Mathew Greenwald & Associates, a premier market research company, to choose the winners. The names of the entrants were shielded from the judges until after they selected their winners.

The program judges included: Nevin Adams, editor-in-chief, PLANSPONSOR Magazine and PLANSPONSOR.com, Debbie Jaudon, director of Human Resources, Argon ST, one of The Principal 10 Best Companies—2006, Dan McCarthy, consulting actuary, Milliman, Inc., CJ McKoy, director of Human Resources and Corporate Learning, ITAGroup, Inc., one of The Principal 10 Best Companies—2006, Corey Rosen, executive director & founder, National Center for Employee Ownership, Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Timothy A Welsh, director, McKinsey & Company and David L. Wray, president, The Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America.

Judging Criteria

Companies were evaluated based on benefits the judges deemed most important in contributing to employee long-term financial security. Those benefits included retirement plans; strong medical coverage, including significant premium subsidies by employers; long-term disability options; group life insurance; accidental death and dismemberment coverage; medical and retirement packages for part-time employees; and effective communication methods to help employees maximize the benefit options. Judges selected winning companies based on the breadth of their benefits offerings—how well they cover major life events such as retirement and disability; and the depth of their benefits offerings—how much the company contributes in terms of matches or premiums.

The Principal 10 Best Companies—2007 Benefits Snapshot

About the Program

The Principal 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security is a nationwide program that searches for and recognizes small and medium-size companies that excel in providing for employee financial security. Entries for the 2007 search were accepted from February 1, 2007 through May 1, 2007. The program was open to any company with between five to 1,000 employees. To qualify, all entrants must have been based in the United States and have provided a broad range of employee benefits for at least five years. Qualifying companies must have, at a minimum, offered "traditional" employee benefits, such as those relating to retirement, health, life or disability. No entry fee was required, and employees of The Principal were not eligible to enter. Entry forms for the 2008 recognition program will be available in February 2008. For more information, visit The Principal 10 Best Web site.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group^® (The Principal^®)¹ is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies and national network of financial professionals. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $270.1 billion in assets under management² and serves some 17.6 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

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1)"The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered trademarks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
2) As of June 30, 2007.