Listening to Our Colleagues

Listening to our colleagues’ feedback is an important part of our culture. Employee feedback is solicited regularly, both formally and informally, so we can improve the working environment and enhance our customers’ experience. Various channels exist for colleagues to provide feedback, including our annual employee engagement survey and our Compliance and Integrity program.

Employee Engagement Survey

Our employee engagement survey measures the connection our colleagues have to their teams and how engaged they are in our company’s success. Higher levels of engagement are associated with increased productivity, longer retention rates and a better customer experience – all factors that contribute to our long-term growth and success.

We use the survey’s results to understand what a best place to work means to our colleagues, identify opportunities for improvement and track our progress over time.

In June 2008 we conducted our first company-wide survey since the CVS Caremark merger. In total, we received feedback from more than 153,000 employees – approximately 87 percent of our total workforce. Overall, the results of the 2008 survey found that:

• 83 percent of colleagues say they are proud to work for CVS Caremark.
• 86 percent of colleagues are willing to give extra effort to help CVS Caremark succeed.
• 66 percent of colleagues feel they have sufficient access to career-development opportunities.

The survey results are shared internally. To ensure anonymity, tailored results are only provided to managers with five or more direct reports. Managers then develop a customized action plan for their specific store or department to address key focus areas uncovered by the survey.

We also learned from employee feedback, especially from our female colleagues, that they did not like the standard uniform worn in CVS retail stores. Upon learning this, we invited employees to participate in a redesign of uniforms, which were introduced in early 2009.

73 percent of colleagues would recommend CVS Caremark as a place to work	66 percent of colleagues feel they are recognized for good work

Ongoing Dialogue
Beyond our annual survey, we encourage feedback in other ways. For instance, after our new store colleagues complete their orientation process, we solicit their first impressions of the company culture. In 2008, their feedback led to several improvements to the orientation program that will launch in 2009, in conjunction with new diversity training.

Moving Ahead
In 2009, we will continue to expand our employee engagement efforts by:

• Creating additional opportunities for our colleagues to provide constructive feedback.
• Conducting employee focus groups to further identify what a best place to work means to our colleagues and how we can achieve it.

Compliance and Integrity Program

We are committed to fostering a work environment that encourages employees to act with integrity and supports open dialogue on issues related to compliance. As part of our Compliance and Integrity Program our colleagues can report their concerns by:

• Anonymously calling the confidential CVS Caremark Ethics Line. A separate line is also available for those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
• Faxing, e-mailing or writing to the Office of Compliance and Integrity.