Employers step up support for reserve and guard employees

From Ground Zero in New York City to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., from open ground in Pennsylvania to battleground in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Reservists and Guard members by the thousands have been responding to unprecedented challenges for the past three years. Between September 11, 2001, and September 2004, they numbered 398,000.

In support of their Reserve/Guard employees, many Fortune 500 companies validate this commitment through continuation of health-care benefits, insurance, and salary or pay differential.

On the pages that follow, corporate policy is documented in charts that summarize 213 responses from the Fortune 500 when Reservist/Guard employees are called to emergency active duty. Replies represent 106 new replies to ROA's survey (compared with 112 last year) and 107 replies carried over from previous years.

In this article, as well as on the charts, asterisks indicate responses from last year or two years ago. Generally, for companies responding in successive years, policies have been strengthened or continue to represent upgrades since 9/11.

Of the 213 companies listed, 18 provide full salary, ranging from one month to one year or duration; 24 provide salary plus differential; 154 provide differential, ranging from two weeks to five years; 10 provide no salary or differential; three are reassessing policy; and four reply either vaguely or that they "do not participate in surveys"

COMPANIES THAT LEAD

Where full salary is the policy, corporate leaders include #26 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., #58 Merrill Lynch, #69 American Express, #168 * MBNA, #221 Caremark Rx, #247 ** Schering-Plough, #253 Eaton, and #419 * MGM Mirage, all providing for the duration; #75 Duke Energy (see charts), #242 ** First Data, and #375 W.W. Grainger, for one year; #271 Automatic Data Processing, six months to one year; #39 ** Morgan Stanley, #64 Viacom, #219 * Centex, and #254 * Xcel Energy, for six months.

Where the combination of salary plus differential is offered, companies with generous packages include #83 Merck, salary for 6 months and differential for up to 24 months; #186 General Mills, a continuation of its policy of salary for one month and differential for the duration, plus a $300 monthly Military Leave Allowance; #323 Tribune, salary for three months plus differential for duration; #44 ** Dow Chemical, salary for two months and differential for the duration, not to exceed five years; #206 National City Corp., salary for six months and half-salary for six months; #185 United Services Automobile Assn., salary for one month and differential for up to two years; #5 General Electric, salary for one month and differential for 35 months.

For 10 years, in The Officer's pre-9/11 surveys, "one year" was rare and considered the ultimate in differential payment for those called up for emergency active duty. Now, however, that distinction has changed. The following groups illustrate how high the bar has been raised--and by how many--in providing differential for longer periods of time:

5 Years: #1 Wal-Mart Stores, #11 Hewlett-Packard, #27 Time Warner, # 80 * BellSouth, #121 General Dynamics, #153 Union Pacific Railroad (for management employees); and #243 Lucent Technologies. (Last year, two companies were listed in this group.)

3 1/2 Years: #48 Lockheed Martin.

3 Years: #12 * Verizon Communications, #107 Raytheon.

2 1/2 Years: #32 * Sears Roebuck, #33 SBC Communications, and #40 * AT&T. (Last year, seven companies were in the 2 1/2-3 1/2-year groups.)

2 Years: #7 ConocoPhillips, #125 Wyeth; #154 E1 Paso, #217 Entergy, #317 ** Eastman Chemical (at 80 percent of salary difference), #368 Erie Insurance Group, #401 * Avaya, and #453 Guidant. (Last year, three companies were in this group.)

1 1/2 Years: #84 * ConAgra Foods, #87 ** Electronic Data Systems, #92 Bristol-Myers Squibb, #105 3M, #158 FirstEnergy, #164 ** Dominion Resources, #190 Pepsi Bottling, #290 * Rohm & Haas, #411 * Hormel Foods, and #460 Jefferson-Pilot. (Number remains same in this group.)

One Year: #6 * ChevronTexaco, #15 Altria Group, #42 * United Parcel Service, #45 * Walgreen, #52 Archer Daniels Midland, #55 * Northrop Grumman, #71 International Paper, #90 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, #96 Abbott Laboratories, #98 * Williams, #104 ** Sara Lee, #115 Northwestern Mutual, 118 **Nationwide, #120 * AT&T Wireless Services, #136 Qwest Communications, #137 Goodyear Tire & Rubber, #152 Staples, #163 ** Edison International, #211 Principal Financial, #246 Amgen, #265 * MeadWestvaco, #284 * Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, #292 NiSource, #311 Fortune Brands, #312 Unisys, #319 * KeyCorp, #351 Ball, #354 ** Energy East, #355 Harley-Davidson, #382 * Ameren, #383 Pitney Bowes, #385 Mellon Financial Corp. (6 months, with two 3-month extensions on approval of CEO), #412 ** Kerr-McGee, #427 * Wisconsin Energy, #430 Adolph Coors, #434 Qualcomm, #449 * H&R Block, 457 American Axle & Manufacturing, #474 Cooper Tire and Rubber, and #495 Armstrong World Industries. (Last year, 35 companies were in this group; this year, 40.)

For Duration: #3 General Motors, #8 * Citigroup, #9 IBM, #25 Pfizer, #35 * Marathon Oil, #37 Safeway, #38 Albertson's, #43 J.C. Penney, #46 Microsoft, #51 United Technologies, #72 Tyson Foods, #77 * Caterpillar, #88 ** Bank One Corp. (salary offset by 5/7 of military pay), #142 Anheuser-Busch, #176 * Public Service Enterprise Group, #179 PG&E Corp., #182 PacifiCare Health Systems, #210 Burlington Northern Santa Fe, #226 * Calpine, #259 CSX, #273 ** DTE Energy, #274 KeySpan, #322 * NCR, #360 Ryder System, #421 Rockwell Automation, #459 Bed Bath & Beyond, and #499 * New York Times. (Last year 19 companies were in this group; this year, 27.)

Indefinite Periods: #4 Ford Motor, differential continues to be extended every six months; #34 Valero Energy, indefinite period of time; #57, Prudential Financial, extended until further notice; #65 * Sprint, continues to be extended since 9/11.

Completing the breakdown on differential policies: two companies provide for nine months; one for eight months; two for six and one-half months; 31 for six months, seven for three months; one for one month; three for two weeks or 15 days; two with differential variants; and two for periods unspecified.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Reserve Officers Association of the United States
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group