Pacific Guardian Life’s 2024 Impact Report
Message from Our President and CEO, Margo Lee
Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Company was born out of the idea that no one should be on their own in hard times. We are in the business of creating peace of mind by providing financial protection for individuals and families through all stages of life and by helping employers of all sizes protect their employees. Through our mission of “creating peace of mind, together,” we are committed to enhancing the lives of our customers and employees, substantially giving back to the community, and contributing to a sustainable environment.
In this report, we want to show you how we are meeting that commitment. We are proud of the impact that we made in 2024. We made it easier for our customers to navigate their insurance needs by providing online tools and by enhancing customer service for those who want to interact with one of our friendly and engaging employees. We have worked hard to provide our employees with an inclusive, fun, and productive work environment and are so proud that our employees named us as one of Hawaii’s Best Places to Work. Finally, we helped our community in so many ways. We came together to provide volunteer and financial assistance in the wake of the Maui wildfires. We continue to invest in affordable housing in Hawaii, which continues to be a need for so many of Hawaii’s population. We contributed 1,771 hours for volunteer endeavors at more than 30 local nonprofits. And through this and more, we kept in mind that we are a steward for our fragile island environment and need to curb negative impacts on Hawaii’s sustainability.
We are proud of the impact we made in 2024 and are excited to carry this forward into 2025.
This Impact Report highlights Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Company, Limited’s (“PGL”) initiatives to create peace of mind for our customers, employees, community, and physical environment for 2024.
Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Company provides life insurance, temporary disability insurance, annuities, and real estate investment loans for individuals, families, and employers in Hawaii. We partner with more than 1,000 agents, brokers, and consultants, including multilingual agents and brokers, to offer a range of financial products in 47 states, Washington, D.C., and three United States (“U.S.”) territories. Our customers can rest easy knowing that we are financially strong, with “A” ratings from A.M. Best Company and S&P Global Ratings.
PGL was founded on May 1, 1961. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company, one of Japan’s oldest life insurers. Meiji Yasuda Life was established when Meiji Life Insurance Company and The Yasuda Mutual Life Insurance Company merged on January 1, 2004. When Meiji Yasuda Life purchased a substantial interest in PGL, Meiji Yasuda Life became the first Japanese life insurer to invest in a U.S. life insurance company. Meiji Yasuda Life acquired sole ownership of PGL in 1985. In 1991, Meiji Yasuda Life acquired Hawaiian Life Insurance Company from American General Corporation and merged it with and into PGL.
For many years, PGL was licensed in 20 U.S. states and three territories (Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands) with a majority of sales coming from Hawaii, California, and Guam. In 2020, we embarked on a strategic initiative to diversify and build on our distribution network through geographic expansion. We are now licensed in all U.S. states except Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, bringing the total to 47 states, Washington D.C., and the three territories noted above.
As we deliver “peace of mind” to our customers, new and old, we strive to create a significant and lasting impact that extends to our employees, our community, and our physical environment and want to share this impact with you in this report.
See Our Impact:
Creating Peace of Mind for Our Customers
PGL creates peace of mind for our customers by offering high-quality insurance products and services that align with the current business environments where it does business and aligns with customer needs. Personal and sincere customer service is our highest priority.
Peace of Mind to Our Customers with Exceptional Customer Service
We are committed to a culture of customer engagement that keeps the customers at the forefront of every product development and customer service decision. In 2024, we continued to make investments to improve our customers’ experience.
To broaden the reach of our Life and Annuity customers, in 2024, a new customer service portal was put into production. Policyholders can now view online their policy and benefit information, including interest rate and cash value, policy owner/insured/beneficiary information, billing information, and payment history. To aid in the portal enrollment process during east coast business hours, a call center representative was hired exclusively to service those business hours.
In 2024, PGL celebrated the one-year anniversary of an online claims processing and management system that has vastly improved how fast we service our temporary disability insurance customers. Building on that, we also automated claims filing by customers. Now, claimants, their employers, and their physicians can access an online portal to complete a claim form in lieu of sending in paperwork.
Creating Peace of Mind for Pacific Guardian Life’s Employees
Recognizing that our employees are our greatest assets, PGL tirelessly promotes inclusion in its workplace to create peace of mind for our fellow employees by ensuring that the workplace is safe and ensures equal opportunities to all employees.
Compensation, Benefits, and Wellness
PGL provides generous benefits to ensure employees come to work healthy and happy:
Health and Wellness
- Medical, drug, vision, and dental
- Sick pay
- Extended sick leave
- Family medical leave
- Family death leave
- 401K plan
- Life Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program
Time Off
- Generous vacation
- Flextime program
- Paid holidays and vacation
- Floating holidays
Other Benefits
- Competitive pay and bonus program
- Yoga classes at work
- Casual dress days every Monday and Friday
- Quarterly employee events
- Volunteer opportunities
- KIZUNA leadership program
- Hawaii Conference for Top Agents
- Flexible Spending Programs
Best Place to Work Designation
For the first time ever, in 2024 PGL participated in the Hawaii Best Places to Work survey and in January 2025, we learned that our employees voted PGL as a Hawaii Best Place to Work.
Companies in Hawaii that make the Best Places to Work list have employees who say they’re highly satisfied with their jobs, managers, co-workers and company culture, according to confidential survey responses from the Workforce Research Group. The survey results account for 80% of a company’s final score. In the survey, employees are asked if they strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or are neutral on 80 different statements such as the following:
- I like what I do for this organization.
- I believe in this organization’s leadership.
- This organization treats me with dignity, not as just a number.
- I understand what is expected of me.
- This organization is committed to producing high-quality products/ services.
- I have fun at work.
- My job is well-aligned with my abilities.
- I typically feel I make daily progress at work.
- We have a cooperative culture in this organization.
- I believe my compensation is fair.
Promotion of Human Rights, Nondiscrimination, and Equality
PGL places its highest priority on promoting nondiscrimination, equality, freedom of expression, health and safety for employees, fair wage and compensation, accessibility for persons with disabilities, maternity protection, and quality working conditions and hours for our employees.
Our employees agree with this priority. In PGL’s 2024 engagement survey, of the ten most favorable items, four were related to a workforce that prioritizes inclusion:
We are incredibly proud of our caring workforce that respects the need for equality and nondiscrimination.
Supporting Inclusion: We All Belong
“Creating peace of mind, together” means giving PGL employees a sense of belonging no matter where they come from, how they identify, or what they look like. In 2024, PGL conducted an inclusion activity where employees gathered to make a bracelet or keychain that visually represented their diverse worlds. At the conclusion of the activity, employees were asked to reflect on how diverse their worlds really were and many set, as a goal, to be more inclusive. Participants were asked to wear their bracelets or display their keychains as conversation starters so inclusiveness at PGL could be openly discussed.
Supporting Women Leaders
While women in the workforce in Hawaii make up 46.8% of the population,[1] in 2024 the majority of PGL’s employees were women. PGL continues to improve the number of women in leadership roles and continues to highlight the significance of its CEO and President leadership by Margolee Lee. As women’s representation in CEO positions in the United States is extremely low,[2] PGL is proud of its first woman in this position.
In 2024, we also celebrated as CEO Margolee Lee was named as one of Hawaii’s Most Admired Leaders.
Celebrating Top Agents at Hawaii Conference
Each year, PGL awards top selling insurance agents with a trip to Hawaii for our annual Hawaii Conference. Qualifying agents spend four days in Honolulu to meet and dine with PGL executives, tour the island, and participate in an awards dinner honoring the accomplishments of each of these distinguished agents.
Motivating and Educating Through KIZUNA Program
The Japanese term kizuna refers to the enduring bonds between people and the strength and power of relationships built on mutual trust and support. In creating the KIZUNA program, PGL’s parent company Meiji Yasuda Life annually requests that we name two individuals to participate in this management development program that takes place in Tokyo, Japan. Along with participants from Meiji Yasuda Life’s other subsidiaries around the globe, this allows for strengthening the bonds among these group companies, and to firmly embed the group message, “Creating peace of mind, together.”
For more than 20 years, we have participated in this program offered by Meiji Yasuda Life. This experience provides officers and managers the opportunity to obtain unique knowledge and experience that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. The impact of the KIZUNA program has been significant on its past participants. The cultural experience of traveling to Japan, experiencing a business program customized to one’s professional interests, making a business presentation, learning and sharing the group message and common values, meeting and dining with key executives, and enjoying a sightseeing expedition is a very powerful one.
Overall, the KIZUNA program has been used to strengthen PGL management’s understanding of and relationship with its group companies, educate and motivate management personnel, and to increase the level of information, knowledge and experience of the Japanese life insurance industry.
[1] 2020 Hawaii Census
[2] Women represent 10.4% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. Women’s Business Collaborative 2024.
Creating Peace of Mind for Our Local Community
PGL places the utmost value on building and strengthening connections with local communities by respecting and appreciating local cultures and traditions and by deepening relationships with community partners and stakeholders. Each year, we strive to contribute to a more hopeful society to create peace of mind for future generations.
Investment in Affordable Housing in Hawaii
In order to achieve peace of mind, housing cannot be a significant worry. Starting in 2020, PGL invested approximately $8 million in affordable housing in Hawaii through Hawaii Housing Tax Credit Fund, LLC, an affiliate of tax credit equity investor Sugar Creek Capital. PGL’s investment was in Nohona Hale in Honolulu, which is Hawaii’s first micro-unit rental community. Nohona Hale serves affordable low-to moderate-income households and contains 110 studio apartments measuring 355 square feet. Ninety-nine of the apartments are reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of area median income (AMI) and 11 are reserved for households earning no more than 30 percent of AMI. Each apartment is a micro-unit, with fully functioning kitchens and bathrooms. This micro design allowed for the maximization of the number of apartments on a small lot in a dense area of Honolulu. We are proud of our investment in Nohona Hale and look forward to further affordable housing investments in Hawaii.
Corporate and Employee Giving to Support Maui Wildfire Relief
In 2023, the Maui wildfires devastated Lahaina and became the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. PGL, its employees, and its parent company, Meiji Yasuda Life, sprang to action. In 2023 and extending into 2024, PGL supported the Maui wildfire recovery efforts by contributing money, participating in blood drives, hosting a collection site for relief items, and encouraging employees to donate.
At the same time we supported Hawaii’s infrastructure and disaster recovery effort through financial support, we made the decision to encourage employees to contribute “in their own way”. Employees who wanted to contribute were provided many choices including donations of goods from their homes, financial support through several different nonprofit agencies, or by donating blood to the local blood bank. Employee contributions were entirely voluntary. This gave employees control over their options, at a time when so much seemed out of their control.
Corporate Giving to Support Friends of Hawaii Charities with Sony Open Sponsorship
Each year, PGL is an event sponsor for the Friends of Hawaii Charities’ principal fundraising event, the Sony Open in Hawaii PGA Tour Golf Tournament. The mission of The Friends is to activate financial resources from the private sector to benefit Hawaii’s women, children, elderly, and needy. The Friends have generated more than $25 million in charitable grants to over 350 charities in the Hawaiian Islands.
Employee Giving to Support Hawaii Foodbank
In creating peace of mind for our community, in the summer of 2024, PGL created a virtual and physical food drive to help feed Hawaii’s keiki (children), kupuna (elderly), and ohana (family), with an emphasis on helping children who did not have the benefit of free school lunches during the summer. Employees were asked to bring non-perishable food to PGL offices or to its summer Family Fun Day Event. For those residing out of state or in offices not in Honolulu, a virtual food drive option was created using a QR code for monetary donations. Incentives to donate included a drawing for a gift card.
Corporate Giving to Support Employees on Local Non-Profit Boards
We encourage our employees to get involved in their local community and become a board member of a non-profit organization of their choosing. PGL provides financial support to selected non-profits to support its employees. In 2024, we donated more than $10,000 to non-profits where employees were board members. Our goal is to make it easy for our employees to invest in their community.
Volunteering in the Community in Employees’ “Own Way”
PGL believes that volunteering improves the quality of life in Hawaii’s communities and creates a more vibrant and supportive environment for everyone. In addition to revitalizing the local community, this focus allows us to remain in regular contact with community members and shines a spotlight on PGL. Even though we create volunteer opportunities for our employees, we also encourage employees to “give” to their community “in their own way”. This way, PGL contributes to a much wider range of community services. Encouraging employees to choose how they want to give back also results in employees really understanding that PGL cares and supports what they care about.
Representative Nonprofits:
- Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation
- Habitat for Humanity
- Japanese Chamber of Commerce
- Institute for Human Services
- Access to Justice Commission
Creating Peace of Mind Through an Environmental Focus
Working in a Sustainable Office
PGL’s promotion of Hawaii’s environment means that we consider environmental impacts in everything we do, including how we create and maintain workspaces. For example, an office renovation was conducted with the environment in mind, resulting in more pleasant, naturally lit office spaces. PGL intentionally increased exposure to and distribution of natural light by:
- Replacing blinds and office doors with sunshades and frosted glass doors to increase the exposure and presence of natural light in workspaces
- Providing lines of sight to windows in open areas to the outdoor environment by removing offices against windows
- Installing clear glass screens at the top of workstations panels to increase line of sight and presence of natural light
- Reducing the number of file cabinets to encourage digitization
PGL also incorporated recycling and waste reduction programs. This included:
- Gifting all new employees with a PGL logo water flask to eliminate single-use plastic.
- Eliminating Styrofoam cups and plastic water bottles in the office
- Providing easy access recycle bins to encourage recycling
- Providing employees with Electric Vehicle Chargers in parking structure to support EV cars.
Efforts to Address Hawaii’s Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Problems
Living and working in Hawaii requires that we plan for climate change and particularly, plan for threats caused by sea level rise and flooding. As soon as the year 2040, scientists predict climate change impacts will cause sea level rise of 1 foot. As a life insurance company, PGL has fewer risks directly related to climate change than a property and casualty insurance company, but we take our risks equally as serious. Risk exposure for PGL includes, among other things, climate risk that could impact PGL’s physical workspaces, its investments, its mortgage collateral, and its customers.
PGL annually identifies and assesses risks related to climate change and determines the best ways to reduce or prepare for these risks. We also keep close tabs on how the State of Hawaii and other states are responding to climate change risks.
Creating Peace of Mind Through Exceptional Governance
Investing Responsibly to Ensure Long Term Solvency and Maintain “A” Ratings
At PGL, our primary investment responsibility is to meet our ongoing insurance obligations so that our clients can rest with peace of mind. Our investment philosophy means that we invest our assets, in alignment with statutory investment requirements, in a way that meets our asset/liability management needs and our need to obtain long term returns.
The Company currently maintains an “A” rating with A.M. Best and S&P Global ratings. An “A” rating assigned by A.M. Best means that PGL has an excellent ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations. S&P Global Ratings assigns “A” ratings to companies that have a stable outlook and are expected to maintain a satisfactory business risk profile and moderately strong financial risk profile.
Our High Ethical Standards Continuously Guide Us
At PGL, high ethical standards guide us through our everyday work. Employees are trained on PGL’s Code of Conduct and employees are expected to honor this code at all times. Integrity is part of our company culture and potential conflicts of interest are reviewed annually to ensure our personal interests do not conflict with laws or regulations governing our company.
Our Board of Directors is Our Foundation for Responsible Governance
PGL’s Board of Directors ensures that the company is conducting business in a way that supports its shareholders, its customers, its employees, and the community. Our Board of Directors is made up of nine members, five of whom are external to the company. The Board includes prominent leaders within the state of Hawaii, with a balance between members who have served on the Board for many years and others who have more recently joined the Board. Oversight of specific risks and responsibilities are delegated to an Audit Committee and a Compensation Committee. Each committee is led by an independent director and reports back to the full Board.
Protecting Our Customer’s Information and Privacy
PGL’s Chief Information Officer leads an information security team that is dedicated to identifying and assessing information security risk, educating all PGL employees on risks, and coordinating company-wide incident response.
PGL employs firewalls to restrict access to our network and uses appropriate tools to protect our network, our end-user devices, and our systems. We monitor intrusions and access attempts to ensure PGL’s systems are not compromised. We also conduct security monitor and testing of applications and regularly scan for vulnerabilities.
PGL complies with robust privacy policies that we have implemented that require specific customer disclosures and information protection. PGL also protects customers’ privacy by monitoring transactions for fraud and potential identify theft.
Meiji Yasuda Life Group Sustainability Policy
Our parent company, Meiji Yasuda Life, shares our same values relating to stewardship and corporate citizenship. Meiji Yasuda’s group sustainability policy for its subsidiaries emphasizes offering high-quality products and services and exceptional customer service to customers; contributing to local communities, human rights and workplace environment; protecting our global environment; complying with applicable laws; and maintaining relationships with stakeholders. Meiji Yasuda and PGL’s shared philosophy is that by following the group sustainability policy, PGL will continue to fulfill the responsibilities of good corporate citizens by “contributing to the realization of a sustainable and hopeful society in ways that create shared value and extend it to future generations with stakeholders — including customers, local communities and fellow workers — to deliver stable and sustainable company growth.”