Award Recognizes Top Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts in North America
PITTSFIELD, MA – Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®, has been named a finalist for the prestigious 2017 Halo Award, the winner of which will be announced in Chicago on June 1, 2017.
The Halo Awards encompass North America's highest honor for corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and are presented annually at the Engage for Good conference in Chicago. These prestigious awards look at social campaigns that take innovative and impactful approaches to supporting causes, targeting both consumers and employees. Past recipients of the awards include many of the most globally recognized brands.
Berkshire Bank was named a finalist in the Employee Engagement category, which highlights programs focused on meaningfully and measurably engaging a company's employees in a cause-focused initiative to achieve both a social and a business impact. Berkshire is being recognized for its Xtraordinary Day of Service, which occurred in June 2016, through which it mobilized 95% of the workforce to directly impact more than 100,000 individuals, as well as with its broader XTEAM® corporate employee volunteer program. The other finalists for the award include Viacom, Kohl's, and Xylem Watermark.
Berkshire Bank is well known for its community commitment locally, but has also attracted national attention in the last year for the overall impact of the XTEAM® corporate employee volunteer program. The program provides every employee with paid time off to volunteer during regular business hours at a series of company supported projects. 100% of the company's workforce participated in the program last year donating over 40,000 hours of service. The volunteer program complements the company's commitment to the communities it serves, along with the more than $2 million providing annually through grants and sponsorships.
About Berkshire Bank Foundation
Through foundation grants to nonprofits, scholarships to students, environmental programs, and employee volunteerism, Berkshire Bank is making a difference. Each year the Foundation donates $2 million to nonprofits throughout the Bank's footprint and 100% of bank employees provide over 40,000 hours of service through their XTEAM® corporate volunteer program. Berkshire Bank was named one of Massachusetts' Most Charitable Companies by the Boston Business Journal in 2016. To learn more about Berkshire Bank Foundation, visit www.berkshirebank.com/community.
About Berkshire Bank
Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE: BHLB) is the parent of Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®. The Company, recognized for its entrepreneurial approach and distinctive culture, has $9.2 billion in assets and 97 full service branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania providing personal and business banking, insurance, and wealth management services. To learn more, visit www.berkshirebank.com, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Berkshire Bank is the official bank of NESN's Boston Bruins coverage and the community partner of Boston Season at City Hall Plaza.
Contact: Heidi Higgins
Berkshire Bank
Phone: (413) 236-3756
E-Mail: hhiggins@berkshirebank.com
Vanessa Pesa
Berkshire Bank
Phone: 413-281-4532
E-Mail: vpesa@berkshirebank.com