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Sprint has a variety of programs specifically designed to further engage our employees and help them see the direct linkage between their personal contributions and Sprint's success. We cannot achieve our financial, environmental or social goals without our employees. Check out some highlights of our efforts to engage our employees to help meet our corporate goals around customer experience, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement.
We create an environment where our employees recognize how their work contributes to a positive customer experience. While many Sprint associates interact with customers every day, some do not have opportunities to directly assist customers or "sell" Sprint. Recognizing that employees are great advocates, Sprint began engaging employees — even those outside of traditional customer-facing roles — in the customer experience through "ambassador" programs. These programs encourage employees to be involved in generating a positive customer experience and driving new business, ultimately increasing employee commitment and engagement. Some of the ambassador programs include:
Employees Thanking Customers: Thank you Thursdays provide employees the opportunity to connect with customers through letter-writing campaigns. Employees hand write personal thank you notes to loyal customers. While the program was started in 2011, Sprint expanded the program significantly for 2012. This year, our goal was to write thank you notes to 500,000 customers. We surpassed that goal in August and our employees are still writing thank you notes. In addition to the ambassador programs, the Sprint Elevator Speeches equip employees with the answers to everyday questions to help them sell Sprint. So, whether they're in the grocery store, at a party, or -- yes -- even in an elevator, employees are prepared to answer questions and talk about Sprint. Our CEO even gives out an Elevator Speech Award at every Quarterly Employee Meeting to the most deserving employees who "sell" Sprint in the spirit of the Sprint Elevator Speeches and, by so doing, generate results for the company.
Sprint's success and reputation in the area of environmental stewardship would not have been possible without the hard work and enthusiasm of Sprint employees across the country. Sprint works to strengthen this level of commitment by offering programs and resources that help employees become better stewards both while on the job and at home. We recognize the impact our commitment to sustainability has on our employee base in terms of their personal connection to Sprint and their job satisfaction. The more we can do to enhance their personal commitment, the more successful our corporation will be as a whole. These efforts have been ongoing for many years and received significant attention in 2011 and 2012.
Recent sustainability-focused employee-engagement programs have included:
In this section of the website, you'll learn about our employee-engagement initiatives that focus on sustainability.
Sprint became interested in developing a fun, interactive employee-education video regarding sustainability in 2011. After exploring available public options, Sprint decided to create its own video and after four months, a cross-functional work group and video-development team created a short graphical video that employees could view to learn more about our green commitment.
Launched as part of our Earth Day 2012 Contest for employees, the video featured a young girl who wanted to make a positive impact on the planet and grows up to go to work for Sprint – where she does just that! For the contest, the video was matched with a short quiz (to test what employees had learned from the video) and an anonymous opinion survey (so employees could share their own thoughts on Sprint's sustainability mission). Employees were awarded participation prizes via random drawing, including green devices and a personal carbon offset valued at $250.
In total, more than 5,600 employees took part in the Earth Day 2012 Contest. We were very happy with the information gathered. From the opinion survey, we found that approximately 92 percent of employees considered Sprint very committed to environmental stewardship and that 85 percent would like to see us do even more in this area. We are well on our way to making that wish a reality! Sprint also received many suggestions for how to make employees' workplaces even greener.
The video and quiz remain available for employees. And though this specific opinion survey has now closed, we continue to offer employees outlets for sharing feedback.
At Sprint, our commitment to sustainability can be seen across virtually all business units with particular focuses on our Corporate Responsibility, Environmental Health & Safety, IT, Marketing and Network groups. Because of this vast scope, we knew it could be difficult for employees to narrow down the correct contacts and processes for certain green-focused activities, like recycling or working remotely. We decided to change this by consolidating many disparate internal intranet sites into one holistic page that could act as "traffic cop" by providing the latest green internal news and directing employees where they need to go.
In early 2010, the revamped Green Leadership site debuted. The new site consolidates green news and videos, tips for talking to customers about Sprint's commitment to sustainability, tips for being green at work and at home, and our ever-popular 5 Green Things.
In April 2009, Sprint launched an employee environmental-awareness campaign that outlines five fundamental steps Sprint employees can take to begin to reduce their environmental impact at work, and to ultimately help the company achieve its environmental goals. The program encourages employees to: manage energy usage; minimize trash; commute smarter; print less; and recycle electronics. Examples of green ideas provided to employees include:
From an employee standpoint, these five actions remain every bit as important today as they were in 2009. The 5 Green Things are proudly and prominently displayed at the top of Sprint's new Green Leadership page for employees.
In December 2010, Sprint launched a national alternative-transportation program, Sprint Smart Commute, which provides employees with ways to "green up" their work commutes by reducing pollution and traffic congestion during their work-related commutes. Sprint Smart Commute options include local mass-transit schedules, information on telecommuting, opportunities to meet nearby employees interested in carpooling to work, and other tips for employees wanting to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commuting to work. Here are some of the most popular features of the site:
The Sprint Smart Commute program also asks employees to report their GHG commuting impacts, allowing Sprint to aggregate this information for its annual GHG reporting.
Originally launched in 2004, i-Digitize is a company-wide initiative designed to expand awareness and utilization of existing tools and technology that can help us save money, decrease Sprint's environmental footprint, increase productivity and add flexibility to the way we work. Through the program, employees can learn how to electronically submit expense reports, digitally mark-up documents, scan and e-mail from multi-function devices, fax to e-mail for inbound faxes, and use software to send outbound faxes electronically. We've also reduced the number of output devices (including desktop printers), eliminated banner pages on all print devices and switched printers to default to two-sided printing.
Sprint hosts annual Earth Day celebrations at major employee sites. The Overland Park, Kan., campus, which houses the largest population of Sprint employees, holds the largest celebration and typically hosts more than 50 exhibitors, both internal and external, includes more than 50 Sprint volunteers, features an executive guest speaker talking about Sprint's environmental priorities and progress and offers food, games and live entertainment. The Earth Day festivities are very popular with employees, typically drawing large crowds. In 2012, the Overland Park Campus Earth Day celebration attracted its largest crowd ever with an estimated 3,000 attendees.
In addition to the larger programs mentioned above, Sprint also offers these employee programs:
Sprint offers six Employee Resources Groups (ERGs), each focused on a specific cultural group - African Americans, Asians, Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender, Hispanic, Women and Veterans. ERGsare open to all Sprint employees, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or past or present military service. These groups provide their members with many professional-development opportunities and also support philanthropic and customer outreach to the cultural groups they represent. From a work/life-balance perspective, Employee Resource Groups provide Sprint employees with many opportunities for cultural enrichment, including free celebrations around events like Asian Heritage Month, Cinco de Mayo, Gay Pride Month, Juneteenth, Women's History Month, Veteran's Day and more. Please click here to learn more about Sprint’s ERGs.
Sprint and our employees find a sense of meaning and purpose through helping the communities where our employees and customers live and work. Sprint offers rich community-involvement programs for our employees including a volunteer program, national campaign to support the United Way, and a national campaign to support food banks across the United States. The Sprint Foundation provides additional community engagement and support for Sprint employees through its Matching Gift program and Dollars for Doers Program. Each of these programs serves to more deeply engage our employees with Sprint and the communities we serve.