Valassis Named 'Best Company for Hourly Workers' by Working Mother Magazine

LIVONIA, Mich., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today its inclusion on Working Mother magazine's esteemed list of the Best Companies for Hourly Workers for the second consecutive year. The award recognizes employers with the best policies and programs for promoting women and a dynamic work/life culture. Valassis is one of 12 companies that made the list in 2012, and the only company based in Michigan.

Working Mother considered the following areas when compiling their Best Companies list:

• Culture;
• Workforce profile;
• Benefits;
• Training, development and advancement;
• Work and flexibility;
• Paid time off and leaves; and
• Work/life programs.

A majority of the Best Companies offer career advancement opportunities, including technology training and supervisor/team leader preparatory training. Nine out of 12, including Valassis, offer mentoring, career counseling and vocational skills training.

"Inclusion on this list is a testament to the dedication of our hourly associates, the passion they have for the work they do and their continued efforts to change to meet the rapidly changing needs of our industry," said Ron Goolsby, Valassis Chief Operating Officer, who oversees the company' manufacturing operations, client services, strategic sourcing and information technology areas. A majority of Valassis' 3,000 hourly associates work in these areas. "Our associates and leaders work together to achieve flexibility between business and family needs.  I am very proud of our ability to balance these factors and create a positive overall career environment important to all of our associates, especially working mothers." 

All of the Best Companies for Hourly Workers offer flexible work arrangements. On average, 73% of hourly workers at these Best Companies use flextime, up from 68% in 2011.  At Valassis, numerous work schedules exist to meet business needs while also offering opportunities for family time. Valassis offers a wide range of options that enable associates to take care of family needs such as school meetings, doctor's appointments and children activities.

Valassis provides a host of convenient services with a focus on a culture where work/life balance is encouraged. Among these amenities are onsite workout facilities and discounts,  health fairs/flu shots, dry cleaning, postal services and discount tickets, to name a few. 

"This year's Best Companies exemplify best-practices, workplaces and cultures to help female hourly workers thrive," said Jennifer Owens, Editorial Director of Working Mother Media. "Most of the companies use the 70-20-10 rule: Focus 70% of your time on getting on-the-job experience, 20% on developing internal relationships and networks and 10% on formal training."

Here are the Best Companies for Hourly Workers of 2012:

The full results of the WM Best Companies for Hourly Workers report can be found at www.workingmother.com/hourly.

Earlier in the year, Valassis was recognized as a "Top 50 Company for Executive Women" by the National Association for Female Executives; by AZ Magazine in Arizona where it has an office in Phoenix as a "Top 25 Workplace for Women" and most recently on Advertising Age's Best Places to Work List.

About Valassis
Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum® media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc.  For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com, http://www.redplum.com and http://www.save.com. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: price competition from our existing competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in client preferences for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation and/or increased competition from new media formats including digital; an unforeseen increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other counterparties; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors, including, without limitation, high levels of coupon redemption rates; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; clients experiencing financial difficulties, or otherwise being unable to meet their obligations as they become due, could affect our results of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the market areas in which we conduct our business, including the adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are described in greater detail in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and the foregoing information should be read in conjunction with these filings.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Valassis