Best Agency to Work For – Midwest

Reliable Agency Inc., Cloquet, Minnesota

A Reliable Family – True to Its Name

Reliable Agency Inc. is known locally and in-house as the “Reliable Family,” and that’s exactly how its employees feel – that they’re part of a family. It is in that spirit that Reliable’s employees – its family members – endeavored to have the agency designated Insurance Journal’s Best Agency to Work For in the Midwest region in 2013.

Reliable Agency in Cloquet, Minn., a town of about 12,000 about 15 miles from Duluth, promises customers that “We’re True to Our Name.” In Insurance Journal’s Best Agency to Work For survey, employees described an agency culture that is about equality and fairness, and in which everyone’s opinion matters.

“From the day I was hired, I have been treated like I am part of a very close family,” commented one Reliable employee. “The work environment is one of hard work and fun. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be a part of this family.”

Another employee continued the family theme: “We are in essence, a family. This environment is created at the top, and we all share in one common goal – to provide a great service to our community and surrounding area. We all have our individual goals and workload, however, many of these cannot be attained without the help of our family members at the agency. This environment also keeps each and every person accountable, as you never want to let your family down.”

Reliable’s owners, Steve Micke and Val Wojtysiak couldn’t agree more. “We treat our employees as equals. We’re not any better or any worse. They work just as hard as we work, and they should be involved in the rewards of the business,” Micke says.

Micke’s father, Ted Micke, who originally had been in the banking business, started the agency in 1974. Steve Micke joined the firm in May 1981 after serving as an underwriter at Allied Insurance Co.

Wojtysiak at the time was working at a bank that had purchased some insurance agencies. She was recruited by Ted Micke and came on board at Reliable in June 1981.

“We started out with six total employees and now we’re at 22 employees,” Micke says.

With a mix of property/casualty, life/health and financial and ancillary products, Reliable Agency’s annual premium exceeds $20 million and its annual revenue is more than $2 million, Micke says.

Many employees praised the agency’s performance review policies. “The agency owners are more than generous on their performance and salary reviews,” said one staff member. “They always look to the positive for each employee and help to fix anything that may be lacking. They are very willing to compensate each employee’s salary for the work that is put in.”

Other employees described generous perks and benefits offered by the agency. “Our agency owners put everything back into us,” said one employee. “We have trips, bonuses, educational opportunities, raises, weekends away with company, etc.”

“We are also offered amazing benefits – our health insurance is paid for, we have profit sharing and 401k matching contributions,” said another. “Our vacation, sick, and flex time is exceptional, as well.”

Micke and Wojtysiak were not surprised that their employees had good things to say about their employee benefits packages. “We have a very nice 401k profit sharing plan,” Micke said. “If they put in 5 percent of their income, we’ll match four of that.”

The company pays 100 percent of health insurance premiums. Vacation time and flexible schedules are generous. And employees can work extra hours to earn up to six extra days off per year, and can purchase an extra week of vacation.

Micke also believes they pay very good wages, and “at the end of the year if the agency has a successful year and we have some profit, we share that back in the form of nice bonuses to the employees,” he says.

One staff member summed up employees’ attitudes about how the agency treats employees: “Reliable Agency is the best agency to work for because management really wants us to succeed and will do what they can to contribute. Our motto is ‘We work hard, and play hard’ and this is true with all of our employees.”