In his book, Do No Evil, Michael Berumen writes that ethical judgements are universal and apply just as much to business as to any other social venue. He argues that death and suffering are evil or immoral and that this is universal; not subjective. For instance, in his chapter on the environment he says businesses have a moral obligation not to harm the environment.
What we do to the environment matters morally, because how we affect it can cause harmful effects on other beings, and, of course, because causing others gratuitous harm is the focal point of universal morality.
It’s no longer enough to have a successful company that sells lots of stuff and makes its directors and shareholders filthy rich. There’s a small and growing movement that expects corporations to have a social conscience. In the hope that this doesn’t sound like a marketing leaflet I want to give a shoutout to the company I work for – Creative Force – and in particular, to the managing director, Richard de Nys.
Creative Force has a strong ethical bent and this is largely due to Richard. He has built a caring and supportive company that treats employees well and punches above its weight in terms of what it gives back to the community.
We offset all our carbon emissions including flights and servers. We have taken the 1% pledge and exceeded this for the 2020 to 2021 financial year by donating 3.6% of net profits to charity. Some of the recipients of these donations are Sea Shepherd, Climate Council, Earth Protectors, World Bicycle Relief, Australian Conservation Foundation, WIRES, Humane Society International, and many more.
Richard attends climate protests and encourages employees to do the same, giving us leave from work to attend. We’re also given an additional 5 days leave per year for volunteering with a charitable organisation of our choice. We support mental health initiatives and all of us have access to Uprise, an employee assistance program which we can access for counselling and coaching should we need it.
Michael Berumen argues the case in his book for not eating animals unless we have nothing else to eat – and of course we in the developed world can easily survive without eating animals – but he admits elsewhere that he has been unable to live his philosophy and eats meat. Richard on the other hand walks the talk and is vegan. There isn’t much else an individual can do impact-wise for the environment and animal welfare than adopt a plant-based diet.
Richard is approachable, a good listener, a problem-solver, and a calm and supportive boss. Transparency and honesty are highly regarded at my workplace and the business is run with integrity. The world needs more companies like Creative Force and more managing directors like Richard who make the world a better place.
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