Recruiting for a Sustainable Future
Innovative companies know it’s possible to do well by doing good. Many firms have reaped financial benefits by committing to sustainable business practices. Trillium initiated environmental, social, and governance changes by recruiting employees into a specialized team in 2019.
Trillium Flow Technologies Senior Vice President Mehgan Wichuk said, “When I was able to start a sustainability discussion with our executive team in 2019, we started with why we should be an advocate for sustainability in the workplace and [evaluated] what practices we were already doing.” After starting with the research on sustainability and understanding the materiality threshold available to Trillium, the team hired an outside consultant to begin the process.
After determining Trillium’s baseline, the initiative set goals and found willing employees to participate in the team. “[We wanted to] capture the internal teams’ passion, drive, and interest,” Wichuk said. “Individuals applied for the team and were divided into environmental and social categories. The team creates yearly initiatives.”
“They [really] are a superhero team. These are members from each of our facilities, 12 worldwide, with one or two members per plant,” Wichuk said. “The strength is that the team comes from a range of areas. Some members represent HR, others safety or engineering. With a variety of roles, the team has a clearer perspective. They brainstorm ideas that are coming out of their plants.”
Trillium can remain agile in a changing world by shifting to sustainable practices. Carbon neutrality is the goal, but these practices will help the company shift when materials are in short supply or prices increase. Our economy favors lower-carbon energy sources and non-fossil-fuel resources. The initiatives offer no-regret strategies, which means they provide practical solutions that start with sustainability and improve quality of life.
