College Bus Tour 2013 was a great success!  Each year, Companies That Care coordinates college visits for AIM High juniors and seniors so that they can visit the colleges and universities to which they are interested in applying.  The bus left our front door in the West Loop at 5AM on Tuesday, September 19, and for 3 days, 21 AIM High students traveled through 3 states to visit 6 colleges.  The host schools included Washington University, Harris Stowe University, the University of Iowa, Wartburg College, Knox College, and Monmouth College.  Click here to see a sample tool used by AIM High students to capture their impressions of each school visited. The College Bus Tour concluded with a debriefing session at which students, parents, and mentors discussed the students' insights about the experience and prepared to start the application process.

A recent Gallup poll indicated 70% of employees are disengaged.  The two reasons cited most are not having enough career development and working with an ineffective boss.  Therefore, we encourage you to start or continue offering career development initiatives (Characteristic 3) and to be sure to adequately prepare any employees who are in roles leading other employees for those very important responsibilities (Characteristic 6).  Trying to justify any financial investment necessary to accomplish this?  Calculate what 70% disengagement is costing you in lost productivity and revenue, as two examples.  Perhaps also calculate what each percentage point increase in engagement could return to your organization in profitability.  We bet the business case resides in the answers resulting from those two calculations.

Honor Roll Recognition

Presented by Cynthia Cobb, Program Director

May 30, 2013

Thirteen in 2013 – those are the results of this year’s Honor Roll selection process. Hmmm. Thirteen is often thought to be an unlucky number.  Not so for the employees, families, communities, customers, and other constituents impacted by the socially responsible workplace practices and community service demonstrated by our current Honor Roll.

Prior to being named to the Honor Roll, each employer submitted a written application outlining how the organization demonstrates the 10 Characteristics of a Caring Company.  The applications served as the qualitative segment of the selection process.  The applications were reviewed by seasoned business professionals who make up our Independent Review Panel.  We also reviewed employee survey data from the applicants for the quantitative segment of the selection process.

For Thousands 13 Is A Lucky Number

Center for Companies That Care announces its 11^th Honor Roll, and nearly 75,000 employees are lucky to work for the 13 employers on the 2013 list. Each has outstanding workplace practices and active community involvement. The Honor Roll includes privately held and publicly traded organizations as well as not-for-profit employers from around the country and represents several industries.

Each March the Honor Roll is announced in conjunction with the launch of CAREDAYS, an annual month-long, national initiative to address a significant societal issue. CAREDAYS13: Terrific Tales supports childhood literacy by ensuring that under-resourced classroom libraries have age-appropriate books for children to read. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to either donate books or raise funds to purchase books for 1000 classrooms. If we all do a little, we can accomplish a lot!