A Letter from Marc B. Lautenbach
President and Chief Executive Officer
October 2013
In the 10 months since I joined Pitney Bowes, I have gained a deeper understanding of the achievements, aspirations and extraordinary potential of this unique 93-year-old company. Every day, our innovative technologies and powerful solutions are helping clients seize opportunities across the globe—opening markets, engaging consumers, speeding transactions and expediting the delivery of goods and services. At the same time, our people are actively reshaping our organization to unlock additional value and meet emerging needs with energy, enthusiasm and focus.
What enables a great company to renew itself as it heads toward its second century? In our case, the fundamental recognition that the health of our company and the health of all our constituencies are intertwined-that we succeed for our shareholders by helping our clients, our neighbors, our people and our planet. Ultimately, we are in the business of creating opportunity, both inside and outside Pitney Bowes. This is why our long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility is stronger than ever today.
Over the past year we've demonstrated our commitment in a variety of ways:
- We have strengthened our focus on improving clients' experience of Pitney Bowes and helping to ensure that they capture full value from their relationships with us. It is not enough to develop transformative technologies-we must also equip people to capitalize on them. Last year we drew nearly 1,000 U.S. clients to Innovation Summits and Get Connected events to help them maximize the return on our solutions. In addition, we embraced the important task of integrating back-office platforms to ensure seamless transactions for all our clients. These efforts are already beginning to show results through improved retention, higher ratings on client surveys, and external validation from organizations including Aflac, Forrester Research and the Omega Management Group.
- To deliver for our clients, we must deliver for our employees through an inclusive global culture that combines respect for the individual with rigorous professional development, support for healthy living, and an eye toward the next generation of innovators and leaders. Pitney Bowes has a long history of standing up for diversity and encouraging opportunity for all. Last year, we celebrated our 25-year partnership with INROADS to develop high-potential minority youth and prepare them for corporate and community leadership through mentoring, training and summer internships. And within the company, we expanded our Workplace Agility program, which enables employees to take advantage of flexible working arrangements, both on- and offsite. As of spring 2013, approximately 40 percent of all eligible employees were agile.
- We continue to raise the bar on green manufacturing and energy efficiency, to the benefit of our employees, clients and communities. Our product take-back program has passed the 50-year mark, and last year we recycled 5.7 million pounds of materials. We use every means available to help reduce our carbon footprint, from employee awareness to process innovations and site consolidation. Once again in 2012, we placed among the top 20 in our industry in the EPA's Green Power Partner ratings.
- Our employees' dedication to community service is unwavering. Last year they volunteered more than 80,000 hours of their time to efforts ranging from tutoring students in Pittsburgh to painting a schoolhouse in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, as a company we strengthened our support for skills-based volunteerism by joining forces with A Billion + Change, a national campaign that mobilizes companies to give pro bono or skills-based service to address important societal needs. And through the Pitney Bowes Foundation, we continued to press forward on the issues of literacy, education, and workforce preparedness, engaging students and families all the way from preschoolers to adults in conjunction with leading nonprofit organizations such as Reading Is Fundamental, the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship and ProLiteracy, to name just a few.
You'll find much more on these and other programs in this report. Taken together, the evidence is compelling: 93 years strong, Pitney Bowes continues to find new and better ways to create opportunity for everyone we serve. I'm honored to be a part of this great company.
We welcome your feedback on our programs and report.
Marc B. Lautenbach
President and Chief Executive Officer
