For Seventh Consecutive Year, Verizon Named to Latina Style Magazine's List of Best Companies for Latinas to Work for

For the seventh consecutive year, Verizon has earned a top ranking in the Latina Style 50, LATINA Style magazine's annual list of the best companies for Latinas to work for in the U.S.

Verizon ranked among the Top 12 companies in the 2009 survey, which evaluated 800 corporations. Each year since 2003, when Verizon was named company of the year, it has been ranked among the top 13 companies on the list.

The company will be featured in the August issue of the magazine, alongside a profile of Magda Yrizarry, vice president of workforce culture, diversity and compliance for Verizon.

"We pride ourselves on being a place where opportunities for professional and personal advancement abound," Yrizarry said. "As the next generation of leaders enters the business and helps raise the bar on the level of service and innovation we offer our customers, it's clear that Verizon's culture of inclusion will continue to be a competitive advantage."

Companies responding to LATINA Style's questionnaire were evaluated based on workplace issues that the publication's readers identified as most important to them. Among the principal areas of evaluation were: number of Latina executives, mentoring programs, Latina board members, educational opportunities, alternative work policies, dependent/child care support, employee benefits, women's issues, job retraining, affinity groups and Hispanic relations.

Women hold 28 percent of the senior management positions at Verizon, and women and people of color account for nearly 60 percent of the company's workforce.

Verizon's family-friendly policies and focus on the advancement of women in the workplace are outgrowths of the company's commitment to diversity, added Yrizarry.

Verizon has several programs that benefit women and the families of employees. For example, more than 12,500 women employees received $51 million in 2008 from the company's Tuition Assistance Program, which prepays 100 percent of approved tuition and fees at accredited institutions, up to $8,000 per year, per employee.

Verizon's work-family policies are designed to give tools to employees to help them manage their lives. For instance, in 2008 the company provided employees with 37,500 hours in emergency backup care for employees' children - time that employees would have otherwise had to use as vacation or personal time.  The company also offers employees child care and adult care locater services.  .

For employees returning from childbirth or child adoption leaves, Verizon has a generous Gradual Return to Work Program, which enables employees to return to work on a reduced work schedule while maintaining full coverage for all Verizon benefits. Verizon's adoption assistance program provides up to $10,000 for expenses incurred during the adoption of a child.

Earlier this year, Verizon was named to Working Mother magazine's list of Best Companies for Multicultural Women, for the fourth consecutive year.

Also this year, The National Association for Female Executives named Verizon to its list of 2009 NAFE Top 50 Companies for Executive Women, which spotlights corporations with practices and employment records that benefit women and encourage their advancement to top management positions. And for the fourth consecutive year, the Women's Business Enterprise National Council named Verizon to its annual list of America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprise. Verizon has also consistently been named to DiversityInc magazine's list of Top 50 Companies for Diversity, earning the No. 1 ranking in 2006 and 2008.

Verizon's commitment to training and investing in the education and professional development of its employees again placed the company on Training Magazine's Training Top 125 list of companies that have the best training programs for their employees.  Verizon is committed to creating personal and professional opportunities for its employees, and the company's employee development, education and training budget has totaled approximately $1 billion over the past few years.

For more information about Verizon's commitment to diversity, visit the company's press kit on diversity at http://newscenter2.verizon.com/kit/diversity/. 

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 87 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations provide converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  Wireline also includes Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $97 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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