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A collective commitment to responsible business

Oshkosh Corporation named one of ‘America’s Most Responsible Companies’ for fourth consecutive year

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December 28, 2022

OSHKOSH – “You first have to do the right thing for your customers and your employees, and the rest takes care of itself.”

Those are the words of Kevin Tubbs, vice president and chief ethics, compliance and sustainability officer for Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK), in regard to being named one of “America’s Most Responsible Companies” for the fourth consecutive year.

“Newsweek started this process four years ago,” he said. “Oshkosh has been fortunate enough to have been recognized as one of the most responsible companies all four years.”

As part of the process, Newsweek looks at approximately the top 2,000 publicly traded companies with U.S. headquarters.

America’s Most Responsible Companies were selected based on publicly available key performance indicators (KPIs) derived from corporate social responsibility, sustainability and other reports, plus an independent, qualitative survey.

“There are two pieces to it,” Tubbs said. “One is quantitative, one is qualitative and then they look at those together and they select the 500 companies that make up the most responsible company list they have.”

In terms of responsibility for the environment, Tubbs said that is making sure Oshkosh is doing the right thing in terms of “energy, greenhouse gas emissions and waste reduction.”

“We have programs in place to deal with those kinds of issues,” he said.

From a social aspect – Tubbs said Oshkosh Corporation is actively involved in the community through its Feed the Body, Feed the Soul program.

“We’re trying to help take care of people with hunger,” he said.

Tubbs said Oshkosh also provides its employees with their own opportunities to give back.

“We give our employees volunteer hours – they can take paid time to go and participate in the community,” he said.

From a governance standpoint, Tubbs said, “we’ve got proper board oversight.”

From a social aspect – Kevin Tubbs said Oshkosh Corporation is actively involved in the community through its Feed the Body, Feed the Soul program. Submitted Photo

“We are doing the right thing making sure our operations are conducting business ethically and in compliance with the law,” he said. 
Tubbs said the list isn’t something businesses apply for, which adds to the importance of the recognition.

“It’s their evaluation, their process, their independent look at it that decided we belonged on this list,” he said.

In addition to being named a responsible company, Tubbs said Oshkosh Corporation has also been named one of Fortune’s 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies, a Leading Disability Employer 2022 by the National Organization on Disability, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere™ for seven consecutive years and named to the 2022 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI).

“I never want us to take these for granted,” he said. “Whether it’s the (responsible) award for four years in a row or the world’s most ethical award for seven years in a row – there’s a lot of work that goes into getting these recognitions.”
Tubbs said Oshkosh Corporation needs to continue to innovate in all aspects of business and if it does that, “these recognitions will come.”

“You don’t do it to get these recognitions, but if you’re doing the right thing for the business and the customers, people notice,” he said. “And when people notice, then you get these kudos.”

Responsible to its core
Tubbs said Oshkosh Corporation has four core values it focuses on in all aspects of operations.

“They basically are the pillars of where things started at Oshkosh,” he said. “We put people first, we do the right thing, we’re better together and we persevere.”

Tubbs said all of these things are consistent with how Oshkosh – a manufacturing company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies and airport fire apparatus – views itself and how it wants others to view them.

“It’s important because not only is it the right thing to do, but there’s obviously a war for talent these days where people want to work for companies that do meaningful work,” he said. “We think our mission is important. We’re talking about helping the warfighter get home safely or firefighters do their work safely or people work safely at heights. But (employees) also want to work for a company that cares about sustainability.”

As a publicly traded company, Tubbs said investors also want to make sure they are investing in a company that is doing things the “right way.”

//s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1672259624726x372290090219004000/richtext_content.webpKevin Tubbs

“And our customers want to make sure they’re dealing with people they can rely on and provide good quality products but are also doing things in an ethical manner and doing things to minimize their environmental footprint,” he said. “There are more stakeholders that are interested in what we’re doing as a company – and not just what our results are, but how we’re doing it.”

Tubbs said it’s also important to show appreciation to the employees behind the efforts being recognized.

“At the end of the day, they’re probably our most important constituency,” he said. “That’s something we possibly don’t do enough of. So, making sure we’re also saying, ‘thank you’ after we get these awards because (our) people are out there doing the right thing.”

Midwest roots
Tubbs said though Oshkosh Corporation sells products worldwide, it has Midwestern values.

“We’re a Northeastern Wisconsin-based company, but we’re also a global company,” he said. “We have manufacturing operations in countries around the world – whether that’s in the UK. France, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada. So, we need to compete from here on a global stage.”

Tubbs said these recognitions help showcase Oshkosh’s efforts on a global scale.

“These recognitions, whether it’s U.S.-centric or whether it’s global, shows that a Midwest company – we’ve got Midwest roots, and we started small – but we are an eight-plus billion-dollar company that competes globally,” he said. “So, to know if you’re working for Oshkosh, buying an Oshkosh product or investing in Oshkosh all around the world, this is the kind of company we are.”

TBN
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