Two Richmond companies have been awarded for their outstanding dedication to improving employees’ working conditions and lives, and making contributions to society.
Nature’s Path Foods, at 9100 Van Horne Way, was recognized among Canada’s top 100 employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc – the only Richmond company on the list.
Meanwhile, another company, Ideon Packaging, at 11251 Dyke Rd, was crowned Outstanding Workplace of the Year at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Richmond Business Excellence Awards.
Both companies said they have put a lot of resources and energy into things outside of profits, such as their staff and the environment.
Grow with people and nature
“Always leave the soil better than you found it” is the philosophy of Nature’s Path Foods, a company that has been producing solely organic food since its first day of business in 1985.
“We’ve had a triple, bottom-line approach since day-one – people, planet and profit,” said Jyoti Stephens, vice president of People, Mission and Culture at Nature’s Path and daughter of founder Arran Stephens.
This approach is reflected in the company’s many creative polices. For example, it has a free on-site farm for employees to grow their own organic food and provides a “financial incentive” for those who bike, walk, take public transit or use a carpool to get to work – one to two dollars per trip.
In addition, the company provides a $1,000 subsidy for the staff’s purchase of an environmentally-friendly car.
Meanwhile, the company tops up employees’ maternity leave payments beyond government benefits, and reimburses staff for their fitness activities.
“There is a sad story behind the fitness program,” said Stephens.
“We had a team member who was our supply chain manager at that time…he had a heart attack and passed away.
“That was a wake-up call. We wanted to encourage our team members to get healthy and be active and fit.”
As the only cereal company in North America to receive a globally recognised Zero Waste Certification, none of Nature’s Path waste - that is a threat to the planet, humans, animals or plants — goes to the landfill.
“It actually saves money when you recycle everything, it just takes energy and time,” said Stephens.
Stephens said she and her family never calculated how much money they spend on the extra efforts the company has made for employees and the environment, but they always knew it was the right thing to do.
“It comes from our values… and a good benefit is that it also helps our business to be successful,” said Stephens.
“We want to support the planet, we need to have a profitable, growing business and we want to treat our employees with compassion and respect, and create an engaging work place where they can thrive.
“I think when you have engaged people doing work they feel passionate about, your business is going to do well.”
Nature’s Path is also a leader in giving back to the community. It gives away about one per cent of annual sales to the community - more than $20 million has been returned over the past 10 years, according to Stephens.
Focus on people, not bottom line
Ideon Packaging is doing something unique: sharing 10 per cent of its profits monthly with all its team members — everyone gets the same amount.
And in the past 16 years, the company has never laid off one member of staff since it started.
“It is easy to say this is a slow time of year and that we should lay a few people off, (which is a) bottom line focused (approach),” said Rick Van Poele, CEO and president of Ideon Packaging.
“It’s my belief that if you make decisions based on your bottom line, you will make bad decisions.”
Van Poele owes the company’s success to caring for their people and building a culture around their community.
Every month, the company is shut down for one and a half hours for its townhall program.
During this time, staff share what is going on in the business as well as receive guidance on strategies about how to be more successful, not only in work, but also in their personal lives, according to Van Poele.
In one townhall, Vikram Vij, from Dragons Den, was invited to speak about his journey from India to Vancouver to “help team members have a more fulfilled life,” said Van Poele.
In another townhall, Adam Hart, author of “Power of Food,” spoke about nutrition and keeping the body and mind healthy. The company gave each employee an hour of one-on-one consultation with him.
“Ideon put $20,000-plus into these two townhalls…many leaders ask, ‘why would you spend the money?’ added Van Poele.
“I always say, if we helped one or two team members see life in a more positive way; that is a huge win.
“If we are successful in taking care of our employees, they will be empowered to turn around and take care of our customers.”
