Real Companies: Employees as the Highest Asset
By — — Posted in Companies that Care, Job Search Tips, Sustainable Business: CSR & Bcorps
A “Real Company” example of putting the 3 P’s: people, planet AND profit (the “triple bottom line”) into action in business:
TS Designs is a custom wholesale t-shirt printing company in textile industry hub in NC, who didn’t want to move business overseas,
“We didn’t want to outsource, lay people off then turn around and try to sell them our product….
In the mid-90’s, we changed the mission of our company, and changed our business model. We wanted to be successful, but while looking after people, planet, and profit….
Everything we do, every product we buy, every decision we make, has to ask, ‘What’s the impact? Not only to the bottom line, what it’s going to cost the company, but what’s going to be the impact to the planet and people?”
“Sustainability can be described as being a journey, not a destination…
Once people realize that you have a care for business beyond just maximizing your personal bottom line, that you’re trying to do something beyond just yourself, that you’re doing something to benefit others, they want to help.”
“What the (apparel) industry has done since the mid-90’s was run around the world utilizing cheap energy and cheap labor. Even the business schools, the Chamber and Department of Commerce, all the economic folks say your labor is your most expensive cost of doing business, so you have to outsource it.
Fast forward today and see what it’s gotten us: devastated local economies, very high unemployment.
Our employees are by far our most valuable asset. We have taken major major hits at TS Designs… but we’ve always maintained retirement benefits, we’ve always maintained health benefits.”
–Eric Henry – President, TS Designs – Burlington, NC
Quoted from the documentary: “Real Value” – Economics, Sustainability, Social Entrepreneurship
Real Value is an award-winning economics documentary that delivers a refreshing meditation on how business can be used to create value beyond profit; connecting motivational stories from social entrepreneurs working in agriculture, apparel, insurance, and biofuel, with the captivating science behind our perception of value from world-renowned professor of psychology and behavioral economics, Dan Ariely.
The film serves as inspiration for any business owner, entrepreneur, or customer who is looking to better understand what happens when a business puts people, planet, and profit on equal footing.
