by Cameron Noorda
On July 6, the team interviewed Deven Patten, the sustainability director for Young Living, an essential oils business. Our goal with the interview was to learn more about how to improve well-being in the "Workplace", a core part of P3 Utah's sustainability matrix, when we begin working with US Synthetic.
Deven advised us to start simply by promoting employee education in the workplace. He pointed out that it is generally low cost with high benefits, including more employee engagement with the company’s vision or strategy, employee involvement in community outreach, and increased motivation. Deven also encouraged us to not be afraid to suggest ideas that are not part of the discussion yet, even though our team is new to this field. Any program can be assisted with an outsider’s perspective.
One roadblock that Deven has encountered is getting middle management on board with his department’s initiatives. His team hasn’t been around for very long, so it can be a challenge to convince mid-leadership how their programs apply to all employees and why they should sacrifice budget for it.
Our takeaways from this interview that we hope to discuss with US Synthetic are developing employee education initiatives and finding ways to engage all levels of leadership in the company.
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