Once you’ve picked the low-hanging fruit of sustainable business practices, how does your company reach higher up the tree?
At last week’s
Conference Board of Canada summit on corporate social responsibility (CSR), Nadine Gudz, the Toronto-based director of sustainable strategy for Interface, delivered a presentation on how the company engages employees to continually improve its environmental practices. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices around the world, the world’s largest manufacturer of carpet tiles aims to eliminate
any negative impact on the environment by 2020. Gudz says the company is about 65 per cent of the way there.
“Clear language, clear messaging that’s easy for employees to remember is important,” says Gudz in an interview after the summit panel. “Along with the education around the mission, we try to have diverse strategies in place. While there’s a baseline curriculum that everyone needs to know when they come to Interface, there are also mechanisms on an ongoing basis to reach out about what’s going on in the marketplace, and opportunities for employees to take their leadership to the next level and become sustainability ambassadors.”
The remaining 35 per cent of what the company calls “Mission Zero” will be trickier than what the company has achieved since it made its commitment in 2006. “The huge vision is a huge source of debate and healthy tension within the organization about how to nurture sustainability and social responsibility,” says Gudz.
Founder Ray Anderson, who had been the main driver behind achieving a zero footprint, died in 2011. Many newer employees have never met Anderson and had a chance to experience his contagious enthusiasm for Mission Zero. At the same time, Gudz says Interface attracts a certain “kind of talent” because of its values and vision, which makes it easier to sustain the vision.
The mission has meant an increased commitment to innovation, including recruiting non-traditional partners. Interface has worked with the Zoological Society of London and fishing communities in Philippines to collect discarded fishing nets in coastal areas for
recycling into carpet yarn. “That’s having a huge impact on our sustainability journey and we’ve taken that technology and asked some questions about where it can do the most good.” The pilot has gone so well, Gudz says, that they’re expanding into Cameroon.
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Nadine Gudz