Following an in-depth evaluation, 50 insurance industry companies are being recognized in this year's Business Insurance Best Places to Work in Insurance program.

Best Places to Work in Insurance is a joint effort of Business Insurance and the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Best Companies Group.

The competition is open to all publicly or privately held property/casualty insurers, group life/health insurers, retail agents and brokers, wholesale brokers/ managing general agents, reinsurance businesses, group health advisers and claims managers with at least 25 employees working in the United States and serving the commercial insurance market.

The companies recognized this year, with profiles that begin on page 12, are an elite group of employers that have created high-quality workplaces that encourage employees to thrive in a work environment they can love.

Best Companies Group, an independent workplace excellence research firm that manages other regional and industry programs in the U.S. and Canada, managed the registration process, conducted the surveys, evaluated the data and selected the winning firms.

The assessment was a two-part process. The first part, which was responsible for 75% of a company's score, involved a confidential employee engagement and satisfaction survey, which was used to evaluate employees' workplace experience and the company's culture. The second part of the assessment, which was responsible for the remaining 25% of a company's score, was an employer questionnaire, which collected information about each company's benefit programs, policies, practices and other general information.

Using the two sets of data, BCG experts analyzed the strengths and opportunities at each company.

To make the Best Places to Work in Insurance list, each company had to demonstrate a minimum standard of excellence. BCG's work also involves comparative analysis of the companies on the list.

Participation in the program is free, though participating companies can purchase the BCG Employee Feedback Report that summarizes data collected in the employee survey process.

In addition to the employee opinion data, the report includes transcribed employee written comments, as well as the insurance industry benchmarking data from the participating companies.

See profiles of all 50 companies at www.businessinsurance.com/bestplaces2011.