PHOENIX – Cox Communications has received the largest and most prestigious workforce diversity award in Arizona this year. The 2006 AZ SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) Workforce Diversity Award in the large company category has been awarded to Cox Communications Arizona. The mission of the alliance is to guide leaders in the transformation of culture to build an inclusive community.

“Diversity is a very large part of who we are at Cox Communications Arizona and what we do best. We are both excited and proud to have won this award and to be recognized by our peers for our appreciation of diversity in the workforce,” says Kevin Moran, vice president of human resources for Cox Arizona.

The award recognizes best practices in diversity and inclusion among all employers statewide. Cox Communications competed against other large businesses in the state including Honeywell and Safeway Stores. Cox is a founding member of the Diversity Leadership Alliance but has never won this award before.

The criteria for the 2006 awards included:

• Adding measurable value to the company
• Strengthening community relationships
• Benefiting the employees' quality of life

Cox Arizona provides various opportunities to our employees to promote diversity. Cox employees are provided training in 'Creating an Inclusive Environment.' This half-day workshop provides employees with the foundational awareness, knowledge and tools they need to create an inclusive environment. It gives them the skills they need to interact with other employees in the most productive ways and helps them understand the value diversity brings to the business and how it supports the core values of Cox Communications.

“It seems to me that our business should mirror the communities we serve. If we do so, we become more effective in gaining and retaining customers and improving our credibility in Arizona. A study of institutions shows that this can take place naturally over time, but that the process is a very slow one. Therefore, introducing 'management' works as an accelerant to this evolution so that our mirroring takes place in a quicker and more useful way,” says Steve Rizley, vice president and region manager of Cox Arizona.

Note to media: Interviews with Cox Arizona leaders are available by calling Linda Nofer at (623) 328-3267. For more information on the Diversity Leadership Alliance visit www.diversityleadershipalliance.org. You can learn more about the workforce diversity awards at www.workforcediversityawards.com.

Cox Communications Arizona
Cox Communications, a Fortune 500 company, is a multi-service broadband communications company serving nearly three million residential and business service subscribers in Arizona (a service subscriber measures an individual service purchased by a customer). In the Phoenix area, Cox serves more than 2.5 million service subscribers in 28 communities. In Southern Arizona, Cox serves more than 350,000 service subscribers in 14 communities. Cox’s 15,000-mile hybrid fiber coaxial cable network throughout Phoenix and Southern Arizona provides homes and businesses digital television, high-speed Internet access, home networking, high-definition television and telephone service. Cox Arizona offers award winning products and services to residential and business customers, and recently received the highest honors from J.D. Power and Associates’ Residential All-Distance Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study in the Western Region for the forth consecutive year and highest among Internet service providers in the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2005 Internet Service Provider Residential Satisfaction Study. Cox Business Services (CBS) received highest marks from J.D. Power and Associates for customer satisfaction among small/midsize business data service providers in the nation. Cox has also won the PC Magazine Readers’ Choice Award three constitutive times. Local cable advertising, promotional opportunities and production services are sold under the Cox Media brand. Statewide, Cox contributes more than $10 million annually in cash and in-kind contributions to community-based organizations, including local youth and education programs and employs more than 2,500 Arizonans. Cox Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc and serves approximately 6.7 million customers nationwide, including 6.3 million basic cable subscribers. Additional information about Cox in Arizona is available at www.cox.com/arizona.