Seagate Commended as Northwest’s Healthiest Large Employer

SPRINGTOWN, Northern Ireland—03 March 2006— In its recent Big Challenge Health Works Awards, the BBC has honoured Seagate Technology’s Springtown facility with the title of Healthiest Large Employer within the Radio Foyle/North West Area. In the same awards, Seagate employee Michael McAnaney, an equipment maintenance technician at the Springtown facility, was also commended as an Unsung Hero.

Michael was nominated because of the encouragement he provides to his colleagues to participate in various health initiatives. McAnaney regularly organises jogging events and weight loss programmes and inspires many of his colleagues to take up these challenges and pursue healthier lifestyles.

The corporate award was given to Seagate’s Springtown facility in recognition of the provision of a wide range of health promotion services and initiatives.

John Spangler, plant manager at the company’s Springtown facility said: “Seagate considers its workforce to be its most important asset and recognises that healthy and happy employees are critical to the company’s success. It’s therefore in our interests to ensure that we do all we can to promote and encourage healthy living and work/life balance.”

The specific services provided for employees include:
* The provision of a written health and safety policy fully endorsed by senior management which clearly states the company’s commitment to promoting and preserving the health, well-being and safety of its employees.
* Making flexible/part-time working hours available.
* Provision of an on-site gym.
* Employing a full-time Occupational Health Nurse and a part-time Occupational Health Physician to look after the general health and well-being of employees, including their rehabilitation as necessary.
* Running regular health promotion activities such as cholesterol screening, blood pressure checks, and providing information on topical health issues such as meningitis, cervical and prostrate cancer. The current work with Foyle Trust to offer Smoking Cessation programmes to employees also contributed.
* Offering a free confidential Employee Assistance Programme to help employees deal with a range of issues, including unlimited access to advice on legal and financial issues, and face-to-face counselling support to help deal with emotional and personal issues.
* Providing a generously subsidised Sports and Recreation Club to encourage employees to organise and participate in sports and leisure events.
* Facilitating on-site yoga classes for employees at lunchtime.
* Regularly arranging reduced-cost alternative therapies on site, to promote health and well-being, such as Indian Head Massage and Reflexology.

About Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives, providing products for a wide-range of Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, and Consumer Electronics applications. Seagate’s business model leverages technology leadership and world-class manufacturing to deliver industry-leading innovation and quality to its global customers, and to be the low cost producer in all markets in which it participates. The company is committed to providing award-winning products, customer support and reliability to meet the world’s growing demand for information storage. Seagate was named 2006 Company of the Year by Forbes Magazine. Seagate can be found around the globe and at www.seagate.com.

Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are U.S. registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC.

Seagate has two facilities in Northern Ireland, employing over 1,800 people between them. At the Springtown wafer fabrication facility, the Company develops and manufactures the recording heads, which write information onto and read information from the recording disc inside a computer’s hard drive. The Company’s Limavady facility produces nickel-plated aluminium substrates, the core material on which computer hard disc drives read, write and store digital information.

Contact Information

June Coates

Seagate Technology LLC

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