Building stronger communities and workplace culture

By Dani Sheehan. 

Duro-Last®'s commitment to community outreach programs extends further than environmental stewardship – it fosters teamwork among employees and strengthens the communities where they work and live. 

Community outreach and involvement is deeply ingrained in the company culture at Duro-Last. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tess Heston, sustainability specialist for Duro-Last, to discuss how community involvement plays a key role in their approach to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) efforts. “Duro-Last has always had an interest in giving back to the community,” she shared. “That interest came from the fact that it started as a family-run business. And it’s growing.” 

While the goal is to improve the communities around them and the environment, they focus first on creating a culture of volunteering and giving back in the workplace. “We have more ambitious goals on average volunteer hours per employee. We’re increasing our funding in our budgets for donations and sponsorships, but the other thing is that we want the choices for the projects we work on and organizations that we work with coming from our employees,” Tess explained.  

Duro-Last compensates employees for their time spent volunteering during work hours and provides multiple options throughout the year that are available to both on-site and remote employees. Whether they choose to build a home with Habitat for Humanity or give blood during their lunch break, employees are encouraged to participate in a variety of efforts they feel passionate about. 

For example, the main campus in Michigan is getting ready to participate in their ongoing Adopt-A-Highway program. Tess told us about the effort: “This is something that Duro-Last has been doing forever... Three times a year, we’ll gather a team to go out and walk up and down the two-mile stretch of highway [we’ve adopted] on either side of the road and pick up litter. It’s a simple way to try to clean up our environment and our surrounding areas.” 

Another outreach effort Tess is excited about this year is the company’s partnership with MiCareerQuest™, an event for high school and middle school students. “Our Duro-Last team is going to be working with MiCareerQuest, which is a career fair for high school and middle schoolers to educate them on all types of careers that can exist,” Tess explained. “We’re trying to create these events to educate students on what their possibilities are.” 

Through Duro-Last's commitment to their employees, their communities and their environment, they’ve built incredibly successful outreach programs that have become a fixture in their communities.  

Improving your own company’s community involvement 

Thanks to this commitment, Duro-Last has cultivated outreach programs that not only benefit the community but also strengthen internal culture. For other companies looking to build their community involvement programs, Tess offered valuable advice. “I would say getting your employees involved and seeking their input. Then you increase participation by picking organizations that everyone is passionate about.”  

She also stressed the importance of planning and consistency, sharing, “Relationships and culture take time to grow. Whenever you see companies that have these massive, wonderful events, that’s amazing, but it didn’t start there. It’s built on the backs of years and years of improving the process and improving relationships.”