How do Seventh Generations practices differ from other consumer product firms?
JH: One thing that distinguishes us is the way we integrate our values into our day-to-day activities, moving them off plaques that sit on the wall into an understanding that helps people make day-to-day decisions. We increasingly benchmark our behaviors with the same kind of metrics that one would normally benchmark business activity. HR.com: Lots of companies have values, but they are disconnected from the operations of the business. How do you connect values to company behavior? JJ: In 2001, we held our first all employee off-site retreat and following that we set up some employee committees, including a Values and Operating Principles committee and a Communications and Empowerment Committee. The Values and Operating Principles wrote up our principles and we got them on the wall, which was the start. HR.com: Having employees formulate the values is already unusual; normally the senior management group does that. JJ: Having defined the values, two of our employee committees are looki
