CVS/Caremark honored for unique workforce initiatives including Cleveland Regional Learning Center
CLEVELAND – September 23, 2008 –The State of Ohio today honored CVS Caremark as the Employer of the Year for the company’s innovative workforce initiatives to recruit and train area employees, many of them from disadvantaged backgrounds. One of these initiatives is the CVS Caremark Regional Learning Center (RLC), which CVS Caremark opened in 2006 in Maple Heights as the first RLC in Ohio. The company partnered with Employment Connection’s Southgate Career Center, one of six WIA Area 3 One Stops, to create the RLC, which includes a mock CVS/pharmacy store so that trainees can practice the customer service activities and photo lab and pharmacy services of a real CVS/pharmacy store. Since the RLC opened, CVS Caremark has trained more than 200 new and existing employees, helping new employees to begin solid career paths with the company and existing employees to gain additional skills to move up in their careers.
“We are proud to recognize CVS/Caremark as Outstanding Employer of the Year”, states Larry Benders, Executive Director, Employment Connection (City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Workforce Development).”
“We are honored to be named Outstanding Employer of the Year,” said Robert Weil, Cleveland Regional Learning Center Manager, CVS/pharmacy. “CVS Caremark is committed to developing a strong workforce and to improving the communities in which we do business. We are grateful for the support from our area workforce partners including the City of Cleveland and Employment Connection, who enable us to achieve these goals.”
Since 2002, CVS Caremark has established a total of eight Regional Learning Centers that partner with area One-Stops in Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, New York City, Southern New Jersey, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C, with the goal of creating a more stable workforce among entry-level positions. Often referred from placement agencies of welfare recipients and displaced workers, trainees experience “hands on” learning in the Regional Learning Center and test their skills at a nearby CVS/pharmacy location. Each job track, ranging from cosmetics specialist to photo lab technician, pharmacy technician, and management, receives relevant training at the center. All training is supervised with CVS/pharmacy trainers and coaches, lasts from several weeks to one year, and is provided for both new and current employees. Graduates of the program are offered positions within a reasonable commuting distance.
With help in part from these RLC, CVS Caremark has hired more than 63,000 former welfare recipients since 1996. More than 60 percent are still actively employed, and the majority has been promoted at least twice. That retention rate represents a stark contrast to other entry-level service jobs in retail where turnover can easily exceed 200 percent a year.
One of the other ways CVS Caremark works with Employment Connection in Cleveland is through the Work Experience Program (WEP) administered on behalf of the County’s Human Services department. CVS Caremark has agreed to be a WEP site and the staff of the RLC provide valuable work experience skills and mentoring to Ohio Works First customers interested in increasing their job readiness skills in various areas of the operation. There have been a number of WEP participants who have used the program to become candidates for the training that is offered by the RLC.
CVS Caremark is also involved in a number of community initiatives with a major emphasis on Cleveland’s youth. These initiatives include, but are not limited to:
- Partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in providing approximately 50 learning disabled students with real life work experience;
- Partnership with Cuyahoga Community College in providing a Summer Youth Healthy Careers Experience for approximately 80 students of area school systems who have shown an interest in exploring occupations in the healthcare industry.
Steve Wing, Director of Workforce Initiatives at CVS Caremark, serves as a member of the City of Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board (WIB). Mr. Wing has been very successful in pioneering the development of the company’s Regional Learning Centers in other parts of the country, and continues to support the company’s commitment to develop partnerships with workforce development systems in attempts to maintain the company’s industry-leading employee retention rate. Mr. Wing also serves on the WIB Committee for Employment for Persons with Disabilities, which focuses on improving the Employment Connection’s overall success in employing people with disabilities.
About CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is the largest provider of prescriptions in the nation. The Company fills or manages more than 1 billion prescriptions annually. Through its unmatched breadth of service offerings, CVS Caremark is transforming the delivery of health care services in the U.S. The Company is uniquely positioned to effectively manage costs and improve health care outcomes through its more than 6,300 CVS/pharmacy stores; its Caremark Pharmacy Services division (pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy); its retail-based health clinic subsidiary, MinuteClinic; and its online pharmacy, CVS.com. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Investor Relations section of the Company's Web site, at cvscaremark.com/investors, as well as through the press room section of the Company's Web site, at cvscaremark.com/newsroom.
About Employment Connection
A Collaborative Workforce System between the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Serving Cleveland Area Employers and Job Seekers.
