T.E.A.M.: Together Everyone Achieves More
A recap of how we put our Core Values into action across the Company in 2020.
Our Core Values are guidelines for how to do our jobs, how to interact with each other and how to live our lives in a way we can be proud of. We embodied these values in 2020, and we can all be proud of our collective effort to put our Core Values into action. Look what we accomplished – together!
- Accountability –
In every division, across the country, every employee contributed to keeping business going – whether remote or onsite, we acknowledged our roles, took on more responsibility and contributed to Olympic Steel’s success. We were creative, flexible and disciplined – setting us up for a strong start to 2021.
- Corporate Citizenship – Last year taught us that grand gestures are not needed to have a grand impact. In 2020, Corporate Citizenship committees across the Company worked creatively to come up with new (COVID-safe) ways to raise money and awareness for local and nationally-recognized charitable organizations. And, when we thought the pandemic would make it nearly impossible to grant wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses, we proved that small efforts throughout the year add up to significant results. The 2020 Working for Wishes campaign generated over $40,000 for the Make-A-Wish® Foundation, granting eight wishes!
- Customer Satisfaction – As an essential business, Olympic Steel facilities continued to operate safely throughout the pandemic, supporting our customers and providing solutions when our customers needed help thinking outside-the-box.
- Employee Development – Working our way through the pandemic will likely be one of the most challenging circumstances on record. Employees in all departments and divisions learned new ways to do their job, may have even learned how to do new jobs to be able to assist when needed and many of us learned how to do our jobs remotely – finding new ways to stay connected while keeping our distance.
- Financial Stability – Through our efforts to reduce inventory and control expenses, we paid down debt, weathered the pandemic and continued our strategy for growth with the purchase of Action Stainless & Alloys.
- Integrity – We’re honest and ethical in all we do, and we don’t just say that, we show you through clear, consistent communications and in the stories, articles and videos we share to IamOlympicSteel.com. Those efforts – to increase transparency across our organization – increased exponentially in 2020.
- Quality – Last year we refreshed the Flawless execution (Fe) Award of Excellence Program and recognized the contributions of 72 employees who identified and implemented ways to improve safety, control expenses and help Olympic Steel perform flawlessly for our customers.
- Respect –
None of what we accomplished would be possible without respecting each other and understanding that despite our differences, we’re all working toward the same goal. It’s respect – for every employee and the diverse perspectives and important contributions they offer Olympic Steel – that’s driving many of the new recognition and culture initiatives that we began rolling out last year.
- Safety – This one goes without saying, yet can’t be said enough – our swift and organized response to the pandemic kept operations running safely and assured that we were doing everything we could to maintain the health and safety of all employees. Even with the added stressors of the pandemic protocols, we managed to improve our Safety Statistics in every category across the board.
- Teamwork – We could not have accomplished what we did in 2020 without the collaboration of teams, departments and divisions across the Company who worked creatively to share best practices and utilize existing resources to help each other out.
Be proud and amazed by all that we achieved in 2020. In any year, what we managed to accomplish is worth celebrating, but especially during a global pandemic – a historic moment for our Company, our country and around the world.
