First Horizon National Corporation

Source: AARP.org | August 30, 2006

Winning years: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
Industry: Financial Services
Location: Memphis, TN
URL: www.firsthorizon.com

Highlights of 2007 Winning Strategies

First Horizon National Corporation offers flexible work options such as prime-time employee status (employees with at least one year of service reduce work hours to 20-32 hrs/week and maintain full benefits), formal flex-time (employee can shift work hours), informal flex-time (employee makes up time on own schedule), and telecommuting/flex-place (employee works at home or other location). Employees, retirees, and their families also benefit from Mayo Clinic resources at no cost, including a 24-hour nurse line, Tobacco Quitline, the "Mayo Clinic Guide to Self-Care" book, and Mayo Clinic EmbodyHealth newsletter.

Additional Policies and Practices:

• Recruiting: First Horizon uses senior placement agencies to target mature workers and retirees.
• Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: To all its employees, First Horizon provides tuition reimbursement, in-house classroom training, on-line training, certification classes, and inclusion management. In the past 12 months, 100% of First Horizon employees participated in at least one of these training opportunities with an average of 65 hours spent in training. Employees are offered numerous training opportunities and are supported by their ESRM (Employee Services Relationship Manager). The company assigns employees over age 50 a Retiree ESRM who provides one-on-one counseling on retiree health care insurance, life insurance, pension, 401(k) stock options, and other resources. First Horizon also offers employees leadership training courses, career planning with a career development library, a training website, and an on-line career center. The company has made many improvements based on employee requests, such as vision care, benefits offered to domestic partners, improved dental plan, new high-deductible health plan where employees are able to enroll in a HSA plan, added accident insurance, and enhanced employee communication. Examples of job redesigns and accommodations include larger computer monitors with magnifiers, ergonomically designed chairs, increased work station height for physical needs, parking spaces closer to employee entrances, and special customizations for hearing-impaired employees.
• Benefits/Health: Full- and prime-time employees (working 20+ hrs/week) receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription drug coverage, individual and family vision and dental insurance, and short- and long-term disability. Individual and family long-term care insurance is also offered to all employees with no minimum weekly work requirement. Health benefits for retirees pre-65 and 65+ include individual and spouse medical and drug coverage, long-term care insurance, EAP services, and life insurance or other death benefit coverage. New hires are eligible for all the above benefits upon retirement. First Horizon offers an FSA plan to employees and provides employees with Flexible Dollars to help pay premiums.
• Benefits/Financial: First Horizon offers a defined benefit, 401(k) with company match and stock options to its full-, prime-, and part-time employees. First Horizon encourages employees to participate in the plan by allowing employees to invest in lifecycle funds and allowing employees age 50+ to make catch-up contributions. Employees receive financial planning information from staff members via Employees First Financial Services, The Total Compensation Services Center, and LifeWorks OneSource. First Horizon offers paid short-term time off without pay and long-term leaves of absence without pay to allow for caregiving. The company offers wellness programs such as flu shots, health screenings, health risk appraisals, smoking cessation programs, health club discounts, physical activity/exercise programs, weight loss programs, and stress management training to full-, prime-, and part-time employees. Forty percent of the company's employees have utilized at least one of these wellness benefits in the past 12 months. First Horizon also offers to its employees various dependent care benefits, including referral services to assist with childcare and eldercare.
• Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: The company offers flex-time, compressed work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and a formal phased retirement program. The phased retirement program allows employees with at least one year of service to reduce their work hours to 20-32 hrs/week (called prime-time) and maintain full-time benefits. Full-time employees are eligible to move to prime- or part-time work on a permanent and temporary basis.
• Opportunities for Retirees: First Horizon currently has 1,465 retirees and has an individual directly responsible for retiree relations. The company stays connected to its retirees by communicating regularly with them, inviting them to organization events/celebrations, providing them with retirement planning workshops/information, and formally acknowledging retirees when they retire. The company provides quarterly luncheons, newsletters, free blood pressure screenings, and annual flu shots to retirees. The company also offers retirees temporary work assignments, consulting/contract work, telecommuting, and full-, prime-, and part-time work.
• Age of Workforce: Twenty-three percent of First Horizon employees are age 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 10.8 years.

Winning Strategies 2006

First Horizon National Corporation provides retirees with a Retiree Employee Services Relationship Manager who provides one-on-one counseling to help employees approaching retirement begin the planning process. The company offers numerous flexible work options including a prime-time status allowing the employee to work 20 - 32 hours/week without losing full-time benefits, formal flex time allowing an employee to shift their work hours, informal flex time allowing employee to make up missed weekly work hours at their convenience, and telecommuting.

Other Benefits:

• Recruiting: First Horizon uses senior placement agencies to recruit mature workers.
• Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: The company offers the following learning and development programs to its full-, prime- and part-time employees: tuition reimbursement (3.4% used in past 12 months), in-house classroom training (32% used in past 12 months), and on-line training (100% used in past 12 months), certification classes (11% used in past 12 months), and Managing Inclusion workshops. Service anniversaries are celebrated with announcements, parties, and awards. The following benefits were added due to employee requests in the past three years: long-term disability, new vision plan, better dental plan, high deductible health plan where employees have the opportunity to enroll in an HSA, enhanced work/life benefits via LifeWorks OneSource, and an adoption reimbursement program.
• Benefits/Health: Full- and prime-time employees (working at least 20 hrs/week) receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription drug coverage, and individual and family vision and dental insurance, as well as short- and long-term disability. Employees also have access to individual and family long-term care insurance at discounted rates with no minimum hourly requirement necessary per week. Thirty-three percent of all employees are enrolled in the individual medical and prescription drug coverage plans, while 43% of employees are enrolled in the employee and family medical and drug coverage plans. Twenty-four percent of employees are enrolled in the individual vision insurance plan, 29% in the employee and family vision insurance plan, 28% in the individual dental plan, 34% in the employee and family dental plan, and 97% enrolled in the short and long-term disability plans. Health benefits for retiree's pre-65 and 65+ include individual as well as spouse medical and drug coverage, long-term care insurance at discounted rates, EAP services, as well as individual and spouse life insurance or other death benefit coverage. New hires are eligible for all of the above retiree benefits upon retirement. The company offers a health care flexible spending account. Employees, retirees, and their families benefit from the health services of Mayo Clinic including a 24-hour nurse line, a tobacco quit line, the Mayo Clinic Guide to Self-Care book, and the HealthQuest newsletter.
• Benefits/Financial: The company offers a defined benefit, 401(k), and stock option retirement savings plan to its full-, prime- and part-time employees with at least 1,000 hours worked. After one year of service, the company matches fifty percent of the first one to six percent of pre-tax contributions to the 401(k). The company also provides pre-tax Flexible Dollars to employees, which can be deposited into their 401(k) account or contributed to one or more of the other benefit plans. Employees age 50+ can make 'catch-up' contributions to their 401(k) and the company offers a 'Save More Tomorrow' program providing for optional automatic salary deferral increases. The company offers referral services to assist with child care and elder care. The referral services to assist with child care are offered to employees to use for their grandchildren. The following wellness programs are offered to full- and part-time employees: flu shots, health screenings, health risk appraisals, smoking cessation programs, health club discounts, exercise programs, weight loss programs, and stress management training programs.
• Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: The company offers the following alternative work arrangements to its employees: flex time (45% participation), compressed work schedules (5% participation), job sharing, telecommuting (13% participation), and a formal phased retirement program. Full-time employees are eligible to move to a reduced schedule on a permanent and temporary basis. The company's phased retirement program allows full-time employees with one year of service to move to a reduced prime-time schedule (20-32 hrs/week) and still receive all full-time benefits.
• Opportunities for Retirees: The company currently has 1,258 retirees. There is an individual who has a direct responsibility for retiree relations. The company stays connected with its retirees by communicating on a regular basis with the retiree, inviting retirees to organization events/celebrations, providing retirees with ongoing access to retirement planning workshops, and formally acknowledging retirees on the occasion of their retirement. Retirees are offered the following work arrangements: temporary work assignments, consulting/contract work, telecommuting, as well as full- and part-time work.
• Age of Workforce: Twenty-one percent of the company's employees are 50+. Fourteen percent of the company's past twelve month new hires are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 10 years.

Winning Strategies 2005

First Horizon assigns employees over 50 a special relationship manager who works exclusively with retirees and workers approaching retirement to help them make informed retirement decisions. The company encourages retirees to return to work at First Horizon, and it gives them cash incentives for referring qualified applicants. The company offers alternative work arrangements, including a phased retirement program-called a prime-time schedule-that allows employees to reduce their workload and still continue to receive all full-time benefits.

Mature employees can gain new skills by managing and/or contributing to special projects, training team members, assisting with acquisition teams, and rotating jobs. First Horizon offers tuition assistance to all employees.

The company allows up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave per 12-month period for time off for caregiving. This includes 16 weeks of job-guaranteed time off status.

Benefits:

• The company gives employees "Flexible Dollars" that can be used to pay for health/child care costs, health/dental premiums, or deposited into their 401(k) savings plan. Employees who apply their Flexible Dollars towards their health insurance and prescription drug premiums pay about 20 percent, while the company covers their short-term and long-term disability benefits at 100 percent.

Twenty percent of the company's employees are 50+. Thirteen percent of the company's past 12 month new hires are 50+.