Unum 2009 Annual Report Download - page 5

3
17.6%
Unum
2.1%
S&P 500
-5.4%
S&P Life
& Health
Total Shareholder Return
2005 – 2009
businesses, we are also helping individuals and their families
better prepare for life-changing events. We believe employer-
sponsored benefits represent the single most effective way to
provide workers with access to the information and options they
need to protect their lifestyle and provide financial security.
Working people and their families – particularly those at middle
and lower incomes who are perhaps the most vulnerable in
today’s economy — are often overlooked by many providers of
financial services and products. Yet in these uncertain times,
the need for all employees to have access to low-cost benefits
in the workplace has never been greater. For many people,
employer-sponsored benefits are the primary defense against
the potentially catastrophic fallout of death, illness, or injury.
We believe that employers care deeply about their employees
yet need help to develop solutions to better manage the challenges
they are facing in their businesses. More than ever before, employers
want benefits that can help them attract and retain quality
employees and manage an increasingly diverse workforce,
while at the same time managing the cost pressures they feel
in today’s environment.
We provide these benefits through three distinct, but similarly
focused businesses — Unum US, Colonial Life, and Unum UK —
which are market leaders in making disability, life, accident, and
critical illness products accessible in the workplace. Protecting
working people when they need it most, we paid nearly $6 billion
in benefits last year to individuals and families who were impacted
by life-changing events. We’re proud of our role in helping people
protect their financial security.
In addition to a broad portfolio of products, with our stable,
consistent presence in the market, an experienced workforce with
extensive knowledge of the benefits landscape, and industry-
leading customer service, we represent an attractive long-term
partner for our clients. According to third-party surveys, last
year we again outperformed our industry in key measures of
customer and claimant satisfaction – something that has not
gone unnoticed in the market.
Though we are proud of what we do today to support our
customers, we can’t be complacent as their needs are rapidly
changing in this environment. As a specialist in the benefits
market, we have the size and scale to make the investments
needed to respond to these market challenges. This past year,
unlike some in our industry, we continued to invest in the
business despite the challenging economic and financial
environment. We’ve made significant technology investments
within Unum US, for instance, in our underwriting and claim
management systems, while also expanding our Simply Unum
platform and the next generation of products, and improving
the training and development of our sales force. In the U.K.,
we re-launched our group life product and developed new
products intended to further expand the group market in
that country. And at Colonial Life, we developed a new
enrollment system and platform and added to our product and
service offering.
Our people remain our competitive advantage, and we have
continued to invest in them by providing additional training and
development opportunities and promoting an environment
of performance through our incentive and recognition programs.
We have also increased our focus on providing our management
team with the resources needed to help lead this company
into the future. We’re pleased that these and other efforts
have been recognized by our own employees in our work
environment surveys and have earned the company such
external accolades as “Best Employer for Healthy Lifestyles”
and one of the “Best Places to Work in Insurance.” When our
people are as engaged in the business as they are, it gives me
great confidence that we will continue to serve our customers
well and, in doing so, build value for our shareholders.
A SOLID FINANCIAL FOUNDATION
Our businesses continued to perform well in 2009 and generally
met our expectations as we delivered strong financial results for
the year, with pre-tax operating income for our three primary
businesses rising more than two percent to a record $1.3 billion.
• Operating income for Unum US, our largest business,
increased 13 percent to $775 million with continued
improvement in the group disability as well as the
supplemental and voluntary benefits lines, as we
continued to benefit from our shift to more profitable
sectors of the market, favorable claims experience, and
disciplined underwriting and pricing.