Celebrating Employee Appreciation Day with Stock Together, V Team Central, and more

Oh, Stock Together pies. Ok, I’ll have the first third of the 2022 Cherry The second third of the 2021 Apple, and the final third of the 2020 Blueberry. Mmm, mmm, mmm. That vesting really brings out the flavor. Mmm. And with that we say welcome to Up To Speed. We are actually thinking Employee Appreciation Day. It is March folks and I believe that’s the third month. We’re thinking threes today. So we’re talking of course about those Stock Together pies. We’re talking of course about V Team Central powered by Workday. And to round out this trifecta, we’re

talking with none other than our HR Chief, Sam Hammock. It’s so good to be with you on Up To Speed. Obviously I’m already thinking Stock Together. And I’m thinking about those pies, both the culinary and the financial variety. And this is an exciting time because this is our third year of Stock Together. Talk to us about what’s on your mind with this program? That three years is an important point. So we’ve now been doing this for three years. This is a way for everyone to have a piece of the pie. We are all owners of

Verizon, to put it very, very directly. So we’re investing in our V Team and our V Team needs to continue to feel that investment. And all

of us have a share in the performance of this company and so we’re doing it together, all around the world, all employees. And when you think about where people work and what they get from their employer, Stock Together really sets Verizon apart from the others. This really is unique. We talk about compensation and total value and total rewards a lot. But this is unique for Verizon. Few other leading companies

even do something remotely close like this at our scale with the grants that we do and that’s a really big deal. It differentiates us in the market. And so when you think about this being an amazing place to work, and we’re always trying to gather that feedback and deliver on making it an even better place to work. We want Verizon to know that Stock Together sets us apart and it’s about our culture, right? It’s about how we are doing this together and that we all are part of it, we’re all one team. And the great

thing is we all have a way that we can really make that pie grow there. We can all contribute to that. So folks will obviously be thinking about Stock Together right now, talk to us about some of the logistics here. How do we make sure we’re really understanding what Stock Together is all about? And it really is a simple process. Yea, it is. So let me break it down to the things you should know. Just like the previous three years we’ve issued a Stock Together 2023 Grant, with a grant date of March 1st. Over the

next three years in March, 1/3 of the grant will vest based on Verizon’s stock price at the time with the final payout being in March of 2026. During each of the vesting periods the amount that vests is determined by our stock price on the vest date. So if the Verizon stock price goes up, so does the Stock Together payout. And that means the opposite could apply as well. But we’re looking to the bigger pie. Yes, bigger please. So let’s go talk about this year’s payouts. The Stock Together program started back in March of 2020 so

if you’ve been at Verizon since then, this is the first year when all three Stock Together payouts are hitting all at once, so we’re getting to add them together and that makes it the biggest payout that we’ve had so far. So on this graphic you’ll see which third we’re getting from each year’s grant and the vesting price and the date that it will become available in your Fidelity account. Details on how to access all of that, get in touch with those vested funds, are all in Fidelity after the payout dates are available. You can go

ahead and read more about that in the article of this episode. Yeah, we’re going to provide links and more information of course. Just an exciting time for all of us to appreciate Stock Together, what this program is all about. We can appreciate that now, but Sam, as we turn now to the next thing we want to talk about here, there’s more coming up for us, specifically in the world of V Team Central, powered by Workday. Tell us a little bit more about that? Yea, I’m super excited to have, what we’re going to call a best

in class HR system. To make it easier for you to take meaningful action for yourself and your teams. I hear all the time in feedback, and you know I always love employee feedback. I’m asking for it and I get a lot of it. Which is awesome. But I hear, make things easier, make things easier. And so that’s what this system is really going to do. Andy, did you happen to catch the “RockStar” commercial during the big game? I did, it was a memorable one and they’re saying they’re no rock stars in the workplace? I would

beg to differ. I love the ad, we’ve got Rock Stars. We do. For all I know. Ozzy’s out there somewhere. So, in the next couple of months, we’re going to be launching V Team Central, powered by Workday. This is going to be an amazing HR system that’s going to power every one of our rockstar V Teamers. So this is going to be the go-to for managing your personal information, performance, growth, if you’re a people leader, how can you just do things yourself, quickly, and in real time, for your team. So we’re going to have so

much coming at you about this, I’m just going to break it down really quickly and give you little teasers for what’s to come. Career profile, an opportunity for you to actually own your own info in one spot. What do you think your experiences are? What do you bring to the table? What jobs do you have aspirations to get into? And we can use that data as we think about internal mobility. Skills, roles, true transparency. It’s going to be amazing. And for management employees, you’re going to have real-time feedback processes, how do you support your development,

record performance check-ins with your manager. It’s really a tool that helps us with our leader and our leader with us. So all in place that I think can go for really one stop shopping for all things career. Ownership of your career. Managing your team. These are things that are on the hearts of our entire V Team and now it’s brought to life with this program. Totally. And the ability to have dashboards which I think will totally help, right? We grow from within. Our talent strategy is to leverage the assets that are here. And internal mobility

is a huge piece of our talent agenda. And so now we’re going to have the ability to think about the entire hiring process. More ability to lead it, ourselves, in the system. End-to-end accountability. I could go on and on. Tons of great stuff, right? And of course it’s change, right? We do believe it’s going to be easier, we believe it’s going to be intuitive, but change is still change. There’s a learning curve there. So we have tons of stuff. Resources, job aids, we’re going to have tutorials. So, you’re going to start to see that coming

forward in early April, and late March. Okay I’m looking forward to learning about it collectively and really sharing the wisdom behind this new program, so Sam, thank you. And of course we haven’t, again, March, January, February, March, this is only the third month and yet the HR team is off just rockin, with benefits that we’re already using right now? Totally. Benefits are one of those things that are part of our Total Rewards, right, of being employees. And so the thing I hear most is that “I didn’t know that was out there. Like how cool is

that?” So, we have tons of great stuff. Remember we launched Gympass back in January? But now we’ve now have enhanced it with a new starter plus option. So $19.99 a month for eligible employees, which I think is huge. Another cool one that’s coming is Tuition.io. It’s a new educational benefit for US management. This helps employees find the best way to repay their student loans. It gives you the tools to do it with trained coaches that you’d have access to, to help think about any refinancing options. Just tons of different tools and resources that really help

us with our whole self and come to work. And so you can manage those costs for you, your kids’ tuition. Stay tuned, more details coming soon. Yeah, it’s really strengthening the whole V Teamer, both body and mind. And you’re performing both at work and at home as well. I was looking at the Gympass stuff, I mean especially after the pies, I mean you can’t not hit the gym there. So I’m looking forward to the Gympass. Thank you for leading the way here. And as we think about appreciation, your final thoughts for our V Team? I

think that our V Team is truly the most special thing that we have in all of Verizon. It is our biggest, biggest asset. Not a day goes by that I am not completely appreciative and filled with gratitude that I get the opportunity to work with these amazing people, 120,000 of these amazing people every single day. And the way that we have each others backs and we’ve created this really, really amazing community. It’s special. 100% in agreement, It’s all about the people and I know you are a champion for that. So Sam, thank you and it

goes without saying, but none of what we talked about happens without the hard work of the HR team, so a big shout out to the HR team and a big thank you to you for spending some time with us. So as we think about Employee Appreciation Day, we appreciate you, your team and of course, for our V Teamers out there, you are appreciated, both today and every day. Thank you so much for spending this time with us. And until next time, you’re up to speed.