CIGNA Initiative Celebrates Return to Work Programs, While Also Supporting Local Charities

CIGNA (NYSE: CI) is piloting the Return & Receive^SM program that encourages its disability insurance client employers to use CIGNA's vocational rehabilitation services, while also helping to make a difference in their community. During the pilot phase, CIGNA will make a $125 donation to an approved charity of the employer’s choice for each employee out on long-term disability leave who successfully returns to work with the assistance of CIGNA’s vocational rehabilitation counselors.

"Employees who are out of work due to an injury or illness are often anxious about whether a job will be there for them,” said Mark Marsters, senior vice president, CIGNA, Group Operations. "When employers are champions of helping people return to work as part of their health and productivity programs, employees have an easier time during the recovery process and are more likely to come back.”

Many employees value a job and what it represents in their lives. A March 2010 CIGNA study exploring the attitude of Americans toward work revealed that 63 percent of Americans derive satisfaction from their work beyond the paycheck.¹ In the case of employees on disability leave, employers discover that more people return to work when the employer becomes active in the process. According to the North American Staying at Work Report, companies with the most effective health and productivity programs are more likely to have lower health care costs, lower levels of presenteeism, fewer days lost due to disabilities and lower levels of turnover relative to their industry peers.”²

"Employers have a lot invested in their employees – from training to important customer relationships to experience and expertise. Investing in returning a valued employee to work has a benefit to the bottom line as well as the success of the employee in need of assistance,” Marsters continued. "The Return and Receive program is a tangible way to celebrate return to work by also giving back to the community.”

The pilot phase of the program includes employers ranging in size from 250 to more than 20,000 employees. CIGNA Corporation, with 26,000 employees, is also participating in the pilot. Total donations during the six month pilot are expected to be approximately $25,000.

About CIGNA

CIGNA (NYSE: CI) is a global health service and financial company dedicated to helping people improve their health, well-being and sense of security. CIGNA Corporation's operating subsidiaries in the United States provide an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and vision care benefits, as well as group life, accident and disability insurance. CIGNA offers products and services in over 27 countries and jurisdictions and has approximately 60 million customer relationships throughout the world. All products and services are provided exclusively by such operating subsidiaries and not by CIGNA Corporation. Such operating subsidiaries include Life Insurance Company of North America, CIGNA Life Insurance Company of New York, and Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. To learn more about CIGNA, visit www.cigna.com. To sign up for email alerts or an RSS feed of company news, log on to http://newsroom.cigna.com/rss. Also, follow us on Twitter at @cigna, visit CIGNA’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/cigna and listen to CIGNA's podcast series with healthy tips and information at http://www.cigna.com/podcasts or by searching "CIGNA" in iTunes.

¹ The Live to Work, Work to Live study conducted by Yankelovich, on behalf of CIGNA (March 2010), http://newsroom.cigna.com/images/56/Live%20to%20Work%202010%20Report.ppt

² 2009/2010 North American Staying@Work Report: The Health and Productivity Advantage (December 2009) http://www.towerswatson.com/research/648