It has been a busy Spring on the sustainability front at The Joinery. We recently completed our fourth B-corp certification, moved up to #30 on Oregon Business Magazine’s “Best Green Workplaces” list, and achieved Gold certification on the City of Portland’s Sustainability at Work program.
The Joinery has been a certified B Corp since 2010. B Corps (the “B” is for “Benefit”) use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. Certification involves a rigorous third-party assessment of company practices across five areas: Environment, Workers, Customers, Community, and Governance.
“B Corp certification is important to us for a couple of reasons,” said CEO Jon Blumenauer. “First, it gives us an objective third-party assessment to measure our progress against. And because the process is so thorough and rigorous, the certification signals to customers and other stakeholders that our efforts are credible and significant.”
Because the assessment is constantly evolving to consider best practices, companies are forced to make continuous improvement. Given that, we are pleased that our score increased from the prior certification period.
Over the two-year assessment period, we made additional investments in worker training and wages, while adding a paid day of service and heathcare benefit for part-time works to the strong existing benefit package.
“We continue to invest in our workers to make this a great place to work,” said Blumenauer, who took ownership of The Joinery in 2013.
Since that time, the company improved environmental performance through a series of investments that reduced electricity use by 20%, water use by 40%, and natural gas by 12% at its Woodstock manufacturing facility and showroom.
These efforts have helped The Joinery be named to Oregon Business Magazine’s “Best Green Companies” list for the third straight year, and achieve the City of Portland’s Sustainability at Work Gold Certification.
The Joinery’s Sustainability Team is now headed by Kelsey Moody, who joined the company’s Woodworker Apprentice program in 2016, and is now a builder on the Table Team. Moody was drawn to the company because of the sustainability credentials and B Corp status.
“It’s great to work for a company that values sustainability and provides opportunities for employees to follow their passion and be a part of the process,” said Moody, who led the Sustainability at Work certification effort.
“One of the benefits of B Corp is that it attracts talent,” said Blumenauer. “Employees want to work for a company that aligns with their values, and it has certainly helped attract some great new employees who are providing the energy and ideas to drive us forward.”