Honoring the State's Outstanding Corporate Citizens

Corporate Report Wisconsin, Mar 2007 by Zukowski, Paul

Thanks to the judges

Corporate Report Wisconsin magazine thanks Edgewood College in Madison and Ed Taylor, Edgewood's director of marketing and communications, for coordinating the judging for the Wisconsin Corporate Citizenship Award. This year's judges were:

Tom Eggert, environmental policy specialist, Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources

Denis Collins, professor, School of Business, Edgewood College

Pearl Leonard-Rock, coordinator of programs, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Edgewood College.

John Fields, assistant professor and chair. Philosophy Dept., Edgewood College

Recipients of the first annual Wisconsin Corporate Citizenship Award go beyond the call of duty

Any company that meets its payroll and pleases its customers is doing a good thing for its community. But many Wisconsin companies don't stop there. They take extra efforts to protect the environment, support charities, bolster their workforces, help their communities, and relate to their customers. At Corporate Report Wisconsin magazine, we wanted to come up with a way to recognize and honor these extraordinary corporate citizens.

With the help of Edgewood College in Madison, a private liberal arts institution with a popular MBA program, we created the Wisconsin Corporate Citizenship Award. Companies were asked to provide background on their activities in one or more of these five areas:

1. Environmental stewardship

2. Community relations

3. Employee relations

4. Diversity efforts

5. Customer relations

As one of the judges commented, the companies that stood out seemed to link the quality of the service they provide to their customers with the service and support they provide for their employees. "In addition to the benefits we all hope for (medical, dental, vision), they go a step beyond with benefits I would describe as life changing and life saving: tuition money, options for child care, free clinic services, release time for volunteer hours, and daily conveniences that simply reduce daily Stressors," wrote Pearl Leonard-Rock, coordinator of programs for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Edgewood College.

From the many worthy entries, the judges came up with eight companies they felt deserved a Wisconsin Corporate Citizenship Award. These exceptional companies were honored at a banquet at Edgewood College in February. Here, in brief, are their stories.

4imprint makes impression on employees

Based in Oshkosh, 4imprint provides promotion products to thousands of businesses and organizations large and small in the U.S. and Canada. Using the Internet and catalogs, · 4imprint markets a wide range of imprinted promotional products, ad specialties, and eus- ^ tomized corporate gifts. As part of a publicly traded English company, 4imprint has grown con- ?. siderably over the years and now employs more than 300 people, who are key to its success. i(

CEO and President Kevin Lyons-Tarr said that the original vision for the company was to provide incredible service, and service is all about people. "We strive to create an environment:·: where people are valued and respected," he said in the company's nomination. "In essence, we > run the company by the Golden Rule - treat people as you want to be treated."

The company recently moved into renovated space and made sure to use the latest environmental know-how to create an open and friendly work space. It includes a large atrium and spacious lunchroom where catered food is for sale. Over 50% of new hires are referrals from current employees.

Employees of 4imprint are very active in local charities, and during the year donations are collected for several, including the Humane Society and the local food bank. Quarterly blood drives are held on site. The company also has a "One by One" program, which seeks to give one free order a day for promotional products to a nonprofit group that has applied for the program. The company also gives eight hours of paid personal time off to team members who volunteer to assist a nonprofit group.

Environment is key for Eppstein Uhen Architects

Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc. has roots in Milwaukee that go back 100 years, and opened a Madison office in 2005. That new office gave the firm an opportunity to demonstrate its environmental commitment by organizing a Beyond Design Bike Tour that covered the 84 miles from the Milwaukee office to the Madison office. The event raised $10,000 for WasteCap Wisconsin and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. A Madison-Milwaukee tour in 2006 raised even more money for a Milwaukee school and a Madison neighborhood community center.

Eppstein Uhen Architects expresses a strong commitment to creating and supporting programs to preserve the environment. As architects, they believe it is their responsibility to encourage and educate both clients and staff to consider design and construction strategies that use natural resources wisely. They practice sustainable design to reduce depletion of resources, minimize environmental damage, and create better building environments. Its Milwaukee headquarters is in a restored historic Third Ward building.

Eppstein Uhen and its nearly 150 employees donate time and dollars to almost 100 different nonprofit organizations. The company extends many benefits and extras, including special lunches where the principals serve the food, tickets to special community events, an annual winter holiday party and summer family picnic, and flexible schedules.