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Health &
Well-Being

Requires organizations to ensure the health, safety, and mental, physical, and social well-being of all people in their operations and value chains.

Associate Engagement

Engaged associates are our greatest resource. They care about Regions’ success, and the enthusiasm and dedication they bring to work makes life better for their fellow associates, our customers, and the communities we serve. They also consistently generate creativity, innovation, and growth, paving the path to performance excellence. We believe that in order to drive engagement, we must live our values and focus on our strategic priority of Build the Best Team. We do this through our efforts to maintain a culture that best positions us to attract, engage, develop, and retain top talent, especially during challenging times. We celebrate the contributions and achievements of all associates as a Company and reward exemplary performance.

In 2020, our Associate Engagement strategy focused on leveraging engagement to meet the needs of associates and managers during the pandemic as well as to create an intentional focus on culture. Tools and resources related to engagement and the four needs of followers (Trust, Compassion, Stability, and Hope) were developed and distributed to help support managers and associates who were adjusting to different operating environments while also being empathetic to the challenges they were facing outside of work. Three COVID-19 pulse surveys allowed for increased touchpoints with associates and provided feedback that leaders could incorporate into decision-making processes.

A culture analysis was also conducted to better understand the strengths and opportunities we have as an organization and to understand how it feels to be a part of Regions. Aspects of this work consisted of stakeholder interviews with the Executive Leadership Team and associates in various roles across the organization; an artifact review; focus groups with D&I Networks across the Company; and our pulse surveys. All of this work was instrumental in determining the custom questions we included in the 2020 Associate Engagement Survey.

What we know from this work is that the culture at Regions is unique. It engages the associates who come to work every day and differentiates us from other institutions in the minds of our customers. We are on a continuous journey to better understand how associates experience Regions’ culture and how our actions should evolve to meet our associates’ needs; in turn, this understanding strengthens us as a company and enables us to better serve our customers and communities.

Gallup Exceptional Workplace

Based on Regions’ strategic focus on engagement, the culture work completed in 2020, and the 2020 Associate Engagement Survey results, Regions was awarded with our seventh consecutive Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award in 2021. This recognition is awarded to organizations that cultivate a culture of engagement and put people at the heart of their business strategy. Regions was one of 39 companies across the world to receive the distinction. As an award winner, Regions was invited to submit a nominee for Manager of the Year.

Associate Engagement Survey

A fundamental component of building the best team is understanding what parts of our culture drive associate motivation and engagement. Measuring engagement helps us understand what we are doing well and how we can improve and strengthen our culture and fulfill our mission. To this end, Regions distributes an anonymous online Team-Associate Engagement Survey to measure engagement and collect associate feedback on topics relevant that year. Through this survey, associates answer questions that enable us to capture how they feel about their workplace experience at Regions.

The survey includes 12 questions, known as the Q12, designed by Gallup to indicate the level of team engagement and compare progress year over year. Up to 10 customized questions and at least one open-ended question are included in addition to the Q12. In 2020, the results indicated focus areas of performance, advancement, inclusion, agility, and communication that a sample of associates felt were most important to the culture at Regions. Using these themes, 10 questions were developed to dig deeper into these topics. Combining the culture work with the engagement survey process allowed Regions to gather insight and perspective on these important topics from the 86 percent of associates who responded.

1 Gallup Manager of the Year Finalist

2021 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award
winner (based on 2020 results)

2020 Associate Engagement Survey Highlights:

86%
Average Associate
Participation Rate

Increase in Company Grand Mean
from
4.27 to
4.34/5

Highest Results in 8-Year History for
“Someone at work
cares about me”
and
“At work, my
opinions count”

Team-level reports, tools, and resources are provided to managers each year. Managers can then share the results with their teams and have group discussions and impact planning. Teams are encouraged to use the group discussion to have a meaningful dialogue that celebrates the great things they are doing and includes identification of new practices that will drive engagement and positively impact their day-to-day work and performance. By determining a specific plan of action and establishing individual ownership, teams can become unified in achieving shared goals. The tools provided in 2020 also supported managers and associates in having more challenging conversations around the cultural elements included in the custom questions.

Despite an ongoing pandemic and challenges to our operating environment, Regions is very proud of the 2020 Associate Engagement Survey results. Not only did the Grand Mean increase to a 4.34/5 from a 4.27/5 overall, but we also saw increases in the results for 11 of the 12 Q12 items. These increases include the highest results obtained in the survey’s history for two of the 12 items: “Someone at work cares about me,” and “At work, my opinions count.” These two data points indicate the Company’s efforts to listen to, and do what is right for, our associates. In addition, we saw strong results in custom questions related to Regions’ inclusive environment and communication. While there is still work to be done, these results were incredibly encouraging during an otherwise challenging time.

During times of crisis, making the right decisions and taking smart actions is more critical than ever. In order to better understand and address associates’ needs during this crucial time, Regions’ leaders needed access to organization- and local-level data about how associates perceived the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and Regions’ response to the disruptions. In March 2020, a strategy was developed that included a series of three COVID-19 pulse surveys that were distributed via Gallup in April, May, and July of 2020.

Regions is focused on doing what is right for associates and customers.

The surveys were intended to provide crucial information quickly to Regions’ leaders as they navigated organizational decisions and, moreover, to be a powerful listening and feedback tool for managers to use to spark meaningful conversations with their teams about what they needed from their workplace and each other. Each survey ran for three days and all obtained high participation rates. As the pandemic progressed, questions were added to the May and July surveys that gathered feedback on decisions that leaders were facing at that time. May’s survey included questions about working conditions and differences between remote vs. onsite associates, as well as the concerns most important to these two groups. July’s survey took place after social unrest, and questions about Regions’ response to the unrest were included to gauge associate perception of how well the organization was responding to those events and supporting associates.

Regions is extremely proud of the overwhelmingly positive results from these pulse surveys because we believe they reflect, among other things, our strong associate culture. Tools and resources such as activities and discussion guides were developed to support the content for each of these surveys. Existing resources like the EAP and Wellness@Regions were also leveraged to help associates and managers better cope with stresses they encountered both at work and at home. In addition, Coach on Call was developed to provide support to managers who were dealing with situations that were new or challenging to them, such as leading remote or hybrid teams. Flyers, discussion guides, and podcasts were developed to address these topics.

COVID-19 Associate Pulse Survey Results — 2020*
Question April May July
My employer has communicated a clear plan of action in response to COVID-19. April: 89% May: 89% July: 88%
I feel well-prepared to do my job. April: 85% May: 90% July: 89%
My immediate supervisor keeps me informed about what is going on at my company. April: 91% May: 92% July: 90%
My company cares about my overall
well-being.
April: 83% May: 87% July: 87%

* % of associates who strongly agreed or agreed with statement.

2020 Evergreen Week Theme: “Regions United. Better Together.”

Evergreen Week

Although associate appreciation takes place throughout the year, Regions specifically honors all associates every September during Evergreen Week. This week is a time when managers thank associates for their hard work and dedication, celebrate how associates work together to deliver the best results in the right way, and show appreciation for associates’ unique talents and contributions to our Company. Each year, we develop a new theme that guides the activities for the week.

Better Life Award recipients receive an additional week of paid vacation and a $1,000 donation made in the recipient’s name to the nonprofit organization of their choice.

Due to the year’s unique circumstances, teams were able to celebrate in new and different ways that were socially distanced or virtual, ensuring that health and safety standards were upheld. Each associate, whether remote or onsite, also received a Regions gift box delivered to their home or office that included a thank-you letter from our CEO and Regions-branded gifts. All associates also receive an extra day of paid vacation as part of Evergreen Week.

Better Life Award

The Better Life Award is the top award given by Regions to associates for outstanding dedication to customers and the community, as well as job performance. The award recognizes associates who have gone beyond what is required by their day-to-day jobs and whose contributions make life significantly better for others. All associates are eligible to nominate a coworker — or be nominated — for the award.

Benefits and Wellness

We believe that supporting communities and maintaining a sustainable business begins with contributing positively to our associates’ well-being. We strive to make life better for associates by offering a competitive benefits package. Additionally, in 2018, we invested in the lives of our associates by raising the entry-level wage to $15 an hour. Benefits of tax reform allowed us to accelerate our plans to increase wages and make this investment in our associates sooner than initially planned. This change benefited approximately 25 percent of our workforce and represents an investment of more than $20 million annually in our community economies.

Preparing Associates for Retirement

Over 90 percent of Regions associates participate in our 401(k) Plan for Associates. For eligible associates who are not accruing a benefit in the Regions Financial Corporation Retirement Plan, a defined benefit plan closed to new participants, we make an annual 2 percent contribution to their 401(k) Plan, regardless of whether or not they contribute themselves. We also increased our associate match contributions from 4 percent to 5 percent beginning in 2019.

Helping Associates Balance Personal Responsibilities and Work Life

We provide a range of programs to help associates and their families get more out of life. Some examples include:

  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
  • Associate financial fitness program.
  • Tuition reimbursement program, through which associates are eligible for up to $5,000 per year in reimbursements for business-related undergraduate degree courses.
  • Regions Dependent Scholarships Program.
  • Adoption assistance.
  • Company match for eligible charitable contributions of up to $1,000 a year.
  • $5,000 forgivable loan to make it easier for qualifying associates to purchase a home.
  • TeamGreen Banking, which provides associates with discounts on home equity loans, mortgage loans, and other banking services.

Regions further supports work-life balance through a range of work schedules and remote working situations dependent on position, eligibility, and suitability. Alternatives include flexible work schedules, compressed work weeks, alternative daily work schedules, and telecommuting.

Our corporate workplace model has changed to suit associates’ needs and preferences. Our updated workspaces include assigned desks, unassigned desks for those associates with flexible work arrangements, standing desks, social centers, and more small conference rooms. This work environment offers associates the opportunity to choose the environment where they can be most productive. These opportunities create multiple benefits for Regions as well, including operational efficiencies and savings, more options for hiring new talent and retaining existing talent, and a more productive, devoted workforce.

Cultivating Associate Health and Wellness

We provide access to health insurance coverage to associates working at least 30 hours per week that is both comprehensive and affordable to them and their families. Associate health insurance costs are progressively aligned with compensation so that entry-level associates pay the lowest available out-of-pocket premium. We also offer wellness programs and incentives that encourage healthy choices to associates.

The Regions Corporate Wellness program, Wellness@Regions, gives associates access to multiple options for improving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The program includes initiatives in the areas of nutrition, physical well-being, emotional health, and overall well-being, providing associates with resources to enjoy life to the fullest with a healthy focus. Examples include:

  • Vitality, life@regions, HR Connect, and benefits.regions.com, an interactive well-being platform with team weight loss challenges, condition coaching, and wellness champions.
  • Active&Fit Direct — a fitness center discount program with more than 9,000 participating centers to choose from nationwide.
  • Baby Yourself — a prenatal wellness program offered through our health insurance provider that helps expectant mothers receive the best possible care during pregnancy.
  • Chronic eligible condition support — designed to assist associates and dependents manage chronic illness through early intervention, education, and lifestyle changes.
  • EAP — a free and confidential assessment, counseling, and referral service for associates and eligible dependents who need short-term assistance in areas like marital and family issues, stress management, emotional issues, personal growth, and work/life balance.
  • Fitness Connect — an online resource for finding local fitness events, joining local fitness groups, posting area wellness discounts, sharing team photos, and accessing health and fitness information.
  • Flu shots — provided to Regions associates free of charge via workplace flu shot clinics, retail pharmacy programs, network doctors’ offices, or reimbursement for those not on one of Regions’ available health insurance plans.
  • Pack Health Coaching — matches participating associates with a personal health coach for help on a variety of topics from exercise and nutrition to stress and pain management.
  • Preventive care and preventive screenings — offered through our health insurance provider.
  • Tobacco cessation support and tools.
  • Vitality — a comprehensive, interactive, and personalized wellness platform that rewards associates for making healthy choices.

Supporting Associates Navigating Parenthood

Regions’ support of parents begins before their child’s birth with a prenatal wellness program, Baby Yourself. The service provides expectant parents with support and educational materials, including access to a personal nurse whom they can call with questions or concerns throughout their pregnancy.

We recognize that the birth or adoption of a child can be a stressful time of transition financially and from a work-life balance perspective. As a result, we expanded parental leave benefits to reflect our commitment to support associates and their growing families. In 2019, we began providing 12 weeks of fully paid leave for birth mothers and six weeks of fully paid leave for birth parents, including domestic partners and adoptive parents.

Once parents return to work, our support continues through on-site and highly subsidized childcare at two of our largest office locations in the Birmingham area. The Regions TodayCare program is offered to support working parents by providing high-quality, accessible childcare options for full-time, summer, or backup purposes. The program accepts children from six weeks old through pre-K age year-round and school-age children during the summer and on many school holidays.

Nearly 700 associates—mothers and fathers—took advantage of maternity and bonding leave programs during the year.

TodayCare has an open-door policy for parents, welcoming them to visit at any time to spend one-on-one time with their child. They offer dedicated, private space for new moms to nurse their babies and use eco-healthy practices such as washing fruits and vegetables before consumption; purchasing non-toxic toys and art supplies; monitoring daily outdoor air quality; and using less toxic, fragrance-free cleaning products when possible. TodayCare also includes Earth Day in their curriculum and discusses eco-healthy practices with children when the opportunity arises.

Promoting Associates’ Health and Well-Being in the Midst of a Pandemic

Through the challenges posed by the pandemic, Regions brought our mission and values to life while also demonstrating our commitment to keeping associates and customers safe. During 2020 we implemented changes and enhancements that we determined were in the best interests of associates, customers, and the communities we serve. Read more about associate health and safety during the pandemic.

  • Physical Health
    • Expanded access to and payments for telehealth benefits.
    • Implemented no-cost COVID testing and treatment.
    • Offered enhanced leave of absence benefits.
  • Mental Well-Being
    • Enhanced access to resources promoting mental health.
    • Provided new, free, on-demand fitness classes.
  • Working Environment
    • Provided additional compensation to eligible front-line associates.
    • Quickly facilitated work-from-home capabilities for many associates.
    • Supplied masks to remote and front-line associates.
  • Manager Support
    • Issued resources on managing others through a crisis.
    • Equipped managers with tools and support specific to remote management.

Associate Health and Safety in the Workplace

Regions is committed to providing a safe and secure work environment in accordance with applicable employment, safety, health, anti-discrimination, and other workplace laws.

Our well-established workplace safety and security procedures and protocols help to provide a governance framework for associate and customer safety, including but not limited to worksite opening and closing procedures, restricted access, weather monitoring, comprehensive security monitoring, and engagement of third parties for property management. Regions has written policies, guidelines, and standards on the following workplace safety topics:

  • Workplace abusive conduct.
  • Threatening conduct, workplace violence, and prohibition of weapons.
  • Tobacco- and vapor-free workplace.
  • Non-retaliation.
  • Non-harassment.
  • Inclement weather and disasters.
  • Drug-free workplace.

The Regions Corporate Security Department annually inspects branch facilities for any security needs or enhancements and conducts after-hours depository reviews and assessments of incidents at Regions ATMs. In 2020, Regions released new required training for associates that focuses on best practices in active aggressor situations. The training takes associates through real-world scenarios to advise them on how to react to an active aggressor based on their circumstances. In addition to this mandatory training for associates, associates who are assigned to work in a branch environment are required to complete an additional annual training on branch security.

As a part of the Corporate Real Estate Risk Mitigation Program, Regions facilities are inspected throughout the year for any workplace hazards, including potential life safety and personal liability risks. Examples of issues that may arise include slip/fall hazards, trip hazards, and property damage. After a potential risk is identified, documentation is collected and a plan for resolution is created. Annual exterior lighting inspections are conducted to provide well-lit areas around ATMs and night deposit boxes, and mitigation actions are taken where light levels do not meet our corporate standards.

Health and Safety in a Pandemic

Even in a time of social distancing, our business continues to be a people business. As associates and customers continue to navigate the pandemic, Regions remains dedicated to prioritizing everyone’s health and safety within our facilities by:

  • Physically adapting facilities
    • Installed over 10,000 plexiglass shields in branches.
    • Adopted recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on enhancing HVAC filtration and increasing outside airflow to maximum levels.
    • Installed Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization technology in 20 facilities, covering 1.2 million square feet.
    • Placed hand sanitizing stations throughout offices, operations centers, and all branch lobbies.
    • Implemented capacity limitations of no more than 50 percent occupancy to allow for increased social distancing.
    • Installed hand sanitizer dispensers or provided disinfectant products throughout our workplace.
  • Helping keep our locations safer
    • Administered daily Health Questionnaires to retail associates to help mitigate the risk of at-work transmission among associates and customers.
    • Established hands-free protocols and provided devices to promote touch-free environments.
    • Distributed approximately 15,000 informational and directions signs on safety protocols in our facilities.
    • Implemented social distancing guidelines, including floor decals to designate social distances required in common areas.
    • Initiated thorough COVID-19 contact tracing protocols to minimize at-work transmission.
  • Equipping associates with:
    • Disposable facemasks for use when working on site.
    • Reusable, Regions-branded cloth face masks, once production capacity allowed.
    • Hand sanitizer and disinfectants included on the Environmental Protection Agency’s List N (effective at killing COVID-19 without the need for personal protective equipment).
  • Enhancing sanitization procedures
    • Implemented daily sanitization protocols for high-touch points in branches.
    • Performed approximately 2,000 enhanced disinfectant cleanings following identified cases.
    • Increased sanitizing frequency in our large corporate and operations centers.
    • Provided self-service disinfecting supplies throughout each workplace for associate use.

Emergency Preparedness

Our associates’ ability to adapt to, withstand, and rapidly recover from a disaster or catastrophic event is important for both the resiliency of our business and associates’ well-being. While events like these are unpredictable and can impact associates in different ways, there are some constants in how we can best prepare. We include these in Regions Next Step® program materials, which are distributed to associates and include how to create a disaster preparedness plan, the components of the plan, and the essential need to create the plan prior to a disaster occurring. Associates receive guidance on evaluating insurance policies and assessing the need for changes, itemizing belongings, and creating an emergency contact listing.

Regions also holds annual natural disaster resiliency scenario planning sessions. These sessions bring together associates from different areas to consider potential disasters and discuss best reactions to them. This process includes discussion on actions and facility-related strategies that could mitigate the impact of future potential disasters.

During a year that required social distancing and virtual volunteerism, associates logged 37,500 hours in support of communities.

Associates in the Community

We have always valued our associates’ enthusiasm, expertise, and passion that they bring to their roles each day, and 2020 was no exception. Our associates quickly pivoted to safely meet the needs of customers and communities in an ever-changing environment. We are proud of our associates and their dedication to supporting the needs of their communities to make life better.

Share the Good

The annual Share the Good campaign had special meaning in 2020, when Regions associates planned and implemented initiatives across our footprint. The goal, as always, was to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others, and never was it more important than this year. From gifts to front line workers to school supplies, our associates managed to share the good when it was needed most.

What a Difference a Day Makes

The What a Difference a Day Makes program provides associates with the opportunity to take one paid day off each year to make life better by volunteering with nonprofit organizations in their communities. Offered to all full-time associates, this program allows us to partner with them as they help others. We feel confident that this benefit aligns with associate and community expectations of corporate citizenship. In addition, we believe it assists us in attracting and retaining talent while making life better.

The Regions Matching Gifts Program

Available to all full-time Regions associates and recent retirees (within the past five years), the Matching Gifts program provides its participants the opportunity to make an even greater impact on communities by matching their tax-deductible contributions to their favorite qualifying nonprofit organizations. Regions matches gifts of $25 or more to eligible nonprofit organizations, up to $1,000 per participant annually. In order to align our matching gift policy with our strategic priorities, beginning in January of 2021, we expanded our organizational eligibility to reflect our priority areas of Economic and Community Development, Education and Workforce Readiness, and Financial Wellness, in addition to organizations serving service members and veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Supporting the United Way

Regions associates are long-term financial supporters of the United Way through volunteering and personal giving to local United Way chapters throughout our footprint. Associates come together annually for our United Way fundraising campaign that supports the United Way and its network of member agencies in their efforts focused on the health, education, and financial stability in the communities we serve. Associates can elect to have the United Way allocate their donations based on the organization’s strategic programming or focus their donations in areas associates are interested in supporting, such as education, financial literacy, youth programming, and affordable housing. In 2020, Regions supported more than 130 United Way chapters across our footprint and donated over $7.7 million through Regions Bank, Regions associates, and the Regions Foundation.