Planning for Sustainability

Yesterday I posted an entry on my companion blog concerning workplace sustainability. In it, I discussed initial planning I did when I started my company concerning corporate responsibility, to include sustainability.

At present, my company is very small. I don't know that I want it to get too big, but I wanted to lay the groundwork early to ensure that as the company did grow, we had the appropriate focus on values from the outset. From our annual meeting minutes:

"Board affirms that the company will consider the impact of business practices on the environment, the community, our clients and employees. To the extent practical, the company will conserve natural resources and develop business policies and practices to advance this goal. In addition, sustainability will include practices to ensure our human capital is valued and nurtured. To the extent possible, purchases will be made from local companies, providing those companies provide goods and services that meet sustainability goals."

As a companion piece to that:

"The board approves the following values:
· Operate ethically – always
· Keep our commitments to ourselves, our partners, and our clients
· Treat our clients, partners and employees with respect
· Collaborate with our partners to provide the best service possible to our clients
· Stay current in our profession
· Give back to our profession and our community

"The board wishes to ensure that ethics underpins all business policies and practices and that all employment policies and processes are based upon ethics as well. Appropriate internal controls and policies will be set up to ensure this is the case."

I am not sure how one could say their company operates in an ethical manner while ignoring corporate social responsibility and sustainability.