Employees at Lansing-based Jackson National Life discovered one more way they can reduce stress on the environment while benefiting the company.
As they moved through the in-house food lines, they learned they could get a 15-cent reduction on their meal if they selected china plates and cups rather than polystyrene ones. Coffee in a ceramic cup at the company coffee bars is five cents less than if ordered in polystyrene.
In addition to the problems of producing polystyrene are the expensive waste removal issues, JNL's Danielle Weller says. Weller is the company’s corporate responsibility specialist.
The new option is the result of an employee suggestion program called Work Smart that focuses on sustainability. Weller, a Michigan State University (MSU) communications graduate, oversees the new program.
“We want to show there is a cost-benefit relationship,” she says. It costs three times as much to empty a garbage dumpster as it does to empty a recycling dumpster, she explained. Washing the plates and coffee mugs will pay off, she adds.
In
addition to sustainability programs, Weller also shepherds volunteer hours
and dollars. Employees have already signed up to care for one of Downtown Lansing’s rain gardens.
Jackson National Life is a subsidiary of insurer Prudential, plc, a company in England where corporate responsibility is taken seriously, Weller says.
Companies there are required to report their good deeds and certain standards have to be reached.
Even so, there are other reasons to give back, particularly to the planet. The sustainability work is relevant for employees of all ages.
“Earth is the future home for our children and grandchildren,” she says.
Source: Danielle Weller, Jackson National Life
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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