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Valassis Communications, Inc. Company
Added to the KLD Domini 400 Socialsm
Index
BOSTON,
MA - July 31, 2003 - KLD Research & Analytics,
Inc., an independent research firm, announced today
that Valassis Communications, Inc. (VCI) has been
added to the KLD Domini 400 Social Index (KLD DS
400 Index). Valassis Communications, Inc. is headquartered
in Livonia, Michigan.
Valassis
Communications, Inc. provides marketing services.
The company specializes in newspaper inserts and
related promotions.
Reasons KLD added the company to the KLD DS 400
Index
KLD added the company to the KLD DS 400 Index for
several reasons, including:
- The
company has been recognized by Working Mother
magazine as one of the 100 best workplaces for
working mothers. The company offers partially
paid maternity leave, three days paternity leave,
phase-back for new mothers, lactation programs,
and adoption aid including two weeks paid leave.
Childcare benefits include backup care, sick-child
care, subsidies and pretax set-asides. Valassis'
alternative work schedules include flextime, job
sharing with full benefits, and telecommuting.
Family benefits are also available to part time
employees.
- In
February 2003, Valassis was included on Fortune
magazine's list "The 100 Best Companies to
Work for in America" which is compiled by
Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz. The company
was also on the list the four previous consecutive
years, 1997-2000. Fortune noted that employees
are encouraged to share suggestions as part of
its labor management cooperative work groups.
Some employee suggestions have been used to avoid
layoffs.
- Valassis
has a team achievement dividend/bonus plan, for
which 95% of all employees are eligible. In FY
2002, the company contributed approximately $12.4
million to the bonus plan, up from approximately
$9.0 million in FY 2001. In addition, all full-time
employees are eligible to purchase company stock
at the equivalent of a 25% discount.
About the KLD Family of Indexes
The KLD Domini 400 Social Index (KLD DS 400 Index)
is the established benchmark for measuring the impact
of social screening on financial performance. Launched
in May 1990, the KLD DS 400 Index is the first benchmark
for equity portfolios subject to multiple social
screens. The index consists of 400 diversified equities
that pass a broad range of social screening criteria.
The KLD Broad Market Socialsm Index (KLD
BMS Index) is the screened subset of the Russell
3000® Index, and the KLD Large Cap Socialsm
Index (KLD LCS Index) is the screened subset of
the Russell 1000® Index, both of which were
launched on January 1, 2001.
About KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.
KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. is an independent
research firm providing investment management tools
that are used by professionals to serve clients
who require investment strategies based on social
responsibility, responsive governance and corporate
integrity. KLD products and services, including
Socrates (a web-based, company research tool)
are used for screening, compliance and asset gathering.
For
more information about KLD or the KLD Domini 400
Social Index, please see our website (www.kld.com)
or contact Karen Agredo by phone (617.426.5270)
or via e-mail (kagredo@kld.com).
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