Contribution & Reputation

CONTRIBUTION

Wright Service Corp. recognizes the important role that charitable, non-profit organizations play in the communities where we live and work. To align with our values and mission, we strive to provide financial contributions and volunteer support to causes/organizations that support public safety, sustainable communities and environments, champion education and innovation within the vegetation management industry and our communities and support the health and well-being of families.

A charitable giving policy and committee was established in 2020 to outline qualifications that must be met for all giving efforts. To align with the WSC mission and core values, the company’s charitable giving focuses in six areas:

‒ Health and well-being

‒ Innovation and education

‒ Sustainable environments and communities

‒ Industry (labor/agriculture/arboriculture)

‒ Disaster recovery

‒ Veteran support

Although WSC contributes monetarily to organizations and causes, brand recognition often goes toward subsidiaries such as Wright Outdoor Solutions or Wright Tree Service in the markets they serve in Iowa.

Beyond monetary donations, each WSC full-time employee has eight hours of paid time per year to use toward volunteering for a companysponsored event, or a charity or non-profit of their choice. Although COVID-19 interfered with many company-organized activities in 2020 and 2021, we still participated in the following:

‒ 9th annual sponsorship and participation in the Meals from the Heartland Annual Hunger Fight

‒ Hosted our 4th annual American Red Cross Community Blood Drive at the WSC office

‒ Festival of Trees and Lights

‒ Canned Food Drive

‒ Toys for Tots

‒ Adopt-a-Family

‒ Earth Day Clean Up

‒ Grocery Bag Drive

‒ United Way Campaign

Highlights

179

volunteer hours used

$229,484.30

in financial contributions were provided to 36 organizations for the 2021 fiscal year

1,948

grocery bags collected

25

Christmas gifts provided

18

bags of trash collected

2,000,000

bulk meals packaged at the Annual Hunger Fight (contributed to)

Memberships

WSC is proud to be members and support the following local and national organizations.

‒ Iowa Sustainable Business Forum – connects Iowa businesses to continuously improve practices that positively impact people, planet and profits.

‒ West Des Moines Chamber – a network of community and business leaders in West Des Moines.

‒ Iowa/Nebraska Chapter of The ESOP Association – more than 130 ESOP companies and professional service providers with a mission to help ESOP companies excel by providing their members with educational and networking opportunities.

‒ Des Moines Performing Arts – part of a dedicated group of community and business leaders that value Des Moines Performing Arts and their tradition of providing world-class entertainment, education, and cultural activities.

‒ Hoyt Sherman – provides quality programming year-round. The membership helps keep entertainers including live music, comedy, spoken word, big band and more returning to the historic theater.

REPUTATION

The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) updates an Employee Ownership 100 list each year – recognizing the nation’s largest companies that are at least 50% owned by an ESOP or other broad-based employee ownership plan. WSC is the 28th largest employee-owned company in the United States.

2021 IA/NE ESOP Company of the Year

The Iowa/Nebraska Chapter of The ESOP Association recognized WSC as the 2021 Company of the Year at its Annual Spring Conference. The ESOP Company of the Year award is presented to a company that demonstrates a commitment to employee ownership, as exhibited by involvement with the Association and its programs, clear communication with employees, and its commitment to the Association’s vision of endorsing employee participation, wealth creation, and individual dignity and worth.

To be considered for the honor, the company had to submit answers to questions regarding how the value of the ESOP has been maximized to benefit employee-owners, ownership education, chapter, and national involvement, and more. Our Employee Ownership Committee was able to transition many of our traditional in-person events into virtual ones. They used the “new” virtual space to expand our reach to a larger audience. We saw a large jump in participation in submissions for Employee Owner of the Year, Poster Competition, and Guess the Value. For the first time, we had a live broadcast to reveal the 2020 share price. A field outreach group was formed to improve engagement and outreach across our family of companies.

WSC was one of 18 companies considered for the national ESOP Company of the Year award, and was one of the five finalists. WSC was one of 5 finalists considered for the national ESOP Company of the Year Award.

Social Media

WSC recognizes that social networking platforms can be powerful digital communication tools for sharing ideas and exchanging information. We’re committed to using social media to promote its brand and maintain communications with current and prospective employees, customers, business partners, vendors and suppliers, and the general public. WSC is focused on ensuring that its use of social network platforms serve its need to maintain its brand identity, integrity, and reputation while minimizing risks to the Company, its customers, and employees. Employees who post to social media should be mindful that their online activities do not violate our social media policy.

WSC uses LinkedIn to share updates about our family of companies to employees, clients and the community. By the end of 2021, 1,073 people followed the company page, a 30.48% increase from 2020. Compared to the previous year, the WSC LinkedIn page had a 520% increase in reactions, 300% increase in comments and 566.7% increase in shares on our posts.

Industry Leadership

Employees of our family of companies author and submit articles to industry publications throughout the year, such as the Utility Arborist Association’s Utility Arborist Newsline. WSC has an internal editorial committee who brainstorm topics and determine subject matter experts to write articles.

In addition, many employees are active members of industry and professional organizations. We encourage our employees to get involved in the industries and communities we serve, and it is also a requirement for our LEAD Program participants. These groups will be highlighted in individual company reports.

WSC’s Contract Administration Manager serves on the board of the Iowa/Nebraska Chapter of The ESOP Association.

Vendors

At this time WSC is creating policies such as Vendor Code of Conduct and Supplier Diversity Policy that our suppliers or service providers are required to follow. We seek out those that share our vision and follow a similar mission to reach our goals. We strive to work with local providers in our community. We understand that those we choose to work with will uphold our reputation in the community and with our current and future clients.

Corporate Communications

With the remodel, 13 TV screens were added throughout the building. The Culture Club and departments have the opportunity to create their own screens for approval to inform employees of company or department news, events, reminders and important dates in history. These have also included progress on the compost and recycling program, information on the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and days or months of recognition with educational information like Black History Month and Women’s History Month and more. It’s an additional way to communicate with employees beyond email communications.