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Volunteering and Demonstrating Community
Commitment PG&E's employees demonstrate commitment to
improving the health and well-being of the communities they serve every
day, through their actions both on and off the job. Not only do they
donate generously to nonprofit organizations, they also give generously
of their time. At all levels of the company, we encourage employees to
volunteer their time and expertise to support our communities and lend a
helping hand. We do this by organizing volunteer events and
opportunities, recognizing employees for exceptional commitment and
services, and communicating the importance of community service and
involvement through our values.
In 2006, we initiated some new programs and enhanced others to better
facilitate volunteerism among our employee team, including:
Implementing a Web-based program to notify
employees and retirees of upcoming company-sponsored volunteer
opportunities and allow them to sign up for participation.
This Web site also provides the opportunity for employees to recruit
their colleagues to join them in supporting the community.
Working with departments throughout PG&E to create
volunteer events for employees that build on their interests in specific
community needs, and that provide team-building
opportunities. For example, several departmental teams
served meals to the homeless at San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church.
Also, several PG&E volunteer-teams installed solar panels on Habitat
for Humanity homes in support of PG&E's Solar Habitat Program.
Helping Our
Customers Manage Energy Costs
Supporting PG&E's seven employee associations by providing financial
and other forms of support. The associations banded together in 2006 to promote employee
involvement in the 20th Annual AIDS
Walk San Francisco. More than
100 PG&E employees participated in a walk
that raised $3.77
million to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and
43
HIV/AIDS organizations throughout the Bay Area. In addition, the Asian
Employees Association, with financial support from the company,
participated in San Francisco's annual Chinese New Year's parade—the
largest event of its kind outside of Asia, attracting as many as 500,000
people, with another million watching it on TV.
Providing information on and training for senior
management to participate on nonprofit boards. By the end
of 2006, nearly 80 percent of the company's officers were serving on a
nonprofit board or were in discussions about joining one. Moreover, the
company's directors were polled about their community interests so that
they could be trained about nonprofit board service and nominated to the
boards of local nonprofits. The company expects to have at least half of
these directors lending their expertise and time to nonprofits by the
end of 2007.
Some examples of coordinated efforts currently under way at PG&E
to encourage and
enhance employee volunteer efforts include:
Partnering with Junior Achievement. For four
years, PG&E employees have been actively involved with Junior
Achievement's Elementary School Program, which provides a first look at
how education and economics play a role in the workplace. During the
2005-2006 school year, more than 300 PG&E volunteers spent nearly
2,200 hours in 244 classrooms throughout the Bay Area. These efforts
reached 14 different schools and more than 5,600 students.
Protecting and Improving the
Environment. Through our Volunteer Program, we work
with environmental restoration groups to help identify and coordinate opportunities for employees and their families to take part in
projects that help clean up their communities and protect
and enhance the environment. In 2006, more than 4,800 employees and
their family members participated in various PG&E-sponsored
projects, including an Earth Day event in partnership with the
California State Parks Foundation. Nearly 900 PG&E volunteers spent
Earth Day helping to clean up and restore habitat at 12 California State
Parks throughout our service area.
Other notable events involved more than 100 employees planting trees in
a previously shade-free stretch of San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point
neighborhood and the more than 250 employees who eagerly descended upon
San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to participate in various park
restoration projects as part of team-building projects.
Recognizing Exceptional Commitment and
Service. In 1986, PG&E established the Frederick W.
Mielke, Jr., Award, which recognizes employees for outstanding community
service and provides organizations selected by the winners with a $5,000
charitable contribution from the company. In 2006, six employees won
this award.
Recognizing Outstanding Community Service
Over the next several years, PG&E
intends to implement additional programs and initiatives that will help
organizations that can benefit from PG&E volunteers; we will also
keep encouraging employees to donate their time, and we will make it
easier for employees to do so.
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Members of PG&E's Employee Associations, colleagues, friends and family participate in AIDS Walk San Francisco.