United Rentals

Company: United Rentals
Innovation Title: Month of Impact
Company Website: www.unitedrentals.com
Year Introduced: 2022

Executive Summary

In early 2022, we set six new Corporate Responsibility goals, one of which included our public goal to achieve 44,953 Hours of Impact focused on making a positive impact in our locations and within our communities in celebration of our 25th anniversary as an international company.

We dedicated November as our Month of Impact. To ensure that employees had the opportunity to make an impact within our communities and ourselves, United Rentals created geographic events and company-wide virtual events through our employee resource groups. Whether it is through giving back to a local charity, or through personal and professional development, we believe that when we Work United, together we can make a huge impact.

Some highlights thus far include our Nashville, TN team raised $60,000 for the Fisher House Foundation (a charity and foundation that builds comfort homes where military & veterans families can stay free of charge, while a loved one is in the hospital). Our New Orleans, LA team “had an incredible day partnering with the New Orleans Mission serving over two hundred people in need some of the best southern cooking imaginable and loaded bags of hygiene products.”

Our ERGs organized 7 company- wide events that will take place in November, including: “Sustainability Programs and Trends: A Discussion with Representatives of UR and a few of our Customers and Suppliers”; the “Why pronouns and inclusive language are important” Workshop; the Building with Books Initiative (which promotes black and African American Children’s literacy); a Conversation on Immigration and Hunger; a Leading with Empathy panel discussion; Holiday Stock Stuffers for Veterans Initiative; and Signs of Strength Series (promoting getting help as a sign of strength).

We also encouraged personal and professional learnings through United Rentals’ e-course offerings including: “Our Winning Culture, Explained”; “Leading with Empathy”; “The Basics of Emotional Intelligence”; and 70 Ways to Thrive at Work.

Finally, United Rentals encouraged all employees to highlight the good work they already do on their personal time – whether it is running a marathon for breast cancer awareness, donating blood, participating in neighborhood cleanups or even building homes.

While November is our designated Month of Impact, our employees have already logged approximately 10,000 hours – with over 3,000 hours in the first week of the initiative being announced.

As this was a public goal, our Chief Administrative and Legal Officer (“CALO”), Director of Diversity and Inclusion, and team of employee volunteers set out to create a communication plan, company-wide event strategy, and audit/logging system to maintain an accurate reporting system for the company.