Workplace

We are committed to ensuring Verizon is an employer of choice that respects the individual, inspires excellence and taps the full range of talent in people.

Building a Great Career

Our long-standing career development programs reach all levels of employees, ranging from tailored education programs to self-paced online training programs and informal mentoring.

In 2010, nearly 32,000 employees participated in the Tuition Assistance Program, which pays up to $8,000 per year for studies in an employee’s job-related field.

Verizon Tuition Assistance Programs*

Verizon’s training investment for 2010 totaled $297 million, and employees completed nearly 9.8 million hours of training — about 47 hours per employee. Over the past three years, employees have completed nearly 33 million hours of training.

Employee Training

Managers are expected to meet with their employees and complete year-end performance reviews. Managers are also encouraged to review goals and assess performance at mid-year.

Employees can foster professional and personal growth through 10 employee resource groups. Employees organize and manage the groups, which provide networking, mentoring, special initiatives, seminars and conferences for members.

Encouraging Safety

Verizon is committed to providing a safe workplace for all employees.

• In 2010 the number of occupational injury and illness incidents and motor vehicle incidents decreased approximately 25% and 17%, respectively, resulting in significant improvements in safety performance measures (see graphs at top right).

• Our Occupational Injuries & Illnesses Rate for U.S. operations (1.81) and Lost Workday Rate (0.97) were ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ telecommunications industry standards of 2.40 and 1.10, respectively.

• We implemented a contractor review process to evaluate the safety and environmental performance of our contractors. Only those contractors who can demonstrate acceptable safety and environmental performance are considered to work for Verizon.

• Verizon has implemented an electronic Enterprise Safety System (ESS) across the company. ESS enables centralized incident reporting and tracking of safety meetings, observations, equipment checks, facility inspections and performance metrics.

• We were saddened to have one work-related fatality in 2010. Any loss of life is unacceptable, and we continue to press for nothing less than consistent improvement in all key safety measures.

Engaging and Communicating

There are many channels for employees that enable direct and candid communication up and down our organization. The major ones are:

• Annual and mid-year performance reviews.

• Regular “town hall” meetings and operations reviews led by senior executives and managers.

• Quarterly broadcasts conducted by the chairman and the chief operating officer to discuss results and unit performance. Senior executives conduct companion webcasts each quarter that focus on departmental performance.

• Employee opinion surveys, which are conducted every two years. In 2010, we surveyed all Verizon employees, and more than 100,000 responded.