How did we do?

In today’s jam-packed episode of Up To Speed Live, hosts Raquel Wilson and Jen Marin discussed all things Xbox, our Hurricane Idalia response, NFL+ and even invited Sam Hammock to discuss our VZPulse results.

Xbox deal

Raquel invited George Koroneos, host of George Talks Tech, to discuss the release of Starfield, “the most anticipated Xbox game of 2023.” Verizon is offering two promotions for Starfield. First off, if you sign up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate through +play, you get your first month on us. That means you can play Starfield on Day 1 using your Xbox, PC or Razer Edge 5G. Go to +play and grab this discount. If you have MyPlan, you can even use your +play add-on to save more.

Verizon is also offering an out-of-this-world bundle. Starting tomorrow, for a limited time, if you buy an Xbox Series X from Verizon, you get Starfield on us.

Hurricane Idalia Update

Our Verizon Response Team continues to work diligently to provide critical communications to areas in Georgia and Florida. Big Red and our tactical command trailer are set up as a temporary EOC in Suwannee County, where widespread power outages have been an issue after the storm.

Chris Volz, Director of Emergency Management for Suwannee County, noted that of the nearly 50,000 residents in the county, there were approximately “30,000 power outages,” and to get residents the essentials like hot meals, bathrooms, etc., “it starts with communication.” Praising Verizon for being a proactive partner, Chris said that “we would not be doing what we’re doing today without the ability to communicate with the citizens of our county, and that’s what we’ve been able to do very quickly through our partnership with Verizon.”

VZPulse Results

Recently, V Teamers were asked to complete the 3Q VZPulse Survey. Raquel and Jen brought out Chief Human Resources Officer Sam Hammock to share our results.

Sam reminded V Teamers that the VZPulse survey is “all about you – your voice, your feedback and your thoughts on how we can keep strengthening our culture and the employee experience at Verizon.”

A few highlights from our August VZPulse 3Q survey:

• 84% of V Teamers responded
• In two of the three questions, we scored in the third quartile, which means we scored better than 75% of peer group companies.
• We scored 4.13 in terms of employee satisfaction, and while this is a strong number, Sam views this as an “opportunity to get underneath the data and see how we can amplify our support and drive greater V Team pride.
• We asked employees about receiving feedback on the VZPulse+ survey, and scored 4.38. This means that 78,000 V Teamers are actively talking with their leaders.
• We scored 4.34 when it comes to employees taking time to reflect and discuss how we can make things better, which landed us in the 96th percentile when it comes to employees taking time to reflect and discuss how we can make things better.
• We received nearly 24,000 comments, which Sam is individually reviewing to dig deeper and translate insights into results, which include comments about additional training, clarity of expectations and ongoing communication.
• One of the topics that came out of the comments is that there has been a lot of change – change within teams, leadership changes, etc. – and we will continue to work with employees and leaders to make sure that everyone feels supported along the way.

Sam reminded V Teamers to “keep the conversations going” when it comes to turning feedback and insights into action. Leaders who received at least five responses gained access to their VZPulse results last week. By mid-September, they should spend time with their teams to talk about results and how they will act on the feedback shared.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the 4Q VZPulse survey in October.

HR Updates

Sam unveiled our new digital well-being platform powered by Virgin Pulse. Virgin Pulse is a one-stop shop for the small actions we can take every day to achieve our well-being goals. It’s simple to register, and you can access Virgin Pulse on your desktop AND through a helpful app for on-the-go support. Virgin Pulse is also the only place U.S. employees can take action to earn credit toward their 2024 medical and dental contributions. We will be expanding Virgin Pulse beyond the U.S. to our international employees starting next year.

JUST Capital

Independent research nonprofit JUST Capital ranked us a top 10 company for workers. Many of these companies, including Verizon, are industry leaders when it comes to paying a living wage, offering strong paid parental leave, conducting pay equity analyses and more. We were even number one for telecommunications.

9/11 volunteer activities

Next week is the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and we invite you to unite for the National Day of Service and Remembrance to honor the brave individuals who rose in service in response to the terrorist attacks.

To honor this 22-year anniversary, Verizon is donating $10 (up to $20,000 total) to 911Day.org for every volunteer hour committed between September 11-18.

All events on the Citizen Verizon Volunteers portal are eligible, and we even have a few recommendations.

This is a difficult topic for many, so we want to remind you that all V Teamers and their dependents and household family members can utilize our employee assistance program (EAP) for counseling services, mental health resources and much more.

NFL+ Offer

Verizon and the NFL are partnering for yet another offer for fans: starting today, get an annual subscription of NFL+ Premium for 40% off. NFL+ is a streaming service that allows users to rewatch games and crunch game film, and catch live local and primetime games at home or on mobile devices.

With NFL+ Premium, you’ll also get Redzone, which brings you every touchdown from every game, every Sunday afternoon during the regular season and acts as the perfect Fantasy Football companion. You also get NFL Network, Fantasy+, NFL Films and even more.

Ideathon

Verizon Global Services’ Strategy & Transformation organization piloted a new, digital ideathon approach hosted by Verizon India. The goal of the ideathon was to rapidly collect cost transformation ideas and build the VGS initiative pipeline.

Members of the S&T team collaborated to generate 69 cost transformation ideas in less than five days and now S&T leaders are reviewing the ideas with leaders across VGS to determine what ideas can be brought to life.

New store openings

To end the episode on a high note, last Monday, we celebrated the grand opening of two new store locations. Jen and Raquel showed us a picture of the ribbon cuttings at our new store in Magnolia, Texas, and Boca Raton, Florida – complete with many smiling faces.

If you have any questions, email them to live@verizon.com.

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

Tell us what you think of Up To Speed.

V Team, go to VZWeb to join the conversation