Ralph E. Jones, Inc. (REJ) is a corporation filled with people who find personal and professional satisfaction in operating as a benefit corporation. Our corporate focus is more deliberate in supporting a PPP (People-Planet-Profit) perspective. We make every effort to support the communities in which we work and live.
In 2019, we gave away paint to various nonprofits and individuals in order to responsibly use leftover materials. Office staff began to recycle glass, aluminum, plastic and cardboard waste.
We continuously strive to diversify the work force; we seek to add racial diversity, which has been difficult due to few applicants of color. Age diversity in 2019 was good. While only 7% of the workforce was under age 24 or younger, 39% was age 50 and above. We work with our business partner, the union local, to request more diverse painter candidates.
According to https://geomap.ffiec.gov/FFIECGeocMap/GeocodeMap1.aspx. our entire workforce lives in moderate-middle income areas, with all employees located in the 3 counties surrounding our main office (Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon). Through an in-depth analysis, we ascertained that 22/28 of our employees were paid a living wage. Our goal will be to work toward 100% of staff being paid a living wage.
2019 saw the addition of a VTO (Volunteer Time Off) full day of pay (or two half days) to support the charities each employee would enjoy supporting. In 2020, we will work to ensure more staff take advantage of this benefit.
We encourage employees to give back to the community through both company-sponsored events and service projects on our employees’ own personal time. Our 2019 goal for employee volunteer hours was 200 hours of service to the community; we ended the year with 571 volunteer service hours, with a value of more than $14,000. Members of our staff enjoyed a VTO (Volunteer Time Off) day supporting Christmas programs at the Salvation Army Harrisburg. We all enjoyed a meal together after the project, compliments of REJ.
Painters with Ralph E. Jones Inc. wanted to do something to help veterans. In May 2019, our employees completed a weekend service project to rehab a local V.F.W. (V.F.W. Post 1718, Harrisburg). The V.F.W. post commander told the painters that the outside of the building had not been painted in decades, so a large group of painters donated their time, on a Saturday, to paint it. The company paid for all materials and equipment. Ralph E. Jones, Inc. was chosen as a WHTM-TV Hometown Hero for this service project. Ralph E. Jones, Inc. intends to increase the number of community service projects in 2020.
Ralph E. Jones, Inc. shows the company’s commitment to social responsibility through philanthropy. We contribute time, talent and resources to local charities to assist with beautification projects. Ralph E. Jones, Inc. recently helped with projects at the YMCA Harrisburg Area, Harrisburg Boys & Girls Club, and Beacon Health Clinic.
Throughout each year, REJ responds to urgent community needs. Recent projects include providing food for a local private school with many low-income students needing food over the holiday break, responding to the Salvation Army’s need for supplies, and providing an Adopt-A-Senior Christmas for a woman at a local YWCA. Ralph E. Jones, Inc. is known and respected in our community for its philanthropic endeavors.
Employee and Vendor engagement are areas for focus in 2020. REJ would like to see improved response rates for our surveys.
Environmental considerations became an essential area for change in 2019. Ralph E. Jones, Inc. changed to 100% “green clean” office materials, including soaps, cleansers, and paper towels, things we use consistently. We changed to green products to clean our offices and hired an outside cleaning company which would use those products. REJ also changed its landscaping focus to environmentally safe products. We required our landscaper to use nontoxic weed killers and gentle products to keep our feral kitties safe from harm. We also changed our electric supplier to a renewable energy (wind/solar) supplier.
Throughout 2019, our social and environmental efforts resulted in commitments to:
• Recycle office staff recyclables
• Use 100% green cleaning products
• End use of disposable dishes and utensils
• Shred and recycle office paper
Ralph E. Jones, Inc. is proud of a 98% local customer base KPI. We track social and environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if we are meeting objectives and accept the commitment to continuously seek to improve our KPIs and to report the information through our social media channels. A copy of our latest KPI document follows this report.