Over the past five decades, our company has grown into a workforce of 200,000 employees. In many respects the diversity within our company is a reflection of how diverse our offerings are and how we have expanded to serve so many different customers and communities.
Leadership in Diversity
The company continues to have an active Diversity Management Executive Steering Committee, which was formed in 2010 and is chaired by our CEO. The group provides leadership direction for the corporate strategic diversity management plan and periodically reviews the progress against goals for workforce representation, colleague engagement, talent development and marketplace diversity. The committee is responsible for: overseeing the embedding of strategic diversity management into the business agenda; serving as a visible and verbal champion of the company’s diversity management strategy; utilizing diversity management as a course of business; and appointing and approving recommendations for the Diversity Management Leadership Council.
The Council, formed in 2010, meets quarterly and is tasked with coordinating, informing, championing, executing, measuring and reporting on the operational elements of the diversity management strategy as set forth by the Executive Steering Committee. The group, which is made up of 14 senior leaders is also focused on ensuring the effectiveness and integration of workforce, workplace and marketplace diversity efforts.
Colleague Resource Groups
One of the ways that we support and celebrate the diverse workforce we have at CVS Caremark is through the Colleague Resource Group (CRG) program. Colleagues who wish to form CRGs are sponsored by the company and encouraged to represent CVS Caremark within the various communities we serve. These groups remained vibrant and active in 2011: Asian, African American (two), African American-Hispanic, Latino (four), Portuguese-Latino, Women (four) and Veterans. Additional groups – for LGBT and colleagues with disabilities – are expected to form in 2012.
All chartered CRGs are required to submit an annual business plan in order to receive budgetary support from the company. Beyond discussing company issues and opportunities, our CRGs were active in local communities in 2011, contributing nearly 1,300 volunteer hours over the course of the year. Internal program development is another focus. In 2011, the Women’s Success Network, one of our largest CRGs, launched a pilot mentoring program in partnership with the company’s senior leaders and with support from the Human Resources department. The mentor program paired 27 mentors with their respective mentees and a second matching phase is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2012.
CVS Caremark Workforce
CVS Caremark continues to make progress in diversity management and was recognized as one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies for 2012. All data shown is for 2011.
- Ethnic minorities comprised eight percent of the CVS Caremark Board of Directors. Women represented 25 percent of the Board of Directors. All members of the Board of Directors were over age 50.
- Women comprised 66 percent of the total workforce at CVS Caremark, 57 percent of managers, and 33 percent of senior leaders. Senior leaders include Vice Presidents and above.
- Ethnic minorities comprised 37 percent of CVS Caremark’s total workforce, 30 percent of managers, and seven percent of senior leaders.
- Ethnic minority (42 percent) and female (63 percent) new hire percentages were on par with or exceeded external best practice benchmarks.
A Health Care Evolution for Multicultural Communities
We continued our focus in 2011 on addressing health disparities in the multicultural communities we serve. In July, all CVS/pharmacy locations became technologically capable of providing their customers with prescription information in 15 languages other than English. Additionally, the “To Your Health/A Su Salud” program offered 806 free health screening events in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Many of these events were held in multicultural communities and focused on the importance and benefit of preventive health care when addressing health disparities that significantly and disproportionately impact diverse communities.
All told, 162,201 people received screenings – worth approximately $150 each – that checked blood pressure, cholesterol, bone density, vision and for signs of diabetes. Doctor consultations and medication reviews with a CVS pharmacist were also made available. Dental and chiropractic screenings and referrals for mammograms and pap smears were offered in select locations.
The health screening program detected health concerns in a high percentage of participants. The approximately 485,000 tests performed revealed that, of those tested:
- 36 percent had high cholesterol;
- 42 percent had a high to moderate risk of developing osteoporosis;
- 40 percent had hypertension;
- 27 percent had blood sugar levels that indicated a risk for diabetes;
- 57 percent had trouble with their vision.
The company plans to continue these screenings in 2012 through the launch of Project Health (Proyecto Salud in Spanish), a wellness program that is expected to deliver more than $21 million worth of free health screenings to multicultural communities. Like To Your Health/A Su Salud, the program will offer an array of free comprehensive health risk assessments and screenings during five disease-specific national health awareness months from Heart Health Month in February and Minority Health Awareness Month in April to Diabetes Awareness Month in November. Over 1,000 Project Health events are scheduled for 2012 in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Events are also planned at CVS/pharmacy locations in Puerto Rico.
Diversity Training
Colleagues don’t have to be part of a CRG, however, to become familiar with the company’s stance on diversity. All new colleagues are introduced to the company’s diversity management philosophy during the new hire orientation process, and diversity training is also offered throughout the year for various levels within the organization.
Also in 2011, we continued to deploy the “Diversity – the Competitive Advantage” curriculum, an online diversity class for leaders that enables participants to build their skills in identifying and managing diversity as a core strength of their teams. The expansion of the program included a two-part web-based seminar that gave 165 managers and supervisors and 485 directors the specific tools they need to meet and exceed their personal and professional goals in the area of diversity management. These web-based courses were added to the curriculum in addition to the company’s existing instructor-led diversity management course in order to make the content accessible across our entire company via LEARNet, our intranet learning portal. The program is slated to be expanded further in 2012 to include all colleagues.
*Includes CVS Caremark permanent employees only, numbering 198,216; CVS Caremark does not engage a significant number of temporary employees. Of the total number of employees, approximately 89.9 percent are engaged by the retail business and 7.6 percent by the pharmacy benefit management business; 2.5 percent are in corporate positions. Additionally, MinuteClinic employees number 1,823.
