WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY?
Responsibility is a concept that means different things to different people and companies. In business, we generally talk about corporate responsibility, which is divided into three parts: economic, social and ecological. In acting responsibly, a company takes into account the direct and indirect effects of its own actions on society. Responsible companies conduct their business in a sustainable way, taking the interests of their stakeholders into account, and strive to do profitable business as well.
Each company can consider for itself the things that make a company responsible. As a company, we have been considering this as well and have compiled a list of things that make us a responsible company. We want to make these things transparent for everyone. This way, our customers and everyone else can consider whether we are a company that contributes in being responsible. We have also divided sustainability into environmental, economic and social aspects, and we will go through each of these areas in more detail below.
ECOLOGICAL RESPONSIBILITY
Areas where we are environmentally responsible and make a positive impact on our manufacturers, partners and society.
Local production - No endangered species - Certificates - More ecological material options - No incentives for overconsumption - No discounts - Quality products that stand the test of time and use - Digitalisation - Made to order – Knowledge of the origin of materials - Carbon footprint compensation - Minimising returns
It is very important to us that we do our bit for the planet and for nature, and we strive to make a positive rather than a negative impact. During our second year of business, we decided to partner with Istutapuita.fi, where for every furniture order, we planted a tree with their help in an old marshland, compensating the carbon footprint of producing and transporting the product. We calculated the carbon footprint of the trees we planted and found out that we were not only offsetting the furniture produced that year, but we were offsetting the carbon footprint of our entire business and the manufacturing and transport of other products over a period of about five years. But we are not stopping here; we are going to plant a certain number of trees every year so that we can continue to offset the carbon footprint of our business and our range.
All the products in our range are manufactured in Finland, so they are locally produced and, for instance, do not produce extra emissions during transport. Our manufacturers strive to develop products that improve everyday life and quality of life, and that last with use and over time. They use high quality materials that are not endangered and have certificates such as the PEFC certificate for wood materials. Our range also includes products made from materials that are more ecological than the materials traditionally used in these products. In this way, we work with our manufacturers to bring our customers better product options and choice. We also aim to provide our customers a wide range of information as to where exactly our products are made and the countries where the materials come from.
Most of the products in our range are made to order, which is our way of working with manufacturers. This ensures that natural resources are not wasted by avoiding unnecessary product storage in warehouses. This also allows us, together with the manufacturers, to offer our customers a wider range of quality products. As a company, we also aim at minimising the number of returns by providing all necessary information and more on products, consequently reducing, for example, transportation and the resulting emissions. As a company, we also try to address these emissions and the overproduction of goods by, for example, promoting digitalisation and recycling the rubbish and waste generated in our offices.
As those of you who have been following us for a long time have surely noticed, we do not offer discounts in our online store. There are several reasons for this, including the need to discourage overconsumption and the fact that we want the manufacturers to be properly remunerated for their products in order to pay for the costs of their businesses and to employ people. It’s very important to us that customers can order a high-quality, sustainable product when they really need and want it, and that this is not driven by discount campaigns. We also want consumers to think about what they are buying and not to be pressured or hysterical by discount campaigns. The exception to discounts is stock clearance, where we aim to empty our stock to minimise the number of products that are just waiting for a new home. This also avoids producing excess products when there are no products waiting in stock and the manufacturer only makes products to order.
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The things we do to be financially responsible and make a positive impact on our manufacturers, partners and society.
Payment of taxes to Finland - Collective agreements - Subcontracting from domestic suppliers - Employment - Office size - Anti-corruption - ANTI-bribery - Increasing financial well-being - Careful consideration of costs
We are a fully Finnish company and pay all our taxes in Finland. We pay taxes on our business in the form of VAT, payroll taxes and corporation tax. It is important to us that the taxes we pay help to improve our welfare society. We cooperate with our manufacturers and subcontractors, who employ people in Finland and pay taxes on their own business. We currently have more than 60 manufacturers in our online shop, and we also work with many other Finnish companies. These include our e-commerce platform provider, which is Finnish in terms of staff, technology and the whole business; Posti and Matkahuolto, which provide us with logistics services; and our warehouse, which is outsourced to a Finnish company operating in Vantaa and guarantees fast deliveries to our customers.
The fact that we operate in Finland, as do our manufacturers and partners, means that workers' rights and wages are regulated, so there is very little oppression or so-called exploitation of workers. Corruption and bribery are also not a problem in Finland in the big picture. As a company, we do not tolerate such activities and we do our part to eliminate them by not participating in them. The size of the office is mentioned here because a financially responsible company also strives to be profitable, and this is what we aim in our business. For instance, this includes carefully considering our investments and minimising our costs, which include, among other things, the rent for our office. Our office is currently a space of around 20 square metres, located in an office hotel. This enables us a lower rent and allows us to work closely with the whole team, which improves both our working community and the profitability of our company.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The things where we are socially responsible for and where we have a positive impact on our manufacturers, partners and society:
Taking care of employees - Pension accumulation - Occupational health care - Equality between manufacturers and Made in Finland Shop - Well-being at work - Work community - Human rights - Positive impact on employment of people in Finland - Sharing knowledge - Respect - Cooperation between companies in good spirit - Non-discrimination - Maintaining and improving skills - Maintaining domestic craftsmanship – Occupational safety
Social responsibility and caring for our employees are also close to our personal hearts. We want our employees, our manufacturers and our partners to be happy and to pay attention to their occupational safety, health and overall well-being. This is where we play our part, for example, by always paying our manufacturers the right and agreed remuneration for their products, thus enabling employees to earn reasonable salaries and pensions, as well as income for maintaining skills, training and occupational health care. We also want to emphasize the importance of the work community for employee well-being and job satisfaction. The reason for the creation of our entire company is to help preserve Finnish craftsmanship and to improve the sale of Finnish products and export them abroad. With all this work, we want to ensure that craftsmanship does not disappear from Finland, that Finnish companies have the possibility to employ more and more people and that we generate income for manufacturers, partners and society as a whole.
It is very important to us that human rights, respect for people, non-discrimination, equality and cooperation are realized in all our activities. We believe that all these things are making our society a better place and improving us all as human beings. We will do our utmost to ensure that by our own example, we make these things happen. For a long time, we have wanted to share our own expertise and do our part to help others. One way we do this is by speaking at schools, webinars and seminars. We also produced a thesis on the internationalisation strategy of e-commerce, in which we wanted to highlight our knowledge of e-commerce and internationalisation and thus offer information to others interested in the subject. We also help other entrepreneurs by discussing with them the issues that concern them and by making our own knowledge available to them. We believe that sharing our knowledge and expertise is not something we are afraid to do and that helping people and businesses succeed helps us all.
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