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| Although career paths get some of the
credit for CVS’ inner-city success, the real secret of success
is CVS’ emphasis on developing partnerships with agencies that
supply workers and the top-down support of those partnerships |
Stephen M. Wing
Director of Government
Hiring Programs
CVS Corporation |
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| CVS Pharmacy |
CVS
Corporation, the nation’s leading pharmacy retailer with
over $24 billion in annual sales, operates 4,100 stores in 34 states
and employs over 110,000 people. To meet business growth and expansion
objectives and to ensure high-quality service to its customers, CVS
applied an innovative strategy: the CVS Government Hiring Program.
CVS started its first Welfare-to-Work training program in 1996. Since
then, it has hired over 20,000 people formerly on public assistance
and over 12,000 are still actively employed in career-path positions—a
retention rate of 60 percent. It represents a stark contrast to other
entry-level service jobs in retail where turnover can easily exceed
200 percent a year.
The retention rate for former welfare recipients is much higher than
retention levels for entry-level CVS workers hired from other sources.
In addition, over half of the former welfare recipients have been
promoted at least twice.
CVS approached partnerships as a strategy for finding the associates
needed—people who can differentiate the company from the competition
by making sure customers have a comfortable, friendly experience in
the store.
The priority CVS gives to partnerships is embodied in a seven-member
government hiring team that works with city, state, local government
agencies, nonprofits, and community based organizations including
Job Corps, Goodwill Industries, the National Council on Aging, America’s
Promise, the Kennedy Institute, etc. Partnerships also exist with
organizations like the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Workforce Preparation.
CVS has recently partnered with the District of Columbia Department
of Employment Services to establish a Regional Learning Center. The
center offers training at several steps along a career path leading
from entry-level jobs to higher-paying jobs. The facility includes
a freestanding prototype "mock store" that trains individuals
at entry-level jobs, pharmacy assistance, or with additional training,
a pharmacy technician. The costs of the program are shared by the
employer and public welfare-to-work funds.
Wing remembers one of the first employees hired who graduated to working
in customer service in a store in Akron, Ohio. "She had two kids
who had refused to go food shopping with her when she was on welfare
because they were embarrassed to be seen paying with food stamps,"
Wing recalls. "The first week this woman got a paycheck, the
kids were waiting in the car when she got home— they wanted
to go to the store with her when she paid actual cash. When you hear
stories like this, you know it is much bigger than just hiring—or
retaining—an employee.
For more information, please contact Steve Wing at (330) 487-6957.
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