Community Service 2009 Company of the Week

June 21, 2009

Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is the proud home of Iowa’s oldest organized employee volunteer program—Principal Volunteer Network.  For more than 36 years, employees of The Principal have been actively making a difference in the many communities where they live and work. 

Employees benefit from a wealth of opportunities coordinated by the employee-run Principal Volunteer Network. 

Two new and notable programs include:

The first Days of Action event was a city-wide Trash Bash in Des Moines.  More than 120 employees volunteered to clean up a massive stretch of riverbank in the downtown area.  By the end of the year, between Day of Caring and Days of Action in our Des Moines offices alone, more than 1,600 employees contributed time to their better their local community.  Additional activities have included an Arbor Day tree planting, neighborhood beautification projects, a Big Brothers Big Sisters fishing derby and a homelessness awareness sleep-out.

• Habitat for Humanity – While this program is not new, our involvement has increased in recent years, with great results.  In Grand Island, Neb., the Principal Financial Group Foundation, Inc., contributed all of the materials for one build, and employees in our local office of 600 employees provided all of the volunteer hours—nearly 1,400 total hours—to make a family’s dream of home ownership a reality.  The project was a celebration of our office’s 25th anniversary.  It was the first time in Grand Island that one company had contributed all the resources for a Habitat build. 

Our employees make the difference.  The Principal helps make it possible. 
The company finds numerous ways to support employee volunteer efforts:

• Time off
• Employees get eight hours of Volunteer Time Off (VTO) annually—company time they can spend volunteering for the charity of their choice.  In 2008, more than 5,000 employees used more than 35,000 hours of VTO.
• Employees can use four additional hours of company time to participate in United Way’s Day of Caring or Principal Days of Action activities in their local communities.
• And in 2008, for a one-time celebration, employees received four Pay it Forward hours they could use to make a difference however they chose.
• Flexibility—Our commitment to work/life balance and array of flexible work arrangements make it easier for employees to work volunteer activities into their daily schedules
• Encouragement—In the Development Opportunities section of our intranet, volunteering for a leadership role in a community organization is the first suggestion listed under ideas for informal development.  It’s just one more way the company demonstrates its commitment to community involvement and to employees finding meaningful ways to make a difference on a regular basis.



Congratulations Principal Financial Group!

For more information on Community Service 2009, please visit www.financialcommunityservice.org.

For more information on CS09 Company of the Week, please contact Aleksia@fsround.org.

 

Click Here to view a list of our past Companies of the Week.