Wells Fargo and Company: 2008 AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50

Winning Year: 2008

Industry: Financial Services

Location: San Francisco

URL: www.wellsfargo.com

2008 Rank: 32

 

 

Wells Fargo & Co. managers participate in diversity-training sessions that provide education on the individual needs of employees and their generational differences. The company’s WorkAbility program guides and supports employees with medical conditions or restrictions. The program served 3,000 employees during the past year. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 12.1 years.

 

Additional Policies and Practices:

 

Recruiting: Wells Fargo uses placement agencies for older job-seekers to target mature workers and retirees. The company also participates in job and career fairs for mature workers and retirees.

 

Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: Wells Fargo offers learning and development programs to its full- and part-time employees, including tuition reimbursement, in-house classroom training, online training, and certification classes. Tuition reimbursement and certification classes are offered to employees working at least 17 hours per week. During the past 12 months, 100 percent of Wells Fargo employees have participated in at least one of the training opportunities with an average of 47 hours spent in training.

 

Wells Fargo celebrates long-service anniversaries with announcements, parties, and awards. Employees gain experience and develop new skills by working on temporary assignments in other departments, on team projects, cross-training, job-shadowing, and by having access to formal job-rotation programs.

 

Benefits/Health: Full- and part-time employees working at least 17 hours per week receive individual and family medical coverage, individual and family prescription-drug coverage, individual and family vision and dental insurance, individual and family long-term care insurance, and short- and long-term disability.

 

Health benefits for retirees under 65 include individual and spousal medical and drug coverage and individual and spousal dental insurance. Health benefits for retirees age 65+ include individual and spousal medical and drug coverage. New hires, both under age 65 and 65+, are eligible for all of the above benefits upon retirement.

 

Wells Fargo offers employees health-reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts to help cover out-of-pocket health care costs.

 

Benefits/Financial: Wells Fargo offers a 401(k) plan with an employer match and a cash-balance plan to its full- and part-time employees. Employees age 50+ can make catch-up contributions to their 401(k) plans. Employees receive financial-planning information from staff members, from the firm that administers their 401(k) plan, and from external financial-planning experts not affiliated with the 401(k).

 

At Wells Fargo, a professional financial team presents pre-retirement seminars with topics such as advanced planning for selecting retirement contributions, preparing for medical care after retirement, allocating investment dollars to maximize retirement security, setting up trusts, wills, and estates, and explaining Social Security and Medicare benefits.

 

The company offers short-term time off without pay and long-term leaves of absence without pay to allow for caregiving.

 

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, weight loss programs or counseling, on-site wellness seminars, and stress-management training. Thirty percent of the company’s employees have used at least one of its wellness benefits during the past 12 months.

 

Wells Fargo offers backup care for childcare and referral services to help employees find care for children and grandchildren and eldercare to its full- and part-time employees.

 

Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: Wells Fargo offers alternative-work arrangements, such as flextime, compressed work schedules, job-sharing, and telecommuting, to its full- and part-time employees.

 

In addition, full-time employees can take part in a formal phased-retirement program. Full-time employees are eligible to move to part-time work on a permanent or temporary basis.

 

Opportunities for Retirees: Wells Fargo currently has 15,000 retirees. The company stays connected with its retirees by providing ongoing access to retirement planning workshops and information and by formally acknowledging employees when they retire. The company offers retirees temporary work assignments, consulting and contract work, telecommuting, and full- and part-time work.

 

Age of Workforce: Sixteen percent of the company’s employees are age 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 12.1 years.