Sodexo, Microsoft, and Other Companies that Care
We want to recognize six corporations that care about the physical and mental health of their employees, customers, and surrounding communities. All have different approaches, but all are working to make positive change!
Read all six profiles below:
- Sodexo
If you haven’t heard of this food service giant, we’re not sure where you’ve been the past 50 years! Today, Sodexo is one of the largest multinational corporations, with over 420,000 employees at 34,000 sites in 80 countries. As a dominant company in the food service industry, Sodexo could easily operate as it has over the past half-century without making any changes. Instead, Sodexo has dedicated countless resources to promoting nutrition, health, and wellness to its clients, consumers, and employees.
One concrete way Sodexo works to bring sustainability and wellness to its global customer base is through the Better Tomorrow Plan, in which Sodexo commits to protecting and restoring the environment, supporting local community development, promoting health and wellness, and developing their team to promote diversity. To achieve these goals, Sodexo partnered with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Fair Trade USA, the Marine Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Food Lab, the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, and Freight Farms.
“An important piece for Sodexo is our ‘Better Tomorrow Plan’ [which] specifically focuses on individuals, our communities, and our environment…Freight Farms has given us a great opportunity to have that engagement with students on a higher level, especially with sustainability,”
Heather Vaillete, District Manager, Sodexo Campus Services and Independent Schools.
Photos: Freight Farms
Since 2016, Sodexo has worked with Clark University (MA) and Cumberland High School (RI) to place Freight Farms on their campuses in an effort to add sustainable and fresh produce to the everyday menu. Gina Rodriguez, food service manager for Sodexo, said employees at
Cumberland High School have “typically struggled a bit to put fresh vegetables on the table all winter. Last year was particularly bad, as vegetables often had to be thrown out because they didn’t last” (source). Sodexo found that using the Leafy Green Machine allows food service staff to provide students with fresh and healthy options on a continuous basis. In 2018, Sodexo hopes to add two more campuses to its Freight Farms program as a key method of achieving its Better Tomorrow resolutions.
2) Microsoft
It’s impossible to deny Microsoft a spot on this list: in 2016 alone, they donated $650 million dollars in cash, time, software, and services to nonprofits. But Microsoft stands out even further by not only developing new technologies, but improving access to those technologies (something often ignored by corporate charity initiatives). As we become more and more reliant on technology for our jobs and everyday activities, those without exposure or access to it are at risk of falling behind and becoming obsolete in the workforce. To combat this, Microsoft has developed programs like their Markle Foundation partnership to provide workers with new digital skills.
Microsoft is also widely supportive of sustainable technology, particularly in technology that supports urban agriculture to create better food equality. The company participates in conferences like Davos on the Charles, an event by and for the “Overseers” at the Boston Science Museum. There, Overseers like Microsoft’s Aimee Sprung, participate in panels to explore topics in technology like The Future of Your Food: Farming Engineered Foods. This panel was of particular interest for Microsoft, as Sprung explains: “As our growing push for sustainability merges with industry, we need to be thinking about where our food in coming from and how it is affecting the environment and our bank accounts. We need to reimagine how we sustainably grow plants that sustain us in turn. And even though technology is just a tool, it is becoming just as important as shovels and soil in how we efficiently grow produce” (source).
We couldn’t agree more!
Photos: Microsoft Stories
Like us here at Freight Farms, Microsoft is also growing hydroponically at their Redmond location, a very refreshing example of a corporation putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to a cause they care about.
Senior program manager of Microsoft’s Dining and Beverage Services, Mark Freeman, and the corporation’s urban farming specialist, Jessica Shlike, are excited about the prospect of combining the tech giant’s sustainability efforts and technological innovation.
“We see Microsoft as a city, and as we look at that city, we want to meet the needs of our citizens by offering a variety of healthy foods that help make our employees happy and productive” Mark Freeman, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft (source).
3) Dassault Systèmes
Every year Corporate Knights publishes its Global 100: an index of the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. This year’s #1 pick was French software company Dassault Systèmes.
Dassault Systèmes’ worldwide headquarters in Paris is comprised of four HQE-certified green buildings, surrounded by more than 11 acres of walkable lawns and greenways for employees to enjoy. The campus also features a “Lifelike Immersive Virtual Experience Space,” which is a high-tech virtual reality system available to help employees unwind during breaks.
At the company’s U.S. headquarters west of Boston, employees work in a building shaped as an arc. This design passively heats the offices in winter, passively cools them in summer, and reduces overall energy consumption by 29 percent. Rounding out their corporate wellness package, U.S. employees are also automatically enrolled in Vitality, a health tracking system that rewards employee exercise routines and even grocery choices, and reduces health insurance expenses ultimately charged back to Dassault. Everyone wins.
4) Jet.com
Company care isn’t just about doing well by others, it’s also about doing good by the men and women who dedicate 40 hours (if not more!) of their week to you. Jet.com understands this, and has worked hard to create a corporate culture that nurtures happy and productive employees. With tenants of trust, transparency, and fairness, Jet.com employees can come into their purple office everyday knowing that they’ll be treated well. And, if that’s not enough, Jet.com throws in more than a few office perks. By offering health & wellness classes and employee clubs, Jet.com encourages their employees to develop the wellness and community ties that matter most to them, while co-working spaces encourage teamwork and collaboration. Of course, collaboration isn’t always the main goal: Jet.com throws in some room for competition with pool tables, gaming stations, and ping-pong tables. All fueled with free snacks and cold brew on tap!
Photos: Business Insider
5) SEFCU
SEFCU is a powerful name in the banking world. Established in 1934, it is one of the 50 largest credit unions in the United States, with more than $3 billion in assets. Not only does SEFCU have a lot of money — they also have a lot of heart. From their headquarters in Albany, NY, they are dedicated to making a positive difference in the communities they serve. They assist thousands of organizations through their 2008 Banking with a Purpose initiative and give millions of dollars towards community financial education programs. They don’t limit themselves to just helping with financial matters, but also work hard for food reform to prevent obesity and food insecurity. They’ve even gone so far as to purchase a Leafy Green Machine to help in their efforts!
6) Everlane
Everlane is a relatively new company (founded in 2010) which is taking huge strides in reforming the fashion industry. With a focus on “radical transparency,” Everlane’s mission is to sell high quality clothing with fair pricing and ethical sourcing practices from factories around the world. In doing so, they seek to forge a stronger connection between the end purchaser and the people making the luxury goods in the hopes of instilling consumers with a greater sense of community and transparency.
While Everlane commits to its values all year round, they go above and beyond for their Black Friday Fund. On a day where other retailers focus on making profits, Everlane dedicates Black Friday shopping proceeds to benefit one of their factories.
Photo: @everlane on Instagram
In 2016, they used the Black Friday Fund to donate helmets to workers at the Saitex denim factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to protect moped commuters. The next year, Everlane and Saitex raised $300,000 for the 2017 Black Friday Fund. With this money, they gifted the Saitex factory employees three Leafy Green Machines.
Just like the helmets were donated to help ensure the safety of their employees, Everlane donated the hydroponic farms to protect the workers, although this time from a very different threat. Due to little (if any) regulations, Vietnamese food supplies have been repeatedly doused with dangerous pesticides that are unsafe for consumption (see source). The hydroponic container farms are protected from pests and require no pesticides, making the fresh crops growing inside much safer to eat. With the three Leafy Green Machines, Everlane will make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of Saitex employees by providing them with two fresh and pesticide-free meals a day.
Have another company you think is killing it when it comes to office culture, community outreach, or charitable giving? Let us know! Comment here or tweet at Freight Farms.
