Search

Class-action lawsuits often highlight systemic problems. A recent suit by Raalon Kennedy against his former employer, Forever 21, in Los Angeles Superior Court highlights the problem of certain unfair scheduling practices.

The lawsuit contends that Forever 21 required employees to be available for on-call shifts, but didn't compensate them for having to report to work only to be sent home, Think Progress reports.

“In reality, these on-call shifts are no different than regular shifts, and Forever 21 has misclassified them in order to avoid paying reporting time in accordance with applicable [California] law,” Kennedy said.

“These practices prevent [workers] from obtaining employment from another employer because they’re tied up on-call and they’re required to be available,” Richard Bridgford from Bridgford Gleason & Artinian, who filed the lawsuit, told Law360. “Therefore, in the process, they’re prevented from obtaining other employment, and yet they’re not being compensated for the time they’re tied up.”

In April, the New York Times reported that the office of New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, is investigating 13 retailers over the use of on-call work scheduling which violates the state’s labor laws.

“Our office has received reports that a growing number of employers, particularly in the retail industry, require their hourly workers to work what are sometimes known as on call shifts — that is, requiring their employees to call in to work just a few hours in advance, or the night before, to determine whether the worker needs to appear for work that day or the next,” Schneiderman’s office said in letters sent to Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, J. Crew, Sears, TJX and seven other retailers, the paper reported.

How to stop unfair employee scheduling practices in retail

Only 17 percent of retail workers surveyed for a report by the Center for Law and Social Policy, Retail Action Project and Women Employed have a set schedule. Most surveyed have erratic and unpredictable schedules subject to practices such as on-call scheduling, which is “becoming a common practice in the industry,” according to Retail Action Project.

What can be done to stop unfair practices in retail such as on-call scheduling? The report lays out a number of recommendations, including:

• Enforcement of existing reporting pay laws by state labor standards enforcement agencies.


• Amending state reporting laws to increase damages awards for violations, which would motivate vulnerable workers to take the risk of filing complaints. Reimbursement of legal fees should be included.


• Legislators should work to pass laws, regulations and/or wage orders that require employers to provide reporting pay.


• Legislators should work to pass laws that may secure more stable scheduling practices for workers, including laws governing on-call work.


• The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division should revisit the “on-call worker” classification in the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to assess if workers affected by last minute call-in practices should be included in these protections.

Retail Action Project has a campaign called Just Hours to “create fair and stable hours for retail workers.” The campaign works in three different ways to create a more just retail industry:

• Mobilizing workers and allies to address the most abusive practices at major retailers.


• Fighting wage theft and scheduling discrimination through legal action.


• Advancing city and state legislative solutions for predictable and fair scheduling.

It’s a campaign that is badly needed: One in 9 Americans work in retail, and every American buys something from a store or shop, so unfair scheduling practices are a national problem.

A handful of retailers have decided to end on-call scheduling, including Old Navy, the Gap, Banana Republic, Intermix and Athleta. It’s time for all retailers to end the practice.

Image credit: Flickr/Mike Mozart

By Susan Pick

The Rana Plaza collapse was a tragic reminder of the consequences of the fashion industry’s “race to the bottom.” The past decade has seen more garment manufacturing move to countries like Bangladesh and China, where fewer labor standards mean increased margins for businesses, but also the prevalence of child labor, life-threatening working conditions and poverty-level wages.

However, workers' wellbeing doesn't have to be at odds with profitability. In fact, workers enabled with life skills are more productive at work, make fewer mistakes and have lower rates of absenteeism. Moreover, investing in workers' wellbeing unlocks multiple societal benefits and would be a key step toward reversing the garment industry's humanitarian crisis. 

Henry Ford was one of the first business leaders who promoted workers’ wellbeing -- for business reasons. Worker absences and turnovers were causing increased costs and delayed production of the Model T and had seriously affected the business’s bottom line. Developing countries that are seeking to regain their manufacturing competitiveness don’t have to join the race to the bottom -- instead, they can apply Ford’s forgotten lesson: Workers’ wellbeing equals productivity.

For example, Mexico, once the top exporter of apparel to the U.S. due to NAFTA, has the opportunity to “claw back” its competitiveness through high-quality textile markets (like medical textiles and protective apparel) which require innovation and a skilled, productive workforce. However, compared to other countries, Mexico works the most hours (2,237 hours per year) and yet, it is the least productive and is No. 1 in absenteeism. In 2014, unplanned absences cost Mexican companies 31.4 percent in productivity losses.

At Yo Quiero Yo Puedo (IMIFAP), we hear many reports from Mexican businesses of the high rotation of personnel, increasing absenteeism, low worker morale, too many mistakes along the production line, and not enough productivity. With more than 415,000 workers employed by Mexico’s textile and apparel manufacturing industries, the industry has a key opportunity to prioritize workers’ wellbeing as a sustainable solution to its productivity woes.

Why wellbeing is the answer

When workers feel well with themselves and with their work, and when they're empowered to become leaders of their own lives, they become motivated to innovate and be creative. If workers are enabled with the knowledge to develop their emotional and cognitive social skills -- whether through a focus on health, education, citizenship or work — they not only experience life benefits, but they also become active contributors to their work environments.

For example, when garment workers learn about taking charge of their own health, their reproductive rights or mental health, their personal and work lives both improve. If they have access to education on civic participation or making financial goals, they become equipped with personal agency, teamwork and leadership skills. All of these benefits lead to greater productivity and reduced costs for businesses.

What we’ve seen in the field

A few years ago, Ileana López, head of sustainability at the C&A Foundation in Mexico, contacted me to see if Yo Quiero Yo Puedo would be willing to test its life-skills and personal-agency programs with seamstresses in a dress factory. My response was a whole-hearted “yes,” in part because I have a personal connection to garment manufacturing.

When my mother first arrived in Mexico during the Second World War, she was a Jewish refugee from Stuttgart, Germany. She first made a living as a seamstress, fixing clothes for rich women.  After a few years, that effort became a dress factory, where my mother directed the design and manufacturing, while my father managed its administration and finances. As kids, my sister and I helped during some afternoons and weekends, making buttons and buckles, or cutting off lose threads and tagging the clothes. As the daughters of seamstresses, we were, at times, shunned at school, subject to a stereotype that says low-wage workers are incompetent, the furthest from being leaders in their own lives.

With the support of the C&A Foundation, Yo Quiero Yo Puedo designed and launched the program: "Yo quiero, yo puedo ... cuidarme y ser productive" (I want to, I can …take care of myself and be productive.”) Fifteen companies have participated to date. Supervisors undergo 40 hours of life skills and knowledge facilitation, and the supervisors in turn replicate the program during 15 minutes a week with their seamstresses. More than 1,200 supervisors and workers have participated.

The program has made a statistically (and humanly) significant difference in work satisfaction and productivity. Participating companies report that satisfaction within the workplace has increased by 37.5 percent, and the number of supervisors who state they have a better personal-work life balance tripled. Absenteeism was reduced by 25 percent, and the number of pieces produced with mistakes was reduced by 60 percent. In less than 1,500 minutes of interaction, factories improved their efficiency and workers found their power.

Workers’ wellbeing catalyzes widespread benefits

The tremendous impact of enabling workers’ wellbeing isn’t just limited to the workplace. When people are empowered to direct their own lives and act as agents of change, they recognize that they have greater rights and more possibilities. Improving workers’ wellbeing is not transactional (e.g., giving people money, gifts, clothes). It’s intrinsic empowerment.

Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo participants have gone on to establish community support groups. Women have started community banks, and adolescents have created dating violence awareness programs for their peers. This demonstrates how not just individuals, but also an entire citizenry can become empowered to change lives for the better, if they have access to education and tools that unlock wellbeing.

Image credits: 1) Jaber Al Nahian 2) and 3) Erick Astudillo for Fundación C&A

Susan Pick is an Ashoka Fellow and the founder and president of Yo Quiero Yo Puedo (IMIFAP), whose education, health, citizenship and productivity programs have helped enable more than 20 million individuals in 14 countries to develop their full potential. Pick is also the author of Breaking the Poverty Cycle and a thought leader for Fabric of Change, a challenge that will award more than €100,000 to solutions for building a fair and sustainable apparel industry.

By Emma Bailey

High-speed rail has served to better assist travelers in countries across Europe, Asia and South America for over half a century. Due to various circumstances, however, the technology never got its start in the United States. But that seems destined to change, in light of a recent agreement between XpressWest and China Railway International concerning a new high-speed link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. At the same time, the state of California is also developing its own high-speed rail infrastructure between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Yet there's a chance that these projects – and America’s interest in trains overall – will be consigned to oblivion if Elon Musk's Hyperloop concept is actually implemented in reality. Several firms, such as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and the similarly-named Hyperloop Technologies, are already working hard to bring this “pipe dream” to fruition. If it actually ends up functioning as intended, Hyperloop travel will supersede even the most cost-effective high-speed rail plans.

High-speed and high-performance rail refers to a mode of transport that operates much like traditional train travel but at much higher speeds, often in excess of 100 miles per hour. The renowned Japanese Shinkansen, developed in the '60s, continues as the shining model of such a rail system. Other countries to have put similar infrastructure into operation as well -- France and South Korea perhaps most successfully. But today, China is the worldwide leader in this technology, having now built more miles of high-speed rail than any other country in the world.

Pundits often consider the United States to be too spread out and sparsely populated to make high-speed rail economical. Another reason for its failure to take hold is the widespread availability of cheap airplane and automobile travel. Some consider it a mark of shame that it took China, of all countries, to actually commit serious capital to the development of this technology in America. When we consider the reputation that some Chinese firms have received for their shoddy and unprofessional workmanship, we have to seriously question whether they can be trusted with critical infrastructure projects in the United States.

China Railway International is capitalizing its joint venture with XpressWest by funding it to the tune of $100 million. The company intends to start building the 230 miles of track required in 2016, which seems like an ambitious target, but many of the environmental impact studies and other preparatory filings have already been approved. Even if the companies do begin construction next year, the future of the undertaking is in limbo because the total costs are expected to run somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion, making the initial funds allocated to it seem miniscule.

There are no rail services currently operating in the United States with an average speed of 75 miles per hour or greater. Several routes could theoretically be traversed that rapidly, but for a variety of reasons, the trains only operate at a fraction of their top speeds. All Aboard Florida is a project under construction that would move passengers between Orlando, West Palm Beach and Miami at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour. The New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Rail Program is another such effort underway in Connecticut, and other attempts are either being made right now or on the drawing board across the nation.

The Hyperloop could bypass all of these endeavors and render them nugatory. A brainchild of Elon Musk, this mode of transport would seal passengers in compartments that would move inside sealed tubes at more than 500 miles per hour. Plenty of enthusiasts in the tech world foresee Hyperloops costing less to build and operate than high-speed rail lines, while being more convenient to use. Yet there are concerns around ride quality and the potential for catastrophic emergency failure, which lead realists to temper their excitement about this technology.

If either high-performance rail or Hyperloops become mainstream, the environmental benefits would be great. According to Alberta Energy, traditional oil- and gas-powered vehicles emit about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas. If greater access to rail- or tube-based, high-speed transport could reduce the number of people reliant on cars, trucks, buses and airplanes to travel medium and long distances, the impact on overall carbon emissions would be significant.

Low-speed trains, subway cars, buses, airplanes and even trolley systems are just a few of the archaic and old-school means of public transportation that people use to get around these days. It's about time some people are trying to shake things up a bit in this space whether the innovations come from China or from the fevered imaginings of visionary billionaires. The United States is a 21st-century nation, and we deserve to do better than forms of mass transport designed 50, 100 or even more years ago.

Image credit: Pixabay

Emma Bailey is a freelance writer and blogger from the Midwest. After going to college in Florida she relocated to Chicago, where she now lives with a roommate and two rabbits. She primarily covers entertainment topics and issues pertaining to the environment. Find her on Twitter @Emma_Bailey90

For those of us involved with the small business, not-for-profit, and startup world, the future of sustainability is here, whether we realize it or not.  Here are three ways that sustainability is changing for the business world — small, medium and large companies alike.

1. Affordable renewable energy and business

Woman-owned businesses are statistically more sustainable than those owned by men, according to a recent sustainability survey conducted by Cox Enterprises: “Seventy percent of women are committed to increasing sustainable business activities and are more likely to offer recycling programs, material efficiency initiatives and telecommuting options, compared to 62 percent of men.”  

Since October is also National Women’s Small Business Month, you might be inspired to take a cue from one of the 10 women cited in this article as inspiration for your own business.  Of course, you likely don’t have the same buying power as large companies like MGM Resorts International.  

However, the good news is that solar panels are soon to be produced and sold at an affordable price for small- and medium-sized businesses — which is quite a feat, since 99 percent of businesses in the United States are classified as small- or medium-sized.  This new development in solar panels will make greener building and renovation possible in the very near future, whereas it was previously considered impossible, budget-wise, for the majority of businesses.  Hopefully this new technology will prove to be a game-changer for our collective use of renewable energy and allow us to begin the migration away from non-renewables like coal, electricity and gas.

In a recent pair of essays, Roger Platt observes that green building has proven itself invaluable in business investment terms.  These trends can be summed up in two phrases: “our investors require it” and “our lender values it.”  

Platt was basically pointing out the viability and wisdom of taking the environmental movement seriously, in terms of giving business leaders and investors impetus to put stock — literally and figuratively — into green and renewable energy initiatives and building renovations.  In other words, let the naysayers naysay. Those in the know realize that sustainable building and business practices, such as LEED certification and investment in renewable energy sources for existing and future company headquarters, is not an idealistic pipe dream but the way of the future.

2. Video games and virtual reality

In terms of preparing the next generation of green pioneers, there’s an extension of the newly fashionable immersive game environment customized for college students majoring in environmental science.   At Arizona State University, environmental science students will play an interactive, online video game as part of their coursework in which their game character is presented with a number of choices in how to deal with a given problem or situation.  As a result of being immersed in the possible virtual scenarios, students experience a virtual simulation of reality that prepares them for dealing with similar situations in their future careers as business leaders who specialize in sustainability.  

If you’re wondering how interactive games and virtual reality are tied to environmental causes, think about the possibilities of visualization.  Video games and simulated worlds are ideally suited to environmental learning because, as author Tom Chatfield stresses, “Perhaps the most exciting thing that could come of this type of technology is students themselves getting excited about [it], and using it to create things — and learn via the act of creating.”  In other words, in a field that is still developing ideal ways to conserve resources, students being encouraged to create ideal realities will allow those virtual realities to get closer to becoming actual realities.

3. Interactive marketing and consumer choice

This use of interactive, online games also applies to the idea of interactive marketing, which is gaining popularity and fast-becoming preferred to traditional advertisements in which the consumer takes a passive role.  With blogging, email marketing, and social networking-based marketing, the online audience actively chooses to participate and give feedback, rendering customers more integral to the product-creation and ideation process.  Because there is no right or wrong answer, necessarily, products are likely to be seen in a more favorable light rather than possibly presented in a way that is unappealing to potential customers.  Marketing, social networking and sustainability are inherently connected — especially if you target eco-conscious consumers.  

One viable, up-and-coming market to target is the youth market — especially since young people tend to lean more to the left, politically and environmentally-speaking.  For example, let’s take the ability to utilize used cooking oil for fueling purposes through the use of biofuel.  Back in 2003, students at Ohio University developed a sustainable business program that not only utilized the vegetable oil that had been previously shipped off campus at a price, but it also calculated the price savings of keeping the oil on campus and utilizing it to make biodiesel to power campus vehicles.

The use of biofuel is a marketable business strategy that is sure to gain customers — as is the use of local products and ingredients at local restaurants, cafes, and retail stores. There’s a large contingent of the population who supports the ‘Buy Local’ movement specifically because it’s more sustainable: In supporting local business, you’re not supporting the oil industry to such a great extent — and the oil industry is a major source of environmental stress and pollution — remember the BP oil spill, anyone?  Marketing your use of biofuel or the sourcing of local products benefits of your business.  In doing so, you harness the power of a large subset of the population who wants your business because of the values you espouse through supporting sustainable sources.

--

Sustainability is here to stay, and it’s no longer out of reach.  Now that greener options are finally becoming more affordable and connected to the virtual and online realms, more possibilities are within reach than ever before.  The more we embrace technological change and growth, the more we stand to profit from said technologies.  They’re the way of the future, and the future is finally here.  The more of us take advantage of it, the faster it will become less unbelievable and more integral to our daily lives.

Image credit: Flickr/Ken Bosma

Daphne Stanford grew up near the ocean, and she loves taking pictures of the mountains and rivers in Idaho, where she now lives. She believes in the power of writing, education, and radio to change the world. She hosts "The Poetry Show!" Sundays on Radio Boise.  Find her on Twitter @daphne_stanford.

By Peter Figueredo

Great companies succeed because they understand the people they serve. When you begin working with a new client, you don’t sit across the table from balance sheets and industry numbers; you meet with people — all of whom have unique personalities, ambitions and challenges. Getting to know those people can be the difference between a lasting partnership and a failed sales pitch.

On one hand, you have each client’s personal side. Who is this person in front of you? Why did he pursue this job? What are his passions, hobbies and interests? As in any relationship, your connection with your client begins by feeling out each other’s personalities and establishing common ground.

On the other hand, you have your client’s professional side. What is this person’s role in the company? What are her responsibilities within her department? What are her career goals and ambitions? Understanding the challenges your client faces at the office helps you tailor your services to meet her specific needs.

While you can serve your clients adequately with an okay relationship, you can do much more with a great one. When you truly understand your clients, you can anticipate needs before they happen, navigate moments of crisis as a trusted partner, and establish a connection so your clients stop thinking of you as a vendor and start thinking of you as a part of the team.

These seven strategies will help you foster trust with your clients and put them in the best position to succeed — personally and professionally.

1. Give before you take

Offer up some information about yourself before you start asking the same of your client. Start the conversation with more honesty and openness than you normally would. For instance, before asking your client about his weekend, provide a little information about yours. Maybe it wasn’t great because you broke your toe doing housework. Maybe you took the kids to a birthday party. Share a slice of your life so your client feels more comfortable sharing his.

2. Don’t be afraid

Your client isn’t going to bite; don’t be afraid to ask about her life. Start with basic questions. Don’t get too personal, especially in the beginning. Keep it light, and try to leave the first meeting knowing at least one interest you share with your client.

3. Reach out on social media

Many people love to make new connections on LinkedIn, so make that your first step. Establishing that public, formal connection shows your client that you want to work together and have nothing in your public presence to hide. As your relationship with your client deepens, consider reaching out on more personal sites such as Facebook, but judge whether to make this request on a person-to-person basis.

4. Research your client

Everyone has an online footprint these days. Research your client to see what’s out there. Whether it’s a sports blog or a Pinterest page full of Italian recipes, you can learn a lot about people by what they share online. This is especially helpful for clients who are reluctant to connect on social media. But exercise caution; if you bring up things in conversation that your client hasn’t shared with you, he might be put off or feel like you’ve invaded his privacy.

5. Know bonus and promotional requirements

Nothing makes clients trust you more than helping them achieve their individual goals. If your client’s company’s objective is to increase sales numbers in one category by 5 percent, but you know your client will receive a bonus at 7 percent, focus on that goal. Not only can that strengthen your relationship with your client, but it can also give you an ally within the company if he gets promoted to a higher position.

6. Keep an updated organizational chart

You need to know more than the names of VPs and directors. Understand which members of your client’s organization are your champions (those who appreciate what your business does and understand its value) and which are your challengers (those who disagree with funding your services or mistrust you). Prepare to speak with anyone in the organization so you won’t be caught off-guard if your point of contact shifts suddenly.

7. Understand your client’s workflow

Know whom your client has to work with for certain projects so you can tailor the best plan for each situation. If your strategy would normally involve mass website changes but your client’s company has miles of red tape surrounding online makeovers, you need to know that so you can budget your time properly and ensure your proposal explains why changes are necessary.

Remember, your clients’ companies might look like unified, faceless entities on the surface, but behind the brands are ordinary people who want to be understood and treated like individuals. Meet those needs and strengthen lines of communication to separate your company from the pack, and improve mutual production as your relationships with your clients grow personally and professionally.

Image credit: Pixabay 

As a partner at House of Kaizen, Peter Figueredo focuses on strengthening relationships with and growing results for clients. Figueredo is head of client services, and his New York City-based team is responsible for client happiness and meeting client goals to achieve long-term engagements and organic growth. House of Kaizen provides end-to-end digital performance marketing services to clients such as Avis Budget Group, Tiffany & Co., Audible, Red Roof Inn, Businessweek, and Total Gym.

Nine months after achieving zero non-hazardous waste to landfill across its global network of 242 factories – believed to be a world first - Unilever has now become a zero landfill company in Europe. This means that in addition to manufacturing facilities, no waste from Unilever owned or fully operated premises, logistic operations, distribution centres or offices goes to landfill in Europe.

Unilever’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, Pier Luigi Sigismondi said: “Our zero waste to landfill goal is essential to Unilever’s sustainable growth ambitions and we aspire to see an industry wide movement here. In June this year we partnered with peer companies, experts and key stakeholders to get people personally connected with this environmental and social issue.

"We are convinced that only together we can eliminate waste on an unprecedented scale across the globe. Our European teams have reached an important new milestone and proven that the model and mind-set that drove our factory achievements is repeatable outside of a manufacturing environment.

?As the world focuses on the United Nations Global Goals - an ambitious set of goals to end extreme poverty, fix inequality and tackle climate change by 2030 – the time for us all to drive more action on waste is now.”

Unilever is aiming to become a zero waste company globally around the end of the year and is also continuing to work towards a zero waste value chain.

Picture credit: Dreamstime.com
 

A campaign to promote good working conditions in the cleaning industry has been launched by an industry-led taskforce set up by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The taskforce, chaired by EHRC Deputy Chair Caroline Waters, includes leading businesses, trade associations and trade unions. The Commission convened the taskforce following publication of its report, The Invisible Workforce: employment practices in the cleaning sector. 

The report found many examples of good practice such as policies to promote equality but also found that some employers did not provide contracts to staff. Further, some failed to pay their employees in full, or to pay sickness or holiday leave entitlements. Many cleaning operatives are female migrants, who spoke of being ‘invisible’, of being treated badly compared to other employees, and said they did not understand their rights.

To solve these problems the taskforce developed principles for responsible procurement. The taskforce also developed a poster to highlight the value of cleaning operatives, and Your Rights at Work postcards for cleaning firms to send to their employees explaining their employment rights.

Caroline Waters, EHRC and taskforce Chair commented: “The Commission’s role is to promote and enforce the laws that protect our rights to fairness, dignity and respect. It has been a great privilege to have worked over the past year or so with so many people who are committed to improving the working conditions of cleaning operatives.

“We very much hope the tools we have now produced will help to bring real and lasting change for commercial cleaning operatives.”

All of the materials are available to download on the Commission’s website here.
 

The good news for Volkswagen is that it delivered almost 7.5 million vehicles to customers during the first three quarters of 2015. The bad news is that 8.5 million of VW’s cars will most likely be subject to a mandatory recall -- and that's just in Europe.

The fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues to reverberate, four weeks after revelations about the installation of “defeat device” software in diesel-powered cars slammed the newswires. Now, the world’s largest automaker is facing a global public relations crisis. This includes its home base: 2.8 million of the recalled vehicles were sold in Germany.

With about 2.4 million of those cars still within Germany’s borders, the company is spinning its wheels to deliver a plan to retrofit the cars. German authorities demanded a mandatory recall, rejecting any suggestion that car owners take their vehicles in for inspection at their own discretion.

Such a directive, instead of a voluntary recall, adds to the company’s costs since Volkswagen is required to contact customers directly and make arrangements for necessary repairs to all cars in question. Notices will start going out in January 2016, and the recall in Germany is expected to last longer than six months. Adding to the company’s financial pain is the possibility that more cars than originally believed will require more than a software reconfiguration. Some diesel cars with 1.6-liter engines, for example, will require actual hardware modifications in the engine. By the time Volkswagen completes the entire global recall, the total price-tag could soar as high as $40 billion (or 35 million euros).

Volkswagen’s executives are doing what they can to present the image of a company that is still operating normally. The company’s new CEO, Matthias Mueller, has been widely quoted as saying Volkswagen can rebound in two to three years. But cuts in research and development are also underway, with over $1 billion slashed from annual budgets through at least 2019. Meanwhile, the automaker promises to focus on how it could introduce more hybrid and electric vehicles in the coming years.

But regulators across Europe and the world are hardly focused on Volkswagen’s promises, including the purported shift away from diesel. With reports that as many as 30 VW executives may have been involved in the emissions cheating scheme, more of the company’s regional offices have been subjected to investigations. Authorities in Verona have searched VW’s Italian headquarters in order to gauge any local involvement, and French officials have conducted similar raids in offices outside of Paris. Furthermore, in the wake of reports Volkswagen cars released 40 times more emissions than originally estimated, transportation officials are pondering an end to tax credits for diesel car owners.

Employees in Volkswagen’s finance department will long be preoccupied tallying up losses from the poorly thought-out decision to tamper with several models of diesel vehicles. The price to Volkswagen’s reputation, however, will cause the company to suffer for a long time -- at a cost far more than the $40 billion disclosed on balance sheets.

Image credit: Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz via Wiki Commons

Editor’s Note: This post is part of TriplePundit’s ongoing coverage of SXSW Eco 2015. You can read all of our coverage here.

Corporate responsibility programs are on autopilot. Donate to the local nonprofit. Fill up backpacks for school kids. Assemble bicycles for Christmas gifts. Those are good deeds but … they're about as exciting as the 2-year-old PB&J sandwich you found under the seat of your car.

Sometimes your community engagement program needs a dose of the novel, exciting and adventurous. You want to shoot fireworks into the sky and let the community sit in their lawn chairs and experience beauty and awe. You want to be memorable. Inspirational. Different. You want to make giving back a rainbows and sparkles experience. In other words, you want it to be fun. When people have fun, they talk; they listen; they’re open to new ideas and are often moved to take action. Mission accomplished.

Creating a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project that makes all that magic happen is easier said than done. Often our creativity is packed away in a little box in a storage unit; we’ve moved on and forgotten we even own it. How do we pull it out, dust it off and bring it home to spend every day with us?

A great way to dust off your imagination is to see what novel ideas are out there. If you regularly expose yourself to creative approaches, you’ll soon generate your own creative ideas.

Here are three brilliant projects to jump-start your imagination. These were Art + Interaction finalists at the recent SXSW Eco Place by Design competition curated by the talented Julie Yost. Each one would be a fabulous way for a company to create social impact in an original magical way.

1. Swings that compose music

We rarely interact with strangers in public (New Yorkers, I’m looking at you). We also have a hard time agreeing and working together. Cue broken relationships, crime and war. One Canadian company, Daily tous les jours, decided to help people work together. Naturally, the first thing it did was hire an expert scientist on animal cooperation. It also hired a musician.

Then the idea went from concept to implementation. The team installed 21 musical swings in an unvisited public space in Montréal. There’s some sort of undiscovered magnetic field that draws people to swings. All ages, races and backgrounds climbed on the swings. They soon discovered that the higher you swing, the higher the musical notes. But there’s a catch. When people synchronize their movements to swing together, they create more complex melodies. It doesn’t take long before strangers start working together to morph into one giant musical instrument to compose music.

The swings were a smash hit. Every day each swing was swung about 8,500 times. Soon, the company began to receive calls from cities around the world requesting the swings. So, it created a travel kit of swings to traverse the globe and help promote cooperation in a variety of communities, including underprivileged ones, such as a refugee camp in Gaza.

The swings are becoming an international icon of peace and cooperation. If we really want to put them to the test, though, maybe we should send the swings to Congress. Better yet, let Obama, Putin, Kim Jong-un, Netanyahu and Malala Yousafzai go for a swing together.

2. The Mothership

The North End in Detroit, Michigan, has rich cultural and art heritage of funk and blues music. Sadly, that has all but disappeared. Bryce Detroit and Anya Sirota believed that they could revive the community’s rich heritage by designing an object that could be an icon for the era of funk and blues music. They went to work creating the Mothership, a mobile DJ booth decked out in Afro futuristic bling.

When the Mothership landed in the community, it was one night in an unmarked neighborhood garage. Despite not having any publicity, 700 people wearing outfits from the period showed up to celebrate and dance the night away.

The Mothership is now used to transport community artists and local living legends to various music events around the city. Every time it’s moved, it breaks down into panel pieces (think IKEA) and is rebuilt by the local community. All it takes is a wrench and a bucket of screws. When the Mothership is not at an event, people visit, take photos, and even get married in it.

This nomadic urban marker is helping the North End community tell the cultural narrative about a place that was once forgotten. The community can now once again celebrate their heritage with this beautiful cultural marker.

3. Experience butterfly vision

Conversations about protecting pollinators like bees and butterflies from pesticides are crucial. It’s equally important for people to empathize with these insects in order to be moved to action to protect them. In order to help people relate to butterflies, the exceptionally talented Jenny Kendler, an artist in residence with the Natural Resources Defense Council, gives people the magical experience of seeing in butterfly vision.

Butterflies see colors that we can’t see. They’re able to see ultraviolet colors. That means they see flowers differently. Flowers guide butterflies to them based on whether the flower is producing nectar and is ready for pollination.

In Louisville, Kentucky, you can visit Kendler’s butterfly garden and see the way butterflies see… with ultraviolet light and florescent elements. You’ll learn how important butterfly pollinators are to nature and humans. When you leave the garden, you’ll be given a postcard that you can mail to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking for pesticide regulation to protect both butterfly pollinators and your own health. So far, 144,000 postcards have been sent to the EPA.

Kendler also gave the local art and science centers some adventure kits with UV flashlights and light filtering glasses to help people experience what a butterfly sees.

“When we see through the eyes of other species it enriches our minds as well. I really hope that this project can become a model for thinking about our built environment in totally new ways. When we design for ourselves we need to leave space for the beautiful others with which we share our fragile and biodiverse earth,” Kendler said.

Your turn now

Each of these public art projects show that there are unlimited creative ways to connect with your community and give back. Novel and fun social good messages get amplified because they stand apart from the typical drone of information that people have tuned out. You’ll capture people’s interest, excite and inspire them to take action to create a better world. Let creativity and interactive art help you broadcast the message you want the world to hear and create the change you want to see. “If you build it, they will come.”

Image credits: SXSW Eco and the contestants' websites and presentation decks

There are many ways that a company can show its support for proactive environmental policies these days. Organizations like the Institute for Marketology, SA8000, the Forestry Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative provide mechanisms by which consumers can verify that a company's sustainable business practices live up to the claims it makes. But how do consumers determine the climate change policies of a corporation?

How do they know, for example, what a given corporation's stand is on statements made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or policies of the Environmental Protection Agency? And how do they know what a corporation's affiliations are when it comes to lobbying organizations or trade organizations that take positions on climate change and future policies?

A U.K.-based organization has taken the first steps toward answering that question, with an online assessment tool that rates companies on their policies and actions toward climate change. InfluenceMap categorized 100 top global companies by looking at the actions they have taken in the past concerning climate change (business practices they have instituted, statements they have made, etc.) as well as their affiliation to other organizations that lobby against climate change legislation, such as ALEC, National Association of Manufacturers or the American Petroleum Institute.

Developed by Dylan Tanner, the former CEO of Ekobai, and Thomas O'Neill, a researcher with experience tracking the influential behavior of companies when it comes to climate change, InfluenceMap also has the support of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which helped develop the metrics for this rating system.

The authors point out that their goal wasn't just to rate a company's behavior when it came to lobbying in Washington and state capitols, but their public and private efforts to influence climate change policies and legislation.

"We use the term "influence" rather than lobbying for good reason. The capture of climate change policy by corporations extends beyond formal and financial interactions between lawmakers and corporations and their representatives," explain the authors in the summary.

Since the rise of social media in the 1990s, companies' methods for getting their views heard when it comes to climate change have diversified. On topics that they may feel directly impact their businesses, they often take steps to ensure that "the appropriate policy response are heard loudly at multiple levels." That may include phone calls to politicians as well as press releases opposing or countering a policy. The InfluenceMap takes all of these direct and indirect actions into account and uses them to rate companies' proactive stance toward climate change.

Its three key areas of assessment -- organization, relationship and engagement -- examine the corporation's performance and position when it comes to its public stance, the transparency of its policies, and its approach toward climate change legislation, carbon tax, emissions trading and other constructive approaches.

While companies like Google and Unilever are at the top of the list for their positive, outspoken efforts to address climate change, the Koch Industries and Phillips 66 share the bottom as those who have the worst track-record when it comes to supporting changes that will address global warming. Companies like Verizon and Dupont, were noted as having mixed positions on climate change and didn't fair that much better, either. While Dupont gained points for "climate science transparency," it lost points for social media statements and other disclosures it made that didn't clearly define its position on greenhouse gas standards.

It's noteworthy that only three companies received the top mark of "B" -- Google, Unilever and Cisco Systems. The lion's share, 64 companies, received lower than "C-." No corporation received an "A."

It's interesting that in many cases, corporation didn't receive the same grade for its stance on a given topic when it came to published material on its website, as it did for statements published say, on social media. Toyota Motor Corp.  for example, received a positive score for its support for energy efficiency standards that it published on its website, but received negative grading for media reports suggesting it would take legal action against the government's efforts to enact those same standards.

InfluenceMap offers another more comprehensive way of assessing a corporation's statement when it comes to its position on climate change. But just importantly, it sets the benchmarks that corporations can strive toward to clarify their positions on topics that increasingly are becoming the drivers to the economy as well as the health of the planet.

Images: Anthony Quintano; InfluenceMap