Corporate Social Responsibility: REI's Corporate Stewardship
July 07, 2008
By Alex Palmer
Both Kent, Wash.-based Recreation Equipment, Inc. (REI) and Ventura, Calif.-based Patagonia demonstrate how corporate social responsibility can be heavily integrated into a corporate mission in ways that benefit employees, customers and the community while strengthening the brand and boosting profits. So it makes sense that both companies approach their environmental work not as charity, but as investments.
REI places green activities at the top of its objectives, from work in a local community garden down the block from a retail outlet, to a Texas-wide, multi-store initiative to improve the state's parks. Donating millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours to many nonprofits each year, REI puts plenty of resources into what it calls its "Stewardship" programs for environmental and social responsibility. In 2007, REI donated $3.5 million to various environmental projects.
"When we talk about what we do and what we give and what our values are, it's not about promoting ourselves or patting ourselves on the back, it's about inspiring and inviting others to participate," says David Jay, manager of giving and community relations at REI.
Of course, by inspiring members of the community to take part in the outdoors, it's not unusual that REI also inspires them to become more engaged in the company itself as they associate "REI" with "environmental service." Not only are participants more likely to head to REI for their equipment needs, Jay says that a number of volunteers at these community service projects have applied for jobs shortly after taking part in a service project, making the company's commitment to the outdoors a winning plan on several levels.
The term stewardship's connotation of steady, responsible management could also describe REI's efforts with its employees. Through the REI Community Grant program, workers become the chief decision makers on where the company's resources are directed: which groups, which projects, and what the money is being spent on.
"We actually call on our employees to direct the grants and we say, 'who should we be talking to about making donations?'" says Jay. He says that involving employees —people with strong personal interests in various grassroots organizations that the leadership may not even be aware of—allows REI to better determine the most effective uses of the company's time and money.
Helping to call the shots on REI's programs also gets employees more engaged in the efforts and the company, which helps explain why REI earned the distinction of No. 1 company for "Employee Pride" in Fortune's Best Companies to Work For issue last year.
Besides being honored for their proud workforce, this year, REI was awarded the number spot for "Workplace Balance." The company encourages its employees to have active lives outside of work and in the outdoors through Employee Challenge Grants. This program provides employees up to $300 worth of REI gear so they can pursue personal, outdoor-oriented goals they have set for themselves.
"It can be anything as large as 'I want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and I need the gear to do that,' or just 'I've never ridden 50 miles on a bike before,'" says Jay. "Challenges are pretty relative in how they're defined, but we really want to encourage and support our colleagues having that experience."
Ryan Sullivan, an employee who recently began working at REI's Missoula, Mont., office, decided to try snowshoeing for the first time in his life (having grown up in Tennessee, Sullivan was new to winter recreation). REI awarded him a Winter Momentum Jacket, a Sherpa Cable Hat, and an REI One Jacket, as well as rented snowshoes.
In addition to the Challenge Grants, REI offers its employees sizable discounts on equipment and even a 25 percent discount on travel throughout the world, cultivating a workforce with a strong work/life balance and positive associations with the company, at work and outside of work.
Though these challenges are typically taken during vacation time, employees who have been with the company for 15 years receive four weeks of paid sabbatical (at 20 years, they receive five weeks, and so on). The employees have used length-of-service time off to take long-considered trips, sometimes to work on a service project. The award's intent is to allow employees to reconnect with the outdoors. Giselle Sampson, manager of benefits and human resources risk for REI, emphasizes that, combined with regular vacation time, this sabbatical lets employees take vacations for themselves and still have time to give back or reconnect with the outdoors, should they have the inclination.
The company gives Anderson Awards to top-achieving employees, separating them between managers and executives, and those below manager. These are peer- nominated awards, so it's just as common to see a manager nominating a top retail salesperson as an employee nominating an effective manager. All the winners are announced together by the vice president of their department, receiving a Swiss Army watch and a framed certificate. The winners (138 in 2007) are then truly made a part of the company, as each one of their names is carved on its own brick on the walkway outside of REI's headquarters in Kent.
The winners are flown in for a three-day event where they meet REI's leadership and corporate staff, learn about the running of the company and have a good time. The program varies from year to year, incorporating team-building events, educational seminars and outdoor activities.
"One of our vice presidents or a director will take people hiking to Mt. Rainier. We've got people going sailing, we've got people going kayaking," says Sampson. "We don't have to work too hard to get employees excited about the outdoors."
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