Month: March 2024

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

COLUMBUS, Ga., March 8, 2024  /3BL/ — Aflac Incorporated, a leading provider of supplemental health insurance in the U.S., retains its distinction by Ethisphere as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies®. Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, honored Aflac for the 18th consecutive year, making it the only insurance company in the world to appear every year since the inception of the award in 2007, and one of the longest-standing companies to receive this honor. In 2024, 136 honorees were recognized, spanning 20 countries and 44 industries.

“We are honored to appear yet again on Ethisphere’s prestigious list, a recognition that confirms that in any type of commerce, no matter your size, it’s not enough to simply do good business. You need to stand for your core values, support the communities you serve, and be a good steward of your resources,” Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos said. “Our commitment to do the right thing fuels the deep care and empathy our employees extend to policyholders and shareholders, which has earned us their trust for decades.”

Aflac places deep emphasis on corporate social responsibility. Some of its core initiatives include a commitment to the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with more than $173 million donated since 1995, as well as its award-winning My Special Aflac Duck® program, giving more than 28,000 robotic duck companions to children with cancer and sickle cell disease. Aflac also places a high priority on issues related to regulatory compliance and maintaining a well-trained workforce, with a strong commitment to its code of conduct to ensure employees work within the highest ethical standards.

“It’s always inspiring to recognize the World’s Most Ethical Companies®. Through the rigorous review process, we see the dedication of these organizations to continually improving their ethics, compliance and governance practices to the benefit of all stakeholders,” said Erica Salmon Byrne, Ethisphere’s Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair. “Companies that elevate best-in-class cultures of ethics and integrity set a standard for corporate citizenship for their peers and competitors to follow. Congratulations to Aflac for achieving this honor and demonstrating that strong ethics is good business.”

Ethics and performance
According to Ethisphere, the listed 2024 World’s Most Ethical Companies® Honorees outperformed a comparable index of global companies by 12.3 percentage points from January 2019 to January 2024.

Methodology and scoring
The World’s Most Ethical Companies assessment is grounded in Ethisphere’s proprietary Ethics Quotient®, an extensive questionnaire that requires companies to provide over 240 different proof points on their culture of ethics; environmental, social and governance practices; ethics and compliance program; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and initiatives that support a strong value chain. That data undergoes further qualitative analysis by our panel of experts who spend thousands of hours vetting and evaluating each year’s group of applicants. This process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify truly best-in-class ethics and compliance practices from organizations across industries and from around the world.

Honorees
To view the full list of this year’s honorees, please visit the World’s Most Ethical Companies website at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.

ABOUT AFLAC INCORPORATED
Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL), a Fortune 500 company, has helped provide financial protection and peace of mind for more than 68 years to millions of policyholders and customers through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac is the No. 1 provider of supplemental health insurance products.1 In Japan, Aflac Life Insurance Japan is the leading provider of cancer and medical insurance in terms of policies in force. The company takes pride in being there for its policyholders when they need us most, as well as being included in 2024 in the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for 18 consecutive years, Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for 23 years and Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index for the fourth consecutive year. In addition, the company became a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2021 and has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (2023) for 10 years. To find out how to get help with expenses health insurance doesn’t cover, get to know us at aflac.com or aflac.com/espanol. Investors may learn more about Aflac Incorporated and its commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability at investors.aflac.com under “Sustainability.”

About Ethisphere
Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that strengthen corporate brands, build trust in the marketplace, deliver business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies build strong cultures of ethics and integrity. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere also advances business performance through data-driven assessments, guidance, and benchmarking against its unparalleled data: the Culture Quotient dataset reflecting the ethical business practices of 3+ million employees around the world; and the Ethics Quotient dataset, featuring 240+ data points on the ethics, compliance, social, and governance practices of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit https://ethisphere.com.

Media contact: Jon Sullivan, 706-763-4813 or jsullivan@aflac.com
Analyst and investor contact: David A. Young, 706-596-3264, 800-235-2667 or dyoung@aflac.com

1 LIMRA 2022 US Supplemental Health Insurance Total Market Report 

SOURCE Aflac Incorporated

Diverse experiences and perspectives make Cintas the organization that it is today. This has come from intentionally creating a strong culture and committing to developing an environment where employee-partners can thrive. This commitment extends to women, ensuring they have opportunities for success within the organization and to grow professionally and personally. 

Taking these steps has helped Cintas become an employer of choice for women which has been evident in numerous ways, including being recognized by Newsweek as one of America’s Best Workplaces for Women in 2024. This prestigious recognition highlights companies that prioritize and support women in their workplaces. Over 142,000 female employees across the country were interviewed and provided insights and experiences on corporate culture, working conditions and other aspects of their current employer and other companies they are familiar with. 

Cintas was also measured on metrics across different categories that women believed to be crucial in the workforce, including compensation, work-life balance and proactive diversity management. 

Earning this recognition shows how employee-partners and peers view Cintas positively, but more importantly, that women partners see and feel this support in action. 

Karen Carnahan, currently a member of Cintas’ Board of Directors, is a former 35-year Cintas employee-partner who has seen firsthand how women partners have achieved high-level recognition and authority within the organization.

She joined Cintas in 1979 as an accountant and rose to Vice President and Treasurer, then Vice President of Corporate Development, before being tapped as President and COO of the company’s former Document Management business. 

She credits Cintas for investing in DEI and creating opportunities for women. Carnahan’s journey within the company demonstrates the growth and support available to women at Cintas.

“I’m so proud of what Cintas has achieved in diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Carnahan. “As a board member, we hear about the robust plans in that area, and they’re just phenomenal. I’m proud to be a part of it as a board member and to help lead it. I’m also equally excited to see diverse employee-partners, including women, achieve some of the highest-level positions in the company, unbelievable recognition, increased responsibility, and authority, and to have the opportunity to take that next step in their career at Cintas.”

Investing in women’s professional growth is crucial and has come through various ways like mentorship programs, leadership training and the Partner Business Resources Group (PBRG) named WAVE. 

WAVE, an acronym for Women Adding Value Everywhere, is firmly rooted in lifting all women and has a sophisticated approach to networking, idea-sharing and mentoring to help create a workplace where more women lead and engage.

The goal of WAVE is to provide its women employee-partners with a resource where they can connect with other partners who share similar experiences, create a network for professional and personal development and empower each other through challenges they may face. 

The group utilizes many resources like monthly development calls, LinkedIn and quarterly and annual meetings. The meeting held every other quarter, called Taste of Cintas, showcases a different division or department within Cintas and highlights a leader and their job responsibilities and accomplishments. The annual meeting, called Push Pull, allows employee-partners to network and listen to different women partners give seminars about their experiences and developing skills. 

These resources have been important in amplifying women’s voices and inspiring positive change through collaboration and community. 

With influential recognitions, employee-partner perspectives and programs made specifically for women, Cintas continues to prove it’s invested in creating an equitable workplace for women. Doing so has not only helped the organization retain exceptional women partners but it has also helped propel the business forward. 

The collective power of bringing together women with unique perspectives is a powerful tool that continues to propel Cintas forward as an employer of choice for women.

To learn more about Cintas and its DEI initiatives, click here.