First Town Hall of 2010 Draws Companywide Crowd

The State of CCA and the Industry

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CCA's first Town Hall meeting of 2010 was held, today, February 12, 2002 at 10:00 a.m. CST, moderated by Louise Grant, Vice President of Communications and lead by President and CEO Damon Hininger, from the Facility Support Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Opening the Town Hall with recent company and facility news, Grant asked Correctional Treatment Facility, in Washington, DC, how they were coping with the recent winter storm that dumped nearly three feet of snow in the area. Fifteen or so employees have had to stay overnight at the facility due to the bad weather. Next, Wheeler Correctional Facility Warden Ralph M. Kemp, who was named 2009-2010 “Warden of the Year” by the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents (NAAWS) was recognized. And the five facilities that recently earned ACA accreditation and reaccreditation were commended for their hard work.

CCA President and CEO Damon Hininger provided a state of the industry report. The highlights include:

• Pressure on CCA partners continues from 2009 into 2010 because of budget constraints. Many partners have had to make difficult decisions. "All of us have been affected in one way or another but none more so than our staff at Prairie, Huerfano, Diamondback and Cal City," explains Hininger. "As you know, we have closed Prairie and have given notice of closing Huerfano later this year. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to these facilities for maintaining a high level of performance and professionalism in this very difficult time."
• From a company growth standpoint, Hininger pointed out a positive in the state of the industry. "Of our state customers, this is probably the first time in 25+ years where we have seen so few dollars being appropriated for new prison beds or new construction," says Hininger. "We feel that having inventory as we come out this recession is going to be extremely attractive and give us a significant competitive advantage."
• And we still feel that the US marketplace continues to look favorable for the company and the industry and with that, we don't believe we have seen any shifts in policy long term as it relates to the use of the private sector.
  

Hininger then addressed several questions employees frequently ask him during facility visits. One common question is, “Will there be a cut or elimination of employee benefits this year?” He commented that CCA covers more employee medical costs than the industry average and for eligible employees, CCA is trying hard not to eliminate these benefits.

Other frequently asked questions include: “Will there be a cut or elimination of bonus this year?” and “Will there be a cut or elimination of the company’s 401k match program?” Hininger’s responses remained the same: the company is working to avoid eliminating these benefits for eligible employees. Read more about Damon Hiningers thoughts on the Town Hall

Brian Collins, CCA executive vice president and chief human resources officer, addressed performance reviews for 2009, which are currently underway and due to be completed by February 26.

“February is an important time for understanding where all of our employees are from a performance standpoint,” Collins said. We now have an opportunity to review, plan and strategize for this year, he added.

Collins committed to CCA employees that they would know if CCA is going to give merit increases by July 1, 2010. Employees can expect notification from their wardens.

Vice President of Partnership Development Tony Grande spoke about CCA's new messaging initiative – a project that included researching words and phrases associated with CCA and our industry for their perceptions among the general public. "We want to tell the CCA story often and well," explains Grande. Among several changes the company will be making as a result of this research are incorporating a new tagline, America's Leader in Partnership Corrections, and using partnership corrections to describe our industry. For more from Tony Grande on this initiative, view the video on the home page.

A few questions from employees were submitted:
Will CCA add AFLAC to our benefit offerings?
Brian Collins explained that CCA has reviewed the potential of AFLAC but it currently doesn't fit into the company's benefit strategy for a variety of reasons. He explained that in the future there will be a new voluntary benefit offering available to employees.

Are we filling open positions?
Brian Collins explained that CCA, first, will not jeopardize safety and security by not filling necessary open positions. Positions will be filled based on the needs of the facility and terms of the contract. Several partners have asked for reductions in various areas of facility operations due to their own budget issues. Some positions have been eliminated as a result of cutting certain programs with certain contracts to offer the partner a reduced per diem. There have also been some facilities that have experienced a lower population count. "We are making every effort to offer employees opportunities to transfer to facilities with open positions," he said.

What are staff at the Facility Support Center doing to cut costs?
Damon Hininger explained that all FSC departments' budgets have been restricted to the 2008-2009 spending level. The FSC has experienced a hiring freeze through portions of the past year and is expected to remain, in part, this year. Lastly, he explained that FSC's expenses, in 2010, are expected to be below than both industry and competitor's reported expenses as a percentage of revenue.

Has the Excelerate program been functioning long enough to show any trends in cost savings? If so, in what areas and what projects have been successful?
Answered by Damon Hininger, he explained that after the approval process for cost-saving ideas, 204 ideas were approved for final implementation. The implementation phase began in August 2009 and will continue through June 2011. Great successes have been reported from those ideas implemented early in the process. He specifically pointed to success CCA is seeing in new ideas implemented in CCA's Purchasing department.

Will training budgets be expanded to allow ACA certified employees to become reaccredited?
The ACA certification program was funded to increase our staff's knowledge of corrections, explained Brian Collins. We had 164 employees successfully complete their certification last year and we are excited to be able to expand this offering to 300 employees in 2010 including nurses. However, CCA is not planning on funding the reaccreditation of certifications.

Hininger closed the first Town Hall meeting of 2010 by offering sincere thanks to all CCA employees for their dedication and commitment to CCA during this challenging time. He added, "We're all going to be okay by staying focused on our mission." The next Town Hall meeting is scheduled for May 21.

Read more about Damon Hiningers thoughts on the Town Hall

Tell us what you thought about the first quarter Town Hall by posting a comment.