CVS presents at aging conference in nation's capital

WOONSOCKET, R.I. CVS Caremark presented at the 2008 NCOA-ASA Aging in America Conference in Washington, D.C., for a discussion on the multigenerational workforce and the importance of mature workers.

Michael Ferdinandi, senior vice president of human resources and corporate communications, co-presented the session “Seizing Business Opportunities with the NEXT Workforce” at the NCOA/MaturityWorks Alliance Workforce Summit.

Ferdinandi spoke about the company’s mature worker initiatives, including creative and flexible benefits options, a welcoming work environment encouraging career advancement at all levels, and strategic public-private partnerships. In the past decade, the company has forged innovative partnerships with local and national agencies and organizations in order to actively recruit employees including mature workers. Currently, roughly 1-in-5 employees is age 50 or older. In addition, the company offers training, convenient locations and flexible work schedules—including a snowbird program that enables employees to shuttle between different store regions on a seasonal basis.

At the conference, Ferdinandi revealed the results of a survey on mentoring in the workplace among CVS pharmacists age 50 and over. The study shows that senior pharmacists view mentoring as personally rewarding, especially when mentoring college students and apprentice pharmacy technicians. The study, conducted by University of Vermont business professor Barbara McIntosh for CVS Caremark, also found that senior pharmacists who are interested in mentoring depend on having proper mentor training in order for the mentoring to be successful. These results reinforced the value of CVS Caremark’s Senior Pharmacist Legacy Mentoring Program.

The program—under which senior pharmacists, working and retired, mentor apprentice pharmacy technicians and high school students—was piloted in Chicago in 2006. Next year, the program will be expanded to Atlanta and Tampa. As the program continues, a tool kit will be developed to allow replicating the project across the country and in other allied healthcare professions.