By Tim Wilson, Editor & Writer, Boston College Center

Employees at CIGNA now know they can take their CEO at his word when he talks about strengthening the company’s “culture of service.”

Effective July 1, the company’s 26,000 employees will be given eight hours of paid time off each year to volunteer with various not-for-profit health and community service organizations. That works out to more than 200,000 hours of time they can volunteer to make a collective difference in communities throughout the United States.

Ken Seda, assistant director of the CIGNA Foundation, explained that the company had been trying to establish a formal program for a couple of years. Seda said CIGNA already had a dollars-for-doers program in place but was looking to augment the program. When new CEO David Cordani came on board, Seda said, “the momentum was with us.”

Cordani addressed employees about the importance of continuing the idea of companies and employees as community servants. The paid time off program “was just another way to send that message that we’re serious about it,” Seda said. And, he added, Cordani understood the value of a program that made employees feel better about the workplace and their colleagues.

Seda said Cordani stressed the importance of people enjoying what they do on the job. He recalled the CEO telling employees when he first addressed them that “we have to remember to have fun.” As a global health service company, CIGNA is well aware it’s easier to be happy when you are healthy. Seda cited studies that show people who regularly volunteer report better overall health.

Seda said employees had often suggested the idea of paid time off for volunteering and wanted CIGNA to establish partnerships related to causes they cared about. Supporting employees’ volunteer efforts with paid time off allows them to make a difference in their community without the company having to choose a few partnerships from among innumerable organizations.

Proposing a paid time off program at a time when companies are facing many economic uncertainties was not simple. “It had its challenges,” said Seda. But the leadership transition gave CIGNA Foundation Executive Director Gianna Jackson the opportunity to meet with Cordani and present the idea for the program she had been considering for some time. When the new CEO gets behind an idea, as Seda put it, “that has a tendency to eliminate a lot of barriers.”

Offering paid time off for individuals to volunteer as opposed to a company-wide one-day event was an approach that made sense for CIGNA. Seda said that while CIGNA does have “days of caring,” it could not free up all employees for volunteering at one time when it has call centers that are staffed 24/7.

While the paid time off program goes into effect July 1, there has already been a wave of activity by employees asking about how they can get started. Seda said managers have already discussed it with employees and are leading by example. He attributed the support to candid discussions with department representatives who approached the program with an open mind. “We had people from all over the company working on a small task force,” Seda said.

In addition to internal discussions, CIGNA consulted the Boston College Center and other organizations for advice on what does and doesn’t work. Now all that remains is reaping the benefits of all that advice and planning making the program a success.

“We’re off to a good start,” Seda said.

Tags: Cigna, paid time off, volunteer policies, volunteerism
This entry was posted by Tim Wilson, Editor & Writer, Boston College Center on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 3:10 PM, and is filed under Center News & Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.