If you ever feel guilty about cheating on your 2015 diet goals with some Ben & Jerry’s, just think: By eating the icy treat, you are helping someone change their life.
As Good News Network reports, every time you indulge in the tasty brownies inside a tub of Chocolate Fudge Brownie or Half Baked, you’re also supporting the workers at Greyston Bakery, a business in Yonkers, N.Y., that employs people who just need a second chance.
Yahoo.com’s Rachel Tepper writes that most of the workers are people who’ve been “previously incarcerated, addicted to drugs or alcohol, homeless or faced other issues that made them seemingly unemployable.”
Good News Network notes that as soon as a new spot opens at the company, it’s given to anyone who is in line for that job — no questions asked. Not only that, Greyston also helps them with personal development tools and provides them with professional skills.
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The forward-thinking company also offers subsidized housing and childcare to its employees, and it also gives back to the larger needs of the community by maintaining community gardens, offering nutrition education classes and providing free job training programs.
Ben & Jerry’s has been working with the bakery since the late 1980s and hasn’t looked back since. Learn more about the company in the video below:
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Tag: business innovation
Road-Tripping for Entrepreneurial Success
For most of us, a road trip is a time to travel with friends, listen to music, take in the views of the majestic U.S. and wonder what adventures will come our way.
But for one man, hitting the open road means something slightly different.
Mike Glauser’s summer road trip consisted of a bike, some young entrepreneurs, a camera crew and a chance to meet with successful business-starters across the country.
Glauser is an entrepreneur, business consultant and university professor. On top of that, he is also the executive director of the Clark Center for Entrepreneurship at Utah State University. His job there is to assist students in their endeavors to start their own jobs and businesses.
Research is a large part of his work there, as well, and the recent trends he’s observed have left him disheartened. Increasingly, technology is replacing middle class employees — resulting in a future of shorter-term work and contract projects.
As a result, Glauser sees a need for more self-employment. Which is why he set out on his journey to discover the secrets of the nation’s entrepreneurs.
Using a Kickstarter campaign, Glauser raised $28,000 to launch his project. Then on June 2, Glauser and his team embarked on their eight-week-long cross-country bike tour, starting in Florence, Ore. and finishing up in Yorktown, Va. During the two months spent on the road, Glauser crossed through 100 cities and spoke with 100 entrepreneurs.
After all of that pedaling, here’s what he learned.
Lesson 1: Money isn’t everything.
While people may think that entrepreneurs are only in it for the fortune, that’s far from the truth. Entrepreneurs know exactly why they start a business, and most often, it comes from a desire to be a part of the community. Many of them want to move to small towns for a more pleasant lifestyle where they can raise a family and make a difference. For instance, one entrepreneur that Glauser encountered, whose only education consists of a high school degree, was able to donate $2 million to his local school district. “Entrepreneurs are very purpose-driven,” Glauser told Fast Company.
Lesson 2: Don’t limit yourself.
Many entrepreneurs aren’t one-trick ponies. They’ve expanded and diversified their business to include multiple areas of revenue. Joe Brandl, the owner of Absaroka Western Designers and Tannery, is a perfect example of this. His business in Dubois, Wyo. serves customers both across the country and abroad and includes the sale of animal hides, high-end lodge design and costume–making for Western movies.
Lesson 3: Take advantage of limited resources.
Just because you don’t have much, doesn’t mean that have nothing. Entrepreneurs are innovative and search for ways to stretch that dollar. They search for advice from advisors or mentors free-of-charge or in exchange for commissions. Case in point: during the recession, one company offered high-net customers a 20 percent discount, raising $70,000 in the process.
While Glauser admits that not everyone can start the next Google or Facebook, that doesn’t mean that everybody can’t start a business of a different kind — one that serves the individual needs of a community. Proving that despite all the recent technological advances, you can’t take the human out of business.
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Millennials: Changing The Look and Feel of the Workforce
Although the world did not end at the start of the new century, the new generation that emerged with it is giving the world a little shake.
Only 14 years in and their impact is already being felt with changes in politics and consumerism. This generation played a large role in electing the first black president and redefined how music is bought and sold. With the millennials becoming 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, America is only just beginning to hear their voice and needs to be prepared to adjust to their differing lifestyle.
The Brookings Institution recently conducted a study exploring the preferences and behaviors of the millennials. Their results showed that the business world will receive a shake up when these workers enter the workforce.
Already, their tastes indicate a swerve from the established norms, and fast food will be one of the first industries to feel this transition. For the past 60 years, Burger King and McDonalds maintained a stronghold over the tastes of consumers. But this will change as millennials have opted for different chains, such as Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Panera Bread.
Consumer preferences will further change as millennials will look for more than just a good bargain in their shopping. Social causes and innovation are important as well, making millennials more inclined to shop at places that are also involved in such activities.
Finances will be impacted due to this generation’s general distrust of big banks. When asked which banks with whom they would least like to do business, many of the biggest financial institutions in the country were named — including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup, which is not a positive sign for the banking world.
Similar to where they will shop, millennials will prefer to work for a company that will have an impact on the world. At the top of the list was St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, followed by the State Department at number 12, the NSA at number 17, the FBI, the CIA, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
What can and should businesses learn from this study? First, they need to develop a more social and worldly view with regards to how they conduct business. (The shoe company TOMS exemplifies this in their policy of donating one pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe purchased.) Second, companies will need to adapt their style of employee motivation. The age of big profits as a motivator is not as prevalent and is being replaced by social impact. More personal and individual contact is important as well, shown through PricewaterhouseCoopers’ decision to replace annual performance reviews with more frequent feedback.
Social impact and a personal touch are the big indicators of this new generation. America may have 11 more years before the millennials completely dominate the workforce, but it’s in the country’s best interest to start paving the way for their integration now.
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