Timberland Wins at 6th Annual Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Awards

September 30, 2015 /3BL Media/ - On Friday, September 25, Timberland was honored at Ethical Corporation’s Sixth Annual Responsible Business Awards ceremony held in London as winner of the “Best Employee Engagement” category.  Timberland took home the award for its Path of Service program, which was launched in 1992 to engage employees, business partners, and consumers in service to others.  Today, the program provides full-time employees with up to 40 paid volunteer hours per year to serve in their communities.

With a simple goal to equip employees with direct experiences to make a difference, Timberland hopes the program will ultimately lead employees to become proactive agents of service on their own. In 2014, 78% of employees served more than 72,000 hours in more than 100 locations in 19 countries, reflecting a 10.3% increase in hours served vs. 2013. This contributed to a major milestone: reaching one million hours served.  Some hours are served through individual employee efforts; others through global, company-led employee service events, such as Earth Day in the spring and the brand’s signature Serv-a-palooza event in the fall.

Such global events are organized by employees through Timberland’s Global Stewards program. Launched 10 years ago, Global Stewards help scale Timberland’s CSR efforts nationally or globally—critical when the core CSR team is headquartered in New Hampshire. These passionate employees volunteer for a two-year term to drive engagement agendas in their locations, and orchestrate events that translate and bring to life CSR initiatives in the country’s language and cultural traditions. 

To further share Timberland’s first-hand experiences around employee engagement, the company supports other businesses and organizations looking to engage in their communities. Timberland’s recently re-launched Service Tool Kit provides information and tools to develop and execute meaningful service events for 25-1,000+ volunteers.

“Timberland has a long heritage focused on environmental and social justice, and a truly impassioned employee community that helps us keep that heritage alive,” said Atlanta McIlwraith, senior manager, community engagement at Timberland.  “We are thrilled to be recognized for our commitment to service, and we wouldn’t be winning this award without the dedication of our employees worldwide who live our values every day by serving in their local communities.”

In addition to winning the Best Employee Engagement category at the awards, Timberland was also highly commended in the Sustainable Innovation category for the launch of Timberland Tires, a premium line of tires purposely designed and made to be recycled into Timberland footwear at the end of their life on the road, creating a more sustainable lifecycle for rubber.

For more information on Timberland’s commitment to service, visit http://responsibility.timberland.com/.