Katrin launches a new responsibility program called “Balance at Hand”. The new program divides responsibility into three categories: environmental, social and economical. Balance between these three topics as well as being at Hand for customers in responsibility issues is in the heart of the program.
A more concrete way to think and act
“We think that the main challenge in responsibility programs in general is vagueness. Many companies genuinely try to achieve good things, but often the projects collapse to semantics. Consumers are drowned to the sea of information. Employees are frustrated, because projects often grow as dinosaurs. By focusing on action instead of words, you can make a difference and get a feeling of truly achieving something”, says Frank Ledosquet, Marketing Director, Katrin. Helping customers consume less paper, generate less waste, maintain good hygiene with less effort and thus less expenses are the main concerns of Katrin. These are reached through easy-to-understand training, tips and handy tools.
Brainstorming for a better future
According to Ledosquet, there has been a lot of effort to make Balance at Hand -program understandable and close to real life. Responsibility has always been a part of the corporate culture, but now it is taken to another level. “Our company has been ranked among the top of WWF’s list of environmentally responsible companies for some time now.” To receive this acknowledgement, balance is required throughout the supply chain. The list of concrete pro environmental acts is long, some examples include power plants that use deinking waste, production improvements that reduce some 20% percent of water consumption and the fact that 100% of all packaging materials are recycled at the mills.
Balance at Hand -program challenges employees on all organizational levels to brainstorm for a better future. “So, if you feel like realizing an afternoon of voluntary work with your customers instead of an expensive seminar, why not just go for it?”, encourages Ledosquet.
Sponsoring the next generation
“One example of our grass-root level social and environmental initiatives is sponsorship of the Lahti elementary school in Finland. Lahti school is a Green Flag school, meaning that the school policy takes the nature and environment into account in all of their activities”, says Ledosquet. Nature and forests are the starting points in teaching. Other educational themes include water conservation, energy, recycling and ecological diversity. Each pupil has also made a measurement of their ecological footprint together with their parents.
Katrin has also carried out pioneering School Hygiene Studies, which reveal that only one third of the school children use the school toilet daily. Since these alarming results were found, Katrin people have taken actions in all countries to increase the awareness about the importance of hygiene at schools among the public and decision-makers. What comes to own employees, proper hygiene is promoted everywhere, to ensure safety and wellbeing at work.
More information about Balance at Hand -program: frank.ledosquet@metsatissue.com
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