Employee Recognition
Employee Appreciation and Mission, Vision, Values Month
At the end of July, the CEO announced August would be WSC’s first-ever Employee Appreciation and Mission, Vision, Values Month during his quarterly HQ Broadcast, a live broadcast made available to corporate office employees and management across our family of companies.
The month is dedicated to keeping employees informed and bring visibility to the revised company mission, vision and values. This was done with email communications throughout the month, added signage throughout the office with a graphic displaying it including a framed poster visible outside of the employee café, on the TV screens throughout the office and on WSC’s intranet. Employees were given eco can coolies made out of 80% recycled plastic PET bottles with the values printed on them to keep it top of mind.
Employees were encouraged to connect with the mission, vision and values by supporting the company’s new strategies, and show their passion and enthusiasm for the organization. They could show their support by updating their email signature with new guidelines or utilize LinkedIn banner graphics that were emailed out.
The WSC LinkedIn published posts throughout the month of August to promote the mission, vision and values, and show our appreciation for employees.
Peer Recognition Program
Corporate office staff were able to recognize their peers and colleagues in August during Employee Appreciation and Mission, Vision, Values Month through the Peer Recognition Program that was launched. Those nominated demonstrate our core values of safety, family, integrity, excellence, and stewardship. Nominated employees and those who submitted nominations were entered to win prizes. Nominators could submit more than one nomination, giving them a higher chance to win.
There were two ways nominations could be submitted:
- In-person: Printed forms were placed on a whiteboard in the office connector to be filled out. Completed forms were displayed on the whiteboard, visible for employees to see and read.
- Online: Remote employees had access to use a fillable form and submit via email.
The completed form was then printed and displayed on the whiteboard on their behalf.
100 nominations were submitted, with participation from nearly all departments and nominees from every department. Five nominators and five nominees were randomly selected, one for each value. “Donna has made every effort to make me feel welcome, even as a new employee,” said File Clerk Donna White’s nominator. “She’s gone above and beyond to include me in introductions to different employees. She has truly made me feel like a member of the family.”
The winners were able to select a gift box from a collection of curated gifts from a local gift shop, Happy DSM.
Employee Owner of the Year
The WSC Employee Owner of the Year award serves as recognition for an employee within the WSC family of companies who is an outstanding citizen, exhibits the characteristics of an employee owner and the values of our company, and makes contributions in the best interest of the company.
The Employee Ownership Committee reviewed all the nominations and selected six nominees to move forward through the judging process. A judging panel consisting of management across companies ultimately selected WSC Field Data Solutions Delivery Lead Sarah McFadden to be named this year’s Employee Owner of the Year.
She is currently the co-chair of the Employee Ownership Committee and carries out our mission, “To contribute to the success of our family of companies by advancing and strengthening our culture of ownership through education and communication.” The committee has grown to 20 members and now includes sub-committees to better support our goals of outreach and engagement. The Committee includes perspectives from across our family of companies and works to improve understanding of what it truly means to be an employee owner. Sarah has developed a Central Iowa Networking Committee which consists of other employee-owned businesses in the area to build a community where all employee-owned companies can get together to network and share ideas outside of conferences.
