About a 3 min. read
Originally published by the ITA Group, Inc.
West Des Moines, Iowa, May 23, 2018 – ITA Group has been selected by The ESOP Association as the winner of the 2018 Annual Award for Communications Excellence (AACE) in the “Video, 250+ Employees” category. Sponsored annually by the Association, the AACE awards recognize the outstanding communications and educational programs of its members. The award specifically recognizes ITA Group’s “Employee Ownership: Unique Perspectives on a Unified Vision” video, an in-house production featuring authentic team member outlooks on what it means to be an employee owner.
“This award embodies the enormous pride we have in employee ownership at ITA Group,” said Tim Heaston, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “As team members, it’s our privilege to be part of an organization we each have a stake in. It’s why we make the effort to communicate the value of employee ownership in the most authentic and impactful ways.”
ITA Group has been 100% employee-owned since 1987 and the program is foundational to the organization’s rich culture. Furthermore, it guides the way in which employee owners approach their work. “[Employee ownership is the drive] to do better,” said Heather Sindelar, Supervisor, Solution Development Services. “To do better for us, to do better for our clients and to do better for our organization.”
Ongoing communication about the corporate-wide benefit is facilitated by ITA Group’s ESOP Committee, whose mission is to provide a two-way channel that optimizes team member knowledge of the ESOP benefit and ultimately grow the organization by aligning ownership with strategic business objectives. The 10-member committee is segmented by role and tenure in an effort to distribute input and collectively represent the organization.
About AACE Awards
AACE award winners are chosen by a panel of five judges made up of both management and non-management employee owners, each of whom has demonstrated active experience and interest in the field of ESOPs and employee ownership communications. Awards are based on overall quality and quantity of employee owner education, contributions of employee owners, integration of the ESOP into company culture, frequency of ownership communications, involvement and/or response of employee owners, encouragement of ownership attitudes, clear expectations, creative ideas, graphic design and technical quality.
The Association’s annual conference is held in May in Washington, D.C., where awards are distributed to the organizations that have excelled in communicating the ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) and its meaning to its employees.