Thursday, May 25, 2006

health magazine: Workplace Excellence Seal Awarded to Verizon Wireless

BETHESDA, Md., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless has received double honors from the Alliance for Workplace Excellence, a national, non-profit group dedicated to building and recognizing outstanding workplaces. For the fourth consecutive year, the Alliance presented Verizon Wireless with its Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval, which recognizes visionary employers that view workplace excellence as the best means for providing outstanding customer service.

The company was also named a 2006 Health & Wellness Trailblazer, a new award that honors employers demonstrating exemplary commitment to the overall physical and mental health of their employees.
Verizon Wireless has 58,000 employees nationwide, including more than 3,000 in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region. To help employees improve their health and well-being, the company operates 22 on-site Health and Wellness centers at its offices across the country, including its Laurel, Md. regional headquarters building and its Hanover, Md. customer service center. Each center employs one or more coaches whose full-time job is to promote employee fitness. For $15 a month, employees have access to top of the line equipment, personal training, nutrition seminars, smoking cessation classes, health fairs and screenings, flu shots, and a wide range of exercise classes, including Pilates for Pregnancy. In addition, moms-to-be can participate in online seminars, led by a physician, throughout their pregnancy and have the use of an on-site lactation room after their babies are born. Each week, employees receive three "Quality at Work" emails with motivational messages and health and wellness information.
"We applaud Verizon Wireless for its commitment to establishing a culture that allows today's workforce to achieve success at work, at home and in the community. Trailblazing companies like Verizon Wireless are leading the way in finding effective business solutions to help employees decrease stress and improve overall health and productivity," said Evelyn Steward, founder and CEO, Alliance for Workplace Excellence.
Verizon Wireless Regional President Tami Erwin, a marathon runner and mother of two teenagers said, "Verizon Wireless is honored to be named as both a Workplace of Excellence and a Health & Wellness Trailblazer. We strive to provide our employees with the best work/life benefits in the industry because it is the right thing to do. We also believe that employee fitness has led to an increase in productivity and employee health, along with healthier pregnancies, fewer absences, and lower health care costs."
Verizon Wireless has regularly been recognized for its programs that address the work/life needs of employees. Nationally, the company has been named by Working Mother magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" for five years in a row, and as a 2006 "Best Company for Women of Color." Health Magazine recognized Verizon Wireless as one of 10 U.S. employers to best help women balance their professional and personal responsibilities. Training magazine has named the company as one of the nation's "Top 100 Training Organizations in America" for five consecutive years.
Locally, Verizon Wireless has been recognized as a best place to work by Baltimore Magazine, Washingtonian Magazine, Smart Woman Maryland Magazine and Hampton Road's "Inside Business."
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 53 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone . Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
About The Alliance for Workplace Excellence
Headquartered in Montgomery County, Md., the Alliance is a nonprofit organization committed to positioning workplace excellence as a competitive advantage in the public, private and nonprofit business community by building and recognizing outstanding workplaces. Through the implementation of workplace excellence strategies such as health and wellness programs, flexible work programs, family friendly initiatives, social responsibility, and growth and learning services, employers create healthy work environments that result in personal and organizational effectiveness.
Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Sherri Cunningham, +1-202-364-5856, for Verizon Wireless; orJohn Johnson of Verizon Wireless, +1-240-568-1429,John.H.Johnson@VerizonWireless.com

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/