Mich. Blues Receive Voluntary Effort Award from U.S. Department of Labor

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently received an Exemplary Voluntary Efforts Award from the U.S. Department of Labor. Each year, the department presents EVE awards to federal contractors with exceptional equal employment opportunity programs. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is one of only three organizations in the nation to receive the award for 2005.

The award was presented by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao to Kathy Elston, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan vice president of employee services, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

“Equal employment opportunity and diversity are part of our daily operating philosophy here at the Blues,” Elston said. “We are proud to receive this honor on behalf of all of our employees who make our company such an excellent place to work.”

The EVE award was instituted by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. It honors federal contractors whose innovative workplace programs and initiatives increase equal employment opportunities for the American workforce.

“Each of these employers can take great pride in their efforts to provide women, people of color, veterans and people with disabilities access to equal employment opportunities in our 21st century workforce,” Chao said. “They create opportunity in America’s workforce and serve as role models for employers across the country.”

At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, women constitute 75 percent of the workforce and minorities 46 percent. The company’s programs to enhance equal employment opportunities include Opportunity YOU, which enables employees to earn academic degrees by taking college courses at the worksite, and the Work and Family Program, which provides resources to help employees care for children or aging parents.

In the last 10 years, only two other Michigan companies have won an EVE award, the Chrysler Corporation and Steelcase, both in 1998, and only one other Blue plan has won it, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware in 1999.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit corporation, provides or administers health care benefits to just over 4.7 million members through a variety of plans.

Source: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan