Business comes hand-in-hand with a focus on the bottom line, but some companies are factoring broader social improvements into their net gains.
John Rader, the director of operations for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Sumner plant presented his company’s experience with socially responsible operations to the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce at their April luncheon.
“In our company’s foundation in 1981, part of the mission for Green Mountain was to use the power of business to make the world a better place,” Rader said. “We do that through social responsibility and environmental responsibility.”
Rader presented a broad and comprehensive array of social programs in which Green Mountain, which includes brands like Tully’s and Newman’s Own, participates.
At the starting point of the supply chain, Green Mountain works closely with the farms that grow and supply coffee beans. More than 28 percent of the coffee sold by the company is classified as fair trade, meaning the farmer who grew the beans was paid a livable wage for his labor. That percentage is growing every year as Green Mountain completes the fair trade certification process with more farmers, Rader said.
“This is an important issue because coffee growing communities will be flush with money during the growing season, then there will be no income at all during the two-to-seven month non-growing season,” he said.
Company executives also periodically travel to supplying farms in order to understand the operations and the community of the region.
At the plant level, employees receive a number of benefits, including reimbursement up to $3,000 for higher education costs. To reduce environmental impact, recyclables are recycled and company buildings are lit by high-efficiency bulbs.
Employees are encouraged to volunteer in the community. Green Mountain allows for paid volunteer time, in which employees schedule a shift to volunteer for activities like reading to young students, teaching English as a second language or storing food at the food bank. The company has also supported non-profits financially through grants. They donated $1.5 million to groups like United Way and Northwest Harvest.
Despite the expanded ability to help a large company holds, Rader denied that social responsibility was too pricey for small- to mid-sized businesses.
“I don’t think (you have to be large to help),” he said. “If you look back at our history, we’ve kept social responsibility in mind from the start.
“There are some simple things most businesses can do to be socially conscious. Using high efficiency bulbs and recycling is very easy. I think that smaller companies could look at what they could afford to do. Paying people to do volunteer work is perhaps an easy way. You don’t even have to make it paid. Usually, if someone takes the time to organize a volunteer activity, people will be glad to show up.”
Shelly Schlumpf, the executive director of the Downtown Sumner Association, agreed that there were already good examples of smaller Sumner businesses doing their part. She named Barbara Keck of Whistle Stop Antiques as a business owner who always insists on recycling waste from Downtown Association events.
Sally Zeiger-Hanson closed the luncheon by acknowledging that Rader had given Chamber members food for thought.
“I think you’ve given us a lot to consider for the problems we each have to solve in our business,” she said. “What can we bring back from this to our own workplace?”
As part of its research into social responsibility, the chamber is organizing a focus group to examine the issue, under the responsibility of Arabie Jalloway.
