STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aiming to make a
measurable impact on the places they work and live, eight Xerox
Corporation (NYSE: XRX) employees are taking sabbaticals to tackle
full-time community service projects throughout 2006 – while their
full pay continues from Xerox.
For up to a year, the employees will apply their technical,
business and personal skills to address a range of social issues, such
as advocating for abused children, supporting military families,
improving emergency response systems, and more.
The leaves of absence are part of The Xerox Foundation’s
long-standing Social Service Leave initiative, which has granted
sabbaticals of up to one year to 469 employees since the program began
in 1971. One of few corporate sabbatical programs that provide paid
opportunities for employees to volunteer full-time, Social Service
Leave is believed to be the oldest of its kind in American business.
“Xerox people have a long tradition of investing their own time
and talent to make communities better,” said Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox
chairman and CEO. “Offering this unique Social Service Leave is the
strongest way for Xerox to further encourage and reward that kind of
generosity. It’s a part of our unwavering belief in demonstrating
corporate responsibility to our stakeholders and throughout our
operations.”
Xerox estimates that through the collective efforts of Social
Service Leave participants, it has donated about a half-million
volunteer hours over the past 34 years.
Under the leave, the eight Xerox people will work for nonprofit
agencies in seven states to accomplish projects of the employees’
design and choosing. The 2006 Xerox Social Service Leave participants
are:
— Harry C. Burch, engineering specialist, Rochester, N.Y.: 6
months with the Rochester Fire Department to help implement an
interactive information system that will link local emergency
services into a central repository.
— Katelyn Dyer, business development manager, Rochester, N.Y.: 6
months with Junior Achievement of Rochester to oversee
fundraising efforts and to develop a marketing plan.
— Ken McClellan, production systems analyst, Bensalem, Pa.: 3
months with the Interfaith Housing Development Corp., a
Bristol-based nonprofit developer of affordable housing for
low-income families, to restructure databases of critical
information and provide IT support.
— Susan E. Mead, global purchasing manager, Portland, Ore.: 3
months with the Girl Scouts Columbia River Council to help
recruit and teach students at a camp that introduces young
girls to opportunities in engineering, design and technology.
— Kathleen L. Norman, solutions consultant, Wilmington, Ohio: 12
months with the National Military Family Association in
Alexandria, Va., to conduct grant-writing, fundraising and
marketing in support of projects like camps for children of
deployed service members and education aid for military
spouses.
— Judy E. Sarmiento, account associate, Oakland, Calif.: 12
months with California Indian Legal Services, which provides
legal representation and other services to low-income people,
to provide training, technical assistance, outreach materials,
fundraising and more.
— Charlene Saulter, field service manager, Stone Mountain, Ga.:
6 months to serve as an advocacy coordinator and volunteer
supervisor for Court Appointed Special Advocates in Decatur,
Ga., a group that supports abused and neglected children under
the protection of the juvenile court.
— Susan V. Schmidberger, national sales support associate, Glen
Rock, N.J.: 6 months with the Alexander Graham Bell
Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to help develop a
“parent-to-parent” network with the New Jersey and New York
chapters and a national parent support database.
Social Service Leave was conceived by former Xerox president
Archie McCardell in 1970. He and another Xerox executive were on a
flight from California, where they had made a donation to a university
on behalf of Xerox. A conversation about how “easy” it was to give
money turned into a discussion about what kind of philanthropic
gesture would represent a genuine sacrifice for Xerox. They concluded
that the company’s most valuable asset was its employees, and that
offering employees’ time would demonstrate a true philanthropic
commitment by the company.
Then-CEO C. Peter McColough said in a letter to employees
announcing the program in 1971: “Each year we contribute several
million dollars to worthwhile institutions and projects. Yet we don’t
think that’s enough … so we decided to offer what we can least
afford to give – the full-time service of Xerox people.”
Social Service Leave represents just one of the ways that
employees volunteer in their communities with Xerox support, and it
was among the programs that helped Xerox earn the 2005 U.S. Community
Service Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Corporate
Citizenship. Philanthropy is a fundamental component of Xerox’s
corporate citizenship efforts, which include environment and health
programs, diversity and employee support, ethics initiatives and more.
NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information on each project, photos of
each participant and more information about Xerox, visit
www.xerox.com/news or www.xerox.com/csr. XEROX(R) is a trademark of XEROX CORPORATION.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5060332
Copyright Business Wire 2006
