Working Environment

Training and Education

Associates in our U.S. Operations participated in more than one million cumulative hours of training during 2008. Associates received, on average, more than 50 hours of training during the reporting period, with actual hours varying by function and need, in the areas of Retail, Contract sales, customer service contact centers, merchandising, supply chain and information technology.

Specialized training implemented or expanded in 2008, included economic value-added analysis and compliance training, which included ethics and antitrust curriculum. Compliance training in 2009 included: Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, people with disabilities and veterans training, and workplace harassment training.

OfficeMax also continued its leadership development management training program, “Building a High Performance Team,” investing over 17,000 training hours in this course.

OfficeMax conducted Diversity and Inclusion education and awareness training as part of our overall diversity and inclusion efforts, with plans to implement diversity and inclusion e-learning in 2009.

Internship and University Relations Program

The OfficeMax Internship and University Relations Program was implemented in 2007 to strategically support our need to recruit world-class talent and our commitment to promoting quality educational experiences in the community. Due to economic circumstances, the program was temporarily suspended in the later part of 2008. During this time, we have continued our relationships with our partner institutions established previously by our University Relations and Human Resources functions. For 2008, these schools included: Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, Texas A & M University, and University of Notre Dame.