Wayne Dyer

With our global population rapidly approaching nine billion by the middle of this century, many experts are questioning how we can feed, clothe, house, and otherwise meet the needs of so many more people with the finite resources our planet has to offer.  Rapidly increasing population is already influencing the health and wellbeing of people and communities around the world, and it is certain to have an impact on the political, economic, social, and technological realities within which businesses operate.  CoreNet Global has identified sustainability leadership as a critical issue for its 2012 agenda, and Sodexo is excited to contribute to the conversation. It is a discussion that includes everything from Sodexo engineers contributing to the more than 2 billion square feet of commercial, LEED certified projects* to designing culinary programs that address sustainably sourced food and equipment. The ability to address these changing needs also creates the opportunity to thrive, through innovations that address shifts in the environment, support local communities, and enhance health and wellness.  This, in essence, is what sustainability in the workplace is all about.  

Click here for a direct link to the CoreNet Global Website

THE SUSTAINABILITY AND ENGAGEMENT LINK

It turns out that the benefits for a company that embraces sustainability go beyond energy efficiency, risk mitigation, opportunity for innovation, and Corporate Social Responsibility.  Sustainability directly affects your employees.  According to Ante Glavas, Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business; “People who work for green companies have a pride-in-ownership mentality and are happier and more productive.” Higher productivity is certainly a no-brainer for any CEO, no matter what the industry.  Based on its own findings, Gallop calls employee engagement “a leading indicator of financial performance.”  The same research demonstrated that “engaged organizations have 3.9 times the earnings per share (EPS) growth rate compared to organizations with lower engagement in the same industry.”

SOLUTIONS REINVENTED – AN EYE TO THE FUTURE

Recognizing sustainability as core to its business, Sodexo holds a leadership role in its sector by leveraging its Better Tomorrow Plan to meet the company’s CSR objectives, while also facilitating those of its clients.  One way it accomplishes this is through an industry leading tool, SMART, which benchmarks sites, and provides opportunity assessments in four key areas: carbon and energy, waste, water, and healthy/sustainable food and environments.  Operations teams enact change through both infrastructure renewal and behavioral transformation.  SMART allows units to document and report progress throughout the year.  REinvent your leadership in sustainability by stopping by to see us at the CoreNet Global Summit in San Diego (Booth 225).

Wayne Dyer is a vice president of Facilities Solutions for Sodexo.

At last glance over 814 million (and counting) have pledged an “act of green” this year to help save our planet. The pledges range from eating more local foods and using rechargeable batteries, to planting a tree or taking less time to shower. With so many people pledging to help the environment, these small practices add up to a large impact.

While not everyone may have the opportunity to plant a tree on Earth Day, there are other actions you can take that will have an impact just the same. One suggestion: when leaving your office for the day, turn off the computer! This not only reduces the utility bill but also avoids pollution emissions from the power plant that creates the electricity. Over the course of a year, the practice of turning off a computer at night will result in the environmental impact equivalent of planting 9 trees per year! Now who says you cannot have a green thumb?

Another suggestion would be to car pool with a colleague twice per week. On average this will avoid around 1600 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually (roughly 6 barrels of oil)—not  to mention the money saved from not having to fill up the gas tank. Pocket some of that money and with the remainder buy you and the driver a cup of coffee during the morning commute.

So as we observe Earth day later this month, remember we all can make a difference. At Sodexo, we work to make a difference every day with our Better Tomorrow Plan. That said, it’s really one small change each day, every day that makes the biggest difference in the end. Now before you leave the office today, turn off your computer and remember to tell your colleagues how many trees you just planted!  

Brandon is a regional director, energy and construction for Sodexo’s North American Solution Center.

Recently, I was in Guam to deliver training to new Sodexo staff and to review occupational and food safety processes for a new account. During a visit to one of the middle schools, the staff was unexpectedly short-handed, and the kids were coming fast. We abandoned our initial purpose and tended to the immediate one—serving the children. There is nothing like seeing smiles on the faces of our customers as they received nutritious (and might I add, well-served) meals. We served more than 200 meals in about a 40-minute period. What an experience! This was a great reminder to me of why we [Sodexo] do what we do and how our mission and values drive our business.

When the team rolled up its sleeves, we were fulfilling our commitment to provide the highest service and completing our promise to serve those customers on time. We gave our client another reason to trust us, and trust is a priceless commodity in business.  

So my advice is to strive every day to act with integrity whether in your relationships or your business dealings.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes I was wearing a hat!

Keith Conerly is senior director of quality control, ethics and compliance for Sodexo’s Government Division and Office of Ethics and Compliance.

The event, attended primarily by graduate students and professionals such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practitioners and nonprofit leaders, was dedicated to changing the world through  business practices. It included a powerful mix of thought leaders, innovators and specialists committed to using their business skills to create social and environmental good.  As we move from philosophy and aspirations to measuring, tracking and making a net impact, it’s clear the future of CSR is bright.

Our panel, which explored coffee, tea, wine and beer, addressed everything from technology, communications and supply chain, to customers and community. Panelist Steve Smith, owner of Steven Smith Teamaker, noted that technology allows him to keep his inventory levels low, which lets him manage his energy use more efficiently. Christian Ettinger, owner of Hopworks Urban Brewery, shared the recent success he has had in working with companies like Sysco (which Sodexo relies on as well)  to procure local sustainable products.

Infusements

Do their customers care about these sustainability practices? They sure do. Michele Martin, program manager of the Carbon Reduction Challenge, noted that vineyards are able to charge more for grapes that are grown sustainably, and this juice is being sold in greater volumes. David Griswold, owner of Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importing company, said his customers (Ben and Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Peet’s, among others) are concerned about both the product and the process by which they access information.  Transparency and traceability are both key.

At Sodexo, the Better Tomorrow Plan is our global roadmap to doing ‘good’, not only for the communities we serve, but also for the planet. Net Impact is just that type of event too. It gets into the nuts and bolts of creating a better tomorrow. Not just by talking about it, but by leading change… for good.

Kristen Rainey is the director of brand management, sustainability for Sodexo’s Corporate client segment.

Tracy Kelly

While we all do business in a global economy, life frequently reminds us that it is still a very small world.  Recently, I had the opportunity to introduce one of the keynote speakers at the 2011 Society for Foodservice Management (SFM) conference in Philadelphia. Prior to the conference, I had a chance to chat with the speaker, Dr. James E. Painter, a nationally recognized food psychologist, nutrition educator from Eastern Illinois University and author of  “Food Psychology:  Why We Eat More Than We Think.”  In talking with him I was amazed and delighted to discover that, several years ago, he, too had worked for Sodexo!  I was excited to share with Dr. Painter the enhancements and updates to the health and wellness mission of our company.  And as I did, it was clear that he was happy to speak with someone from the Sodexo family, and proud of his former association with Sodexo.

Just last week Sodexo released its first performance-based sustainability report, in which we highlight our strategy for health and wellness, commitment to local and sustainable foods and our approaches to address climate change.  As an inaugural report, it notes progress in a number of areas, but primarily sets the baseline for gauging future progress around how we promote nutrition information, vegan and vegetarian options, local produce, sustainable seafood, Fair Trade products and more. The report takes an in depth look at the American plate and like Dr. Painter, asks us to think about what we have on our own dinner tables.

But, as we know, people are still people.  And the power of dining psychology cannot be overlooked.  No one knows that better than Dr. Painter and that was apparent in his speech at this year’s conference. When we spoke, I asked what motivated him to become a food psychologist. “I was on my way to Med School and needed to take a mandatory Nutrition class.  From that very first class, I was hooked.  I knew that what I really wanted to do was study nutrition.”  Why? I asked. “Because Medical School focuses on how to make sick folks better; nutrition and dietetics focus on how to help folks not get sick in the first place.  And isn’t that really the smart place to start?”

We at Sodexo couldn’t agree more; ask any of the alumni of our Dietetic Internship program.

The conference brought important topics to an important audience this year; I was glad to be a part of it, and make a new, small-world connection along the way with Dr. Painter.

Tracy Kelly is a director of strategic planning for Sodexo’s Corporate client segment.

Matthew Weingarten, New York City-based executive chef at Inside Park at St. Bart’s for Sodexo enjoys his shopping trip to the local NYC farmers market. For more pictures, click on the photograph.

This summer I did not eat one good strawberry at the market. Nope, not-a-one. You would think I would be espousing and gushing over the wonderful and incredible produce and ingredients to be found at the Greenmarkets in Honor of National Farmers Market Week. And I could for sure, I’ve had amazing rhubarb, pucker-perfect currants, fairytale eggplants by the bagful, and right at this moment, heirloom tomatoes with the perfume of the full summer sun on their hips, to name a few.

But this spring in the Northeast where I live there was just too much rain.  The fields got drenched, and the strawberries came to market late, heavy and swollen with too much water and not enough sunshine in ‘em. To be fair these mild and sensible thumb size strawberries from the Union Square Greenmarket still beat the taste buds off of your average overgrown, hollow and white-centered supermarket clam-shell variety. But in comparison to summer’s past, they just were not as good.  And I love that.  I love knowing that the strawberries are just not going to be four-star this year.  I love knowing and being reminded that our farmers are merely the stewards and that under these less than optimal conditions they are surely working twice as hard to temper and harness the season. It breeds honesty. It necessitates a deeper understanding and connection. 

In another all too common transaction, on a planet far, far away, the caricatured chef, upon receiving a crate of less than stellar strawberries might pick up the phone and scream senselessly at an innocent and unwitting dispatcher in a weather-less warehouse they have never seen.  I know this, because I too was once an alien on that planet.  But because of the mere fact that I now choose to purchase my food in the marketplace, and make meaningful transactions with the same folks that are actually growing my food, I have grown and learned much as a chef.   And as a chef after all, I can take the prep work from here.  If the strawberries are showing me their best, albeit wet effort I can surely show them mine. In this case: add more sugar and cook down to concentrate the flavor.  Add a little more acid from some lemons to sharpen the taste of the fruit. That is my job after all as the chef in a society.

And as a citizen, while I do go shopping at the market to purchase the ingredients I am going to cook with, it is actually not really the point of the trip, and it is not really what I am shopping for.  You see, what is really for sale at my local Farmer’s Market every day, sometimes in full sunshine and sometimes under the blanket of rain, is the nexus where the land, the people who work it, and all of us that are sustained by it, meet and get to know one another, basically over a long talk about the weather.

Matthew Weingarten is the New York City-based executive chef at Inside Park at St. Bart’s for Sodexo.

The Right Honourable Paul Martin. Click the picture to visit Mr. Martin's website.

Here at Sodexo Canada, we pride ourselves on the strength of our diversity. That’s why we are excited to announce, in partnership with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), the launch of the Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations. We are equally thrilled to announce that the inaugural recipient is none other than The Right Honourable Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada and a long-standing supporter and partner of the Aboriginal community.  Mr. Martin’s life’s work has shown a true dedication to providing greater opportunities for the Aboriginal community.

The award is designed to recognize a Canadian who has personally contributed, through his or her professional and voluntary commitments, to building bridges between Canada’s business community and Aboriginal people. Mr. Martin’s work both within and outside of public service, including his recent initiatives with The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative and the Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship (CAPE) Fund, highlights the positive impact that individuals can have when working towards bettering the community.

At Sodexo Canada, we see partnerships such as the one with the CCAB as important initiatives that assist the communities we serve, by recognizing individuals and organizations that champion positive change in the community – in this case, positive change in the Aboriginal community through business.  As a part of our Better Tomorrow Plan, our global promise for sustainability and corporate citizenship, these partnerships will increasingly play a crucial role helping us to engage with various communities and reward outstanding efforts.

As an organization we’ve long felt that healthy local communities are at the heart of society, and we strive to contribute to local community development by providing services and employment opportunities, encouraging a diverse workplace and supply chain, and rewarding members of the community that are working to make it a better place.

Congratulations to Mr. Martin on being selected as the inaugural recipient of the Award for Excellence for Aboriginal Relations, and we look forward to sharing more news about our involvement in the community in the future.

Dean Johnson is the president of Sodexo Canada 

One aspect of World FM Day, created by IFMA (International Facility Management Association), is to increase ideals and technologies worldwide to FM professionals and the general public.

A trending objective among facility managers today is to make daily building operations as efficient and environmentally sound as possible. From new LEED certifications being placed on more buildings to colleges broadcasting their energy consumption on Twitter, it is apparent that being environmentally aware is integral to the FM industry.

 Recent advancements in building automation systems (BAS) have allowed facilities around the globe to decrease their daily carbon footprint. It is reported that the new BAS systems can conserve as much as 30% energy consumption in older buildings, and newer building can save up to 10% on their energy usage. Sodexo Facilities Management Solutions is committed energy reduction strategies as part of the company’s Better Tomorrow Plan global sustainability platform, but the beauty of these new BAS systems cannot only be found in how energy efficient they are, but the ease of installation is similarly impressive. The use of wireless technologies has enabled millions of older buildings to make the switch to more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly automation systems.

Additionally, the new BAS systems give employees access to virtual thermometers for their work space, which may finally put to rest the continuous complaints of a building being too hot or cold. IFMA has actually confirmed that temperature related complaints are number one among building occupants.

Although these technologies will make buildings more ecologically sound and accommodating for occupants, this can only be done if the technologies are implemented correctly with experienced technicians. It’s funny when you think about it—at Sodexo, we know that if the best facility manager can do his/her job right and practically no one will notice it, the good thing now is that hopefully Mother Nature won’t notice it either.

Wayne Dyer is a vice president of operations for Sodexo Facilities Management Solutions

Joplin, MO following the Tornado on May 22, 2011

Serving our local communities is part of the fabric of who we are at Sodexo.  Our 125,000 employees and the 10 million customers they serve live and work together in communities all across this country. From the jobs we create, to the goods we purchase, to the services we provide, to the charitable events we sponsor, Sodexo contributes every day to the richness of our local communities. This is in fact one of our Better Tomorrow commitments.

We have seen this commitment in action again and again over the last several days.  I am so proud to be part of the Sodexo team — many of whom continue to work tirelessly and without fail to provide help within the Joplin, Missouri community in the wake of the devastating tornado.

Though many of our employees are experiencing personal loss and are continuing to process the heart wrenching changes in the community, their relief efforts continue.  The team at Missouri Southern University continues to provide unwavering service. We have been proud to work with the American Red Cross in preparing and serving thousands of meals a day to those in need as well as those who are helping in the recovery efforts.

In addition, our team at St. John’s Regional Health Center has worked diligently to support the opening of the “field hospital.” The spirit and courage displayed by these employees are beyond outstanding.  They are feeding patients and staff from a make-shift mobile kitchen and delivering facilities services to ensure critical safety measures are in place including hazardous waste protocols – a complicated coordination effort between Infection Control, Plant Operations, Material Management and Housekeeping.

Though Sodexo has been assisting many in the community of Joplin, it has also been important for us to take care of our own as well. We recently gathered all of our employees together at a local hotel to talk about what had happened. It was a cathartic opportunity to release emotions, rejoice at the safety of ALL our employees, pray, and most importantly, come together as a Sodexo family.   It was a special moment where many of our team members expressed their strong belief that “we shall overcome and become better.”

That’s what makes Sodexo’s community commitment so special. It allows us to connect in a unique way with not only our teams, but also those we serve—no matter the circumstances. Our community spirit extends beyond this storm’s destruction.  For example, the district manager in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Tulsa Public School System, along with students and other volunteers donated a semi-truck loaded with supplies for families in Joplin. Our catering manager at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, is running her first marathon and dedicating it to the victims of the Joplin tornado.  And I am now told that our teams in Springfield, Massachusetts, are feeding people affected by that community’s destructive tornado this week.

It’s people like you who make the world a better place. Thank you. I hope that you will share more of your stories of community spirit.

 Calvin Johnson is president of the Sodexo Hospitals Division.

Winner Samia Hall with her interpretation of what the Cherry Blossoms mean to her. For additional pictures and artwork, please click the picture.

When I think of spring in Washington DC I think National Cherry Blossom Festival. Sure, there is also the beginning of a new baseball season and countless other popular events available to the public, but nothing else impacts the city, visually, financially or emotionally, quite like the cherry blossoms.

I once again had the pleasure of discovering how the cities’ youth envision this iconic symbol of springtime in the nation’s capital. As the sponsor of two youth programs at the National Cherry Blossom Festival – the Youth Poster Art Contest and the Youth Ambassadors Program, Sodexo had the opportunity to participate in the festival’s opening day presentations. It was there that I had the honor of welcoming the winners of the Youth Poster Art Contest on stage and introducing them to those in attendance. Their artistic works were exhibited at the National Building Museum and viewed by thousands of visitors attending the ceremonies.

The creativity and talent demonstrated in the artwork of these K-12 students from Washington DC’s public and charter schools was tremendous. Tasked only with submitting entries that drew inspiration from the cherry blossoms and the message of friendship and good will that they represent, students from 24 area schools submitted posters in the form of digital artwork, paintings, drawing and works involving mixed media.

It was exciting to see how the students managed to capture the beauty and the sentiment of the blossoms in their work. In speaking with many of them it was clear that they likewise understood the special message that the blossoms signify this year, in the wake of Japan’s still unfolding tragedy.

The depictions of enduring friendship, unity and hope for a bright future were themes that could be seen in numerous poster entries, including that of overall winner, seventh grader Samia Hall of Kelly Miller Middle School.

Their vision of the cherry blossom is larger than the pink and white petals that draw more than a million tourists from around the world. It’s always refreshing to see this harbinger of spring from a fresh new perspective.

Scott Loretan is senior vice president, of the Sodexo Schools Segment