2021 Progress Report: Helping Our Communities

The company-paid community service metric tracks "on-the-clock" hours our employees spent in community service activities, including hours for local volunteerism through our Volunteer Days benefit and half of the hours they spend participating in the ACE Mentor Program (see below). While the long-term trend is increasing participation, the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person service opportunities and delayed the construction of a Bridges to Prosperity project in Rwanda until 2023.

We track company-paid ACE Mentor Program participation, which is the amount of time U.S. employees spend as mentors or board members with the ACE Mentor Program of America. ACE volunteers are paid for 50 percent of their participation hours – an average of 15 per year – with the remainder a contribution of their personal time. With a change to remote programs during the pandemic, our employees were able to continue to serve as mentors virtually.