Culture
Culture Club
The WSC Culture Club combines the forces of employee committees so that we can support each other’s initiatives and unite in our goal to create a community-focused culture for the WSC and WOS employees. The Culture Club meets monthly and consists of up to two employee representatives from each of the below committees, a WOS representative, and a Culture Club chair. A representative from each committee, the chair and CEO meet on a quarterly basis to review each quarter’s budget and spend. Involvement in the Culture Club is all volunteer based. In 2022, Culture Club had a total of 37 active members. Committees include:
Charitable Giving
The committee ensures that all WSC donations, sponsorships and company volunteer activities are coordinated and aligned with our values and business goals, foster long-term partnerships and are within our budget and resources. A newer committee responsible for the oversight of WSC’s charitable giving including determining yearly strategy and budget for charitable giving, considering and approving contribution requests, and tracking contributions throughout the year.
Community Involvement
The committee provides opportunities for employees to get involved in our communities using their volunteer hours. Often times, they will collaborate with other committees such as charitable giving to assist in getting volunteers for sponsored events. In 2022, the committee planned several cleanups so WSC could adopt a nearby street, Raccoon River Drive. In addition to cleanups, opportunities have included building goodie bags for senior living homes, toy and food drives, packing meals and more.
Employee Ownership
The committee’s mission is to contribute to the success of our family of companies by advancing and strengthening our culture of ownership through education and communication. Members often present to divisions throughout the company the benefits of being an employee-owned company and hold Employee Ownership Month festivities. Subcommittees include the historian, education/communication and ownership/contest to focus efforts and expand membership to more field staff.
Special Events
The Special Events Committee is responsible for planning and executing exciting and meaningful events for WSC employees. This committee works to promote inclusivity in the office through holiday celebrations such as, but not limited to, Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Pride Month, in addition to hosting the company summer picnic and end of fiscal year party. Their goal is to bring people together, fostering a sense of community and promoting the values of our organization.
Wellness
The committee’s mission is to lookout for the health and well-being of our employees through a number of initiatives and programs including a wellness portal, educational videos and events, a community garden and more.
To provide opportunities for remote employees to participate in the company’s wellness program and stay healthy, the committee added content those who work from home could utilize. Also, lunch and learns were relaunched and made available to remote employees, as they were live-streamed or recorded for those who couldn’t attend in person.
Through the employee community garden, WSC was able to donate produce grown by our employees to the Food Bank of Iowa. The community garden provided us with an abundance of lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers that were available to employees throughout the summer.
Community Board
Facilities added a community board for employees to use for non-work-related personal announcements and events outside of the café. The new board will give employees the opportunity to share information with their fellow employees.
Ethical Standards
WSC’s employee handbook outlines several employment policies, procedures and practices. This contains equal opportunity employment policies, a code of conduct policy, business ethics statement, a harassment policy and a protection against retaliation policy. Management and human resources staff have an open-door policy as well to report incidents and provide suggestions to improve the workplace.
Translation Program Committee
As we strive for continual improvement, we realized a need for consistent, high-quality professional translations for our workforce, customers and clients. Through a process of evaluating multiple vendors, our Translation Program Committee of eight employees, found a translation service company who met all of our needs, now and into the future.
They provide Spanish and French-Canadian translations, and many more. Employees are able to request translations through our shared services department liaison for items such as and not limited to:
- Internal communications – brochures, postcards, newsletters
- Recruitment advertisements
- Procedures/training materials – operations, compliance, software
- HR materials – policies, forms/applications, benefits
- Public-facing or external use documents
- E-learning content
- Video and closed captioning/subtitles
- Websites
The liaisons handle the process of submitting requests to our vendor and provide estimates before submission. A full policy and a company glossary were provided to the translation service company to ensure branding and consistent translations – both can be found on our company intranet.
Translations by the Numbers
192,318
WORDS TRANSLATED
BY VENDOR
182
DOCUMENTS TRANSLATED
BY VENDOR
