"We look for our employees to be involved in the communities where they live and work.
Juli Gaworski's simple comment may seem obvious, but as recent scandals have shown, good corporate citizenship is not a given in the private sector. The Lexmark community relations specialist was explaining why the Lexington-based printer manufacturer was recently ranked 80th in CRO magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens 2007" list.
"Our perspective is that it helps us because it helps our employees feel connected to their community," explained Gaworski. "They live here, they work here, they shop here. They want to feel like they're a part of it, so they want to feel like their company is supporting them in that outreach effort. That's why it's important to us, because we want our employees to be happy in what they're doing and to be connected to the community," she said.
The "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list is drawn from more than 1,100 of the nation's largest publicly traded companies. The list was developed by Business Ethics magazine, which was incorporated last year into The CRO, a membership organization for Corporate Responsibility Officers.
According to Gaworski, the commitments that won Lexmark the attention of the CRO are focused on seven standards of Corporate Responsibility: corporate governance and ethics, human rights and labor standards, supplier requirements, environmental programs, health and safety, community involvement and diversity.
In a time when many of Central Kentucky's technology-based companies are scouring for skilled talent, a high ranking as a good corporate citizen can make all the difference. "When we're recruiting, it's a very competitive atmosphere for engineers," said Gaworski. "We definitely can use that as a way to say, 'Look, we really do care. We really are putting our money where our mouth is; we're trying to be involved.' This is a community that we believe in and we want to make it a community that's worth something to employees."
Additional information regarding the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list is available online at www.thecro.com.
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