Month: March 2023

Originally published in Cintas 2022 ESG Report

Water is a central resource to our business at Cintas and it is a necessary input in one of our key business services. As we celebrate World Water Day, we believe Cintas has a profound responsibility to be mindful, considerate, and deliberate in our interactions with this vital natural resource.

As a company, we recognize that water is already a scarce resource, so we strive to be a responsible community leader and respect our communities’ right to water.

To strengthen our resolve as a water consumer, we continue to explore opportunities that help lessen our water consumption. And as a responsible water steward, we continuously monitor our operations and processes, so we discharge water back to our local communities in a sustainable, responsible manner.

WATER MANAGEMENT POSITION 

Our Water Position outlines how we work to evolve our business practices that involve water, and informs our efforts to conserve water and minimize our water draw.

These opportunities include:

Identifying further process efficiencies and water utilization methodsTreating wastewater in compliance with prevailing regulationsUtilizing appropriate reuse technologies when ableEngaging in cooperative relationships with our vendors, suppliers, and customers to identify opportunities and incorporate innovations to help manage water more responsibly throughout our value chain

These ambitions – added to our existing laundering processes, which require less water (and energy) than both traditional at-home laundering and our industry peers – help us maintain an acute perspective on our water stewardship activities.

Further, our Water Position motivates us to identify and innovate even greater efficiencies that help maximize our achievements across our company’s scale, even as our business continues to grow.

CINTAS’ WATER JOURNEY 

We take pride in our water-conservation efforts to date. In addition to our ongoing efforts to minimize water requirements and maximize water conservation throughout our company, we are placing focused attention on increasing our water-reuse efforts. For instance, we are seeking to build on the success that our production facilities around the Great Lakes have had in expanding their water reuse.

As we aim to prioritize higher water reuse in areas of significant need, specific challenges presented by our locations in water-stressed regions provide us with opportunities to test and pilot programs. These areas include Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada.

The majority of our FY’22 water withdrawal originates from 14 major water basins.

APPROACH AND STRATEGY 

Cintas’ efforts to increase water conservation go back decades. Decreasing our dependence on freshwater has been an ongoing focus of our engineering efforts.

These efforts have also produced sound business practices by reducing our production costs and costs passed on to customers through our pricing models. The less water we use, the lower our costs – especially in areas where water prices are at a premium because of local restrictions or regulations, decreasing water availability, and/or localized conservation programming.

Our water stewardship strategy has three main components:

Conservation and minimization of the water we withdrawIdentification and implementation of process technologies and efficiencies that help further reduce our water useImplementation of water-reuse technologies

Throughout our water journey, we’ve fostered a culture of innovation among our employee-partners and vendors and have challenged them to modernize the commercial laundry industry.

At Cintas, we’ve led the way by:

Testing, refining, and installing capital equipment systems that help us conserve waterUtilizing evolving wash chemistry technologies and optimizing wash chemistry formulasAdopting common-sense behaviors that, taken together, have helped significantly reduce our costs and water consumptionExploring and installing broader water-reuse technologies

Water Conservation 

We’re proud of our legacy of water-conservation efforts, and we know our ongoing commitment has produced a positive ripple effect throughout our industry. Throughout the last few decades, we’ve focused conservation efforts on minimizing our draw from freshwater sources and reducing our overall water needs.

We’ve made significant strides in lowering the amount of water required to wash a pound of laundry without compromising our ability to meet hygienically clean certification standards (where applicable), which is critical to our customers.

We continue to seek opportunities that will help us further reduce our water consumption. Our current initiatives highlight two key areas of ongoing opportunity: process efficiency improvements and wash chemistry. We work collaboratively with our capital equipment manufacturers and our wash chemistry partners to improve our operational footprint, and to realize the combined impacts of engineering efficiencies and chemical improvements on our water requirements.

Water Reuse 

We are continuing to identify ways to increase water-reuse rates throughout our production facilities. We have seen impressive reuse capabilities at a number of our facilities with full reuse technology and complete monitoring systems.

Taking the cues and learnings from these locations, we anticipate identifying the start of a more expansive enterprise-wide reuse strategy in future years. Our ability to expand and monitor our water-reuse capabilities at all our locations is an important step in our ongoing work to lessen our freshwater withdrawal and lower our overall water consumption.

WATER RISK ASSESSMENT AND WATER-STRESSED REGIONS

With our operational footprint stretching from coast to coast across the United States and Canada, we draw water from a variety of sources, including water-stressed regions. The majority our FY’22 water withdrawal originated in 14 major water basins, with 82% of our water drawn from five sources: the Mississippi–Missouri river system (35%), the Gulf of Mexico (14%), the St. Lawrence River (17%), the North Atlantic Coast (9%), and the state of California (7%).

An FY’22 water risk assessment identified 40 Rental plants that operate in water-stressed regions of the United States and Canada, where they are experiencing high to extremely high water stress. Of our 40 processing plants located in current water-stressed regions, 17 are in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada, states which have been severely impacted by historic droughts and declining water tables. At operations in these states and other water-stressed regions, we are emphasizing water-reuse technologies. As good environmental stewards, increasing our reuse efforts will also be important to help supplement our ongoing water-conservation efforts.

In the western region, legacy systems currently installed at our Las Vegas and Denver-area locations have provided contextual examples of how expanded reuse capabilities can positively affect water consumption.

As various reuse opportunities and technologies emerge and evolve, we expect to prioritize the expansion of water-reuse capabilities in water-stressed regions and identify and apply appropriate technologies in these vital areas.

MANAGING WASTEWATER AND EFFLUENTS 

Both our Environmental Compliance policy and our Water Management Position outline our expectation that our field locations treat and process wastewater as necessary to comply with their specific local, state, and federal regulatory requirements.

Our wastewater treatment strategy has three main components:

Approved chemical suppliers and wastewater-treatment equipmentProper maintenance of all wastewater-treatment equipmentWastewater testing and reporting

We have also implemented consistent treatment systems at our facilities to help our locations return wastewater to the local municipality according to all local regulations.

THE WASTEWATERTREATMENT PROCESS 

Our wastewater-treatment process is consistent throughout all processing plants in our company. It begins with the removal of lint and other solids from wastewater after a wash cycle, which generates non-toxic waste that is disposed of in landfills.

At facilities that require wastewater to be treated before it is discharged, the effluent-free wastewater is routed through an equalization tank for homogenization. It then flows through a dissolved air flotation (DAF) system for additional filtration and treatment.

Once wastewater has cycled through the DAF system and has been treated, it is discharged back to the municipal water supply. However, if the location has reuse technology installed, the treated wastewater may also be recirculated for reuse.

WATER PERFORMANCE AND DATA 

Our Rental business is the overwhelming driver of our company’s water interactions. Our ongoing operational review has helped us more fully identify opportunities for how we work with water. The water data in this year’s report includes all of our Rental processing locations in the United States and Canada.

Water Intensity Decreases Since FY’19 As our business has continued to grow and we’ve processed more product volume, we’ve significantly invested in decreasing our business’s water requirements.

With the increase in output at our processing locations, we continue to realize the impact of our efforts to reduce our overall water needs. Since FY’19, we have lowered our water intensity by almost 21% – even as revenues have grown by almost 14%.

Lowering Water Requirements 

Our ongoing efforts to innovate, increase efficiency, and explore reuse opportunities have resulted in significant reductions in our water needs.

Our Operational Excellence and Reliability initiatives have helped our machines work more efficiently. With wash chemistry programmed to meet specific product load weights, our washers and dryers are more efficient – requiring less water and energy and fewer chemicals to clean, and less energy to dry. Our employee-partners continue to work with our wash chemistry and equipment vendors to target optimal product load sizes.

Since FY’19, we have lowered our water withdrawal by 9.1%, our water discharge by 9.8%, and our total water consumed by 2.8%. We’re using the water we draw in more effectively and increasing the amount we return to local municipal water systems.

We expect our efforts to increase water-reuse opportunities will bear additional impact in coming years, further helping to lower our overall water withdrawal and consumption.

Water-Stressed Regions 

We put significant attention on our water stewardship in areas experiencing water stress. Since FY’19, we’ve lessened our water withdrawn in these regions by 11.7%. In FY’22, our business withdrew 18.7% of our total water withdrawal in stressed regions, but only consumed 13.9% of our total water consumption in the same areas.

As a company, we discharge 88.9% of the water we withdraw back to municipalities, but in water-stressed regions that total is up to 91.8%.

Overall we consume 11.1% of the total water we withdraw as a company, but that total is even lower in water-stressed regions, at 8.2%.

Our efforts to optimize existing water-reuse systems and explore further reuse opportunities in water-stressed regions are contributing to our lower water requirements in these important areas.

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Internships are all about experience and learning. At Koch companies, one of those opportunities comes directly from Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, and Chase Koch, CEO of Koch Disruptive Technologies, when they sit down for the annual Koch Intern Q&A. Charles and Chase offered words of advice and encouragement on how to have a successful and meaningful career.

Find your gift and where you can create the most value – and design your role around it 

“The worst disaster for people is going after the shiny object,” Charles told the crowd of more than 100 interns. “They say, ‘I want to be a supervisor, or I want to be a leader,’ and they’d be terrible at it when they were great individual performers.”

Chase suggested asking yourself three questions:

Where is your comparative advantage?What are you passionate about?Where’s the big market opportunity that aligns your passion and your gift?

Charles said over the years he learned a lot of things he wasn’t good at, but that by applying those questions he learned where he could contribute the most and feel good about himself.

The value of hard work 

One of the stories Chase shared with the interns was about his first experience working at Koch Industries. One summer when he was 15 years old, his father sent him to work at a feedlot in Syracuse, Kansas. He worked long, hard days shoveling manure and doing other manual labor tasks around the lot.

While it wasn’t what he would consider enjoyable, he later realized that it was good for him. Chase said he had learned the value and accomplishment of hard work.

“I hope that you all feel that this summer – that you’ve come in, you’ve learned, you’ve accomplished something and you’ve improved yourself,” he said.

Develop lasting partnerships 

Charles emphasized the importance of creating mutually beneficial partnerships. He shared three keys to finding good partners:

Share a vision.Share values.Leverage complementary capabilities to help each other and the greater goal.

Continuously improve yourself 

Charles also told the interns that once you’ve found some success, you can’t stop. You must keep improving by finding out what you lack and working to fill the gap.

“To the extent we’re closed, we’re satisfied with what we are doing, we don’t need input from the outside, we don’t need to use the knowledge of our people and so on – when we let that happen at any level, we decline,” he said.

Find meaning 

Much of the advice was ultimately aimed at helping the interns learn how to find meaning in what they do, no matter where their careers take them. Charles said the principles he tries to live every day can help people realize their full potential no matter what they’re doing.

“We want you to be happy,” he said. “We want you to have a life of meaning.”

See more about Koch careers.

Originally published on GoDaddy Life

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at GoDaddy?

I’ve been with GoDaddy for about eight and a half years! I started out as a Guide taking customer phone calls on third shift. I eventually made my way to the Digital Care Organization in August 2018, and I’m now the lead writer for all domains articles in the Help Center. I’m responsible for making sure our domain articles are helpful and accurate, so our customers and Guides have the right information available to guide them through using GoDaddy’s domain products. About two years ago, I started using words to help design domain product experiences, also known as Content Design or UX Writing, and I’ve been having a blast working in that space. Most of my days include some kind of writing, whether it’s creating a brand-new help article to support a new product feature, updating an existing article to match an improved product experience, or using content to help design product experiences. I work very closely with our UX designers, product managers, developers, channel management and ATS. I would not be able to do my job without the support of all the amazing humans around me. When I’m not working, you can probably find me reading (Brandon Sanderson, Sarah J Maas, and Anne Zoelle are some of my favorites), playing video games with my husband (Grounded, RimWorld, and Total War: Warhammer III are my top picks), or playing with our dogs (basset hound, Bahn and greyhound, Rin). We recently moved to Colorado and there are so many places around the state for us to explore and experience (paddle boarding, anyone)?!

How did you get into tech?

Before GoDaddy, I was working in retail, had a degree in philosophy, and had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up! My now-husband was working at GoDaddy and he suggested I apply to a Customer Support role. Even though I was convinced the Internet worked off magic and rainbows, I somehow convinced the recruiters that I knew what I was doing and was ultimately hired as a Guide. It took a lot of time and effort to really learn not just our product offerings, but how the Internet actually worked (I was deeply disappointed to discover it’s through DNS, not magic and rainbows). It didn’t take very long to realize I was not good at sales, but I was really good at solving problems and finding solutions. That’s what ultimately led me to join our Advanced Technical Support team for three years, then made my way into my current role.

Explain a challenging or exciting project that you’ve had the opportunity to work on and success you’ve seen from the work since then.

Lately, I’ve been working very closely with one of our product managers, Pooja Shah, exploring some different approaches on how to tell customers about our domain protection offerings. We’ve been doing that through experimentation! We’ve looked at different ways to show information, how to guide customers to said information, and to use language to connect with our customers. It’s been quite exciting to explore this space and try new things. We’ve learned a ton about how our customers interact with our protection options. The more we learn, the more excited I get! We’re constantly going back and rethinking the process. Even if an experiment is not an official winner, we’re still seeing success through learning and iteration. It’s exhilarating, challenging, frustrating, and exciting — all at the same time!

What motivates you at work?

My team and the folks I work with every day inspire and motivate me at every turn. Seeing their awesome work gets me pumped to try and achieve something even half as incredible! The talent and creativity on my team and the entire Digital Care Organization is honestly unbelievable! It’s a little intimidating to be standing next to folks who are exploring AI, integrating with new content delivery methods, and reshaping how we use words across the different GoDaddy surfaces. But that intimidation is exceptionally motivating and the fact that my teammates are all beyond kind and generous makes it exciting to come to work each day.

What is your personal advice for women who are interested in your profession? How should they proceed and what should they learn?

I’m a writer, so my number one piece of advice for anyone wanting to pursue a career in writing (regardless of the industry) is to write. It sounds a bit cheeky and cliché to say, but it’s super important to get comfortable with writing. I’m also a huge fan of building your network on LinkedIn — not to necessarily look for new opportunities, but to connect with other humans in the industry. The talent and willingness from others to help is extraordinary across the writing network on LinkedIn — whether it’s creative, screenplay, UX, or technical writing. I also recommend finding a mentor. Look for individuals who have already been doing what you want to do. They are full of advice, can offer feedback on current projects, and even commiserate with you if you’re struggling with something (and when you’re ready, they’ll help you find a solution). I would also recommend learning about voice and tone, especially for writing in the tech industry. Every company has a specific voice, or personality, and that voice is always consistent — but you can use tone to convey that voice in different ways. Nailing that difference and being able to “flex your tone” is a foundational skill that will set you up for success.

What important traits or values did you build over your career and how?

Flexibility and collaboration are two things I’ve really worked on during my time with GoDaddy. These traits have helped me explore and embrace inclusivity. I’ve always been very structured in my life. I was used to doing things how I wanted to. Well, that doesn’t always work when you are so closely involved with other teams. So, I had to tone down my more rigid instincts and accept that my way isn’t always the only way. Working on that helped improve my collaboration with all the unique and wonderful humans across different teams at GoDaddy. That collaboration highlighted the wonderfully different personalities, communication styles, comfort levels, strengths and struggles of everyone around me — including our customers. So, I tried to be more mindful and inclusive in my work by focusing on how to say something that would work for all (or at least most) of the folks in my audience. I extensively researched how to be more inclusive in my writing, and I’m still learning new ways each and every day.

Are you enjoying this series and want to know more about life at GoDaddy? Check out our GoDaddy Life social pages! Follow us to meet our team, learn more about our culture (Teams, ERG’s, Locations), careers, and so much more. You’re more than just your day job, so come propel your career with us.

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/GoDaddyLifeInstagram — https://www.instagram.com/godaddylife/LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/godaddylifeTwitter — https://twitter.com/GoDaddyLifeTikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@godaddylife?Career Page — https://careers.godaddy.com

As published in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Our Qualcomm Women Employee Network (Qualcomm Women) has grown to nearly 10,000 members in 25 chapters around the world — representing approximately 20 percent of our global workforce.

Qualcomm Women focuses on promoting inclusion of our Company’s women across the globe, increasing their representation, voice and perspectives; encouraging mentorship, leadership opportunities and career development for them; collaborating with other internal groups to further promote their perspectives; and engaging in community outreach initiatives to foster the interests of women and girls in STEM careers.

Qualcomm Women is governed by a Board of employee volunteers and is championed by executive sponsors. Qualcomm Women offerings include mentorship programs at all levels, peer groups, executive talks, Lean-In Circles and outreach initiatives. Qualcomm Women also piloted the Male Allyship program to engage men as advocates and champions of gender inclusion.

One of the signature programs of Qualcomm Women is peer groups, a collective of action oriented employees within the same department or same function, who work together towards the common goal of promoting gender diversity and inclusion opportunities within their specific organizations. The collective is designed to serve a multi-fold purpose, such as providing speakership opportunities for women within an organization and give women an opportunity to network, build their skill sets and connect in areas that are unique to their immediate roles. As of 2022, Qualcomm Women’s 15 Peer Groups comprised more than 1,000 employees and had organized more than 600 events.

Qualcomm Women is a strong network where employees feel a sense of community and can get peer support on facing unique challenges and developing themselves and their careers.

Learn more in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

MIAMI, March 22, 2023 /3BL Media/ – In celebration of Women’s History Month, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises unveiled a powerful new campaign titled “Change the Game” (Cambia el Juego), under the company’s award-winning corporate social responsibility initiative, Unstoppable Women (Mujeres Imparables).

The new multiplatform initiative seeks to inspire, inform, and ignite a community of unstoppable Latino women to shift their perspective and “change the game” of life. Activations will take place throughout the month on broadcast and digital channels and in a series of community events across the nation leading to the countdown of the highly anticipated FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™, airing on Telemundo and Peacock this summer.

“Telemundo celebrates women every day of the year and this month we’re inviting all Latinas to unleash their confidence and the immense influence they have to shape their future,” said Mónica Gil, Chief Administrative and Marketing Officer for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

This new campaign recognizes and salutes powerful Latinas from all walks of life to ignite and embrace their ability to be unstoppable at anything they do.

MÓNICA GIL

Chief Administrative and Marketing Officer for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

To view and download “Change the Game” PSA, click here.

Telemundo’s Change the Game (Cambia el Juego) initiative encompasses an array of programming, community activations and employee experiences:

Last weekend, Telemundo Deportes streamed the Chivas Femenil vs. Atlas Feminil match, featuring commentary by Telemundo’s Ana Jurka and Aranzta Fernandez.Collaboration with the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles for Girls Empowerment Day, bringing over 2,000 girls to the Dignity Health Sports Park for a day of fun, inspiration, and motivation, with clinics, workshops, and more.Telemundo talent will join the 5th annual LATINAFest: Sembrando and Cultivating our Future, the largest outdoor festival on the West Coast celebrating all things Latina, including an Unstoppable Women and Women’s World Cup activation.Telemundo will host an executive panel at its headquarters titled “Changing the Game Together” featuring unstoppable women and executives in the world of sports who have scored big goals and impressive records.Extensive employee activations including a “Las Mujeres Imparables de Telemundo” branded photo shoot for all women at Telemundo to celebrate their power within the company, inspire passion as we countdown to the Women’s World Cup, and together #changethegame across social media platforms on International Women’s Day.Cambio de Juego, a webisode series dedicated to highlighting the impact of women in sports through discussions, debate and analysis, will feature a month-long celebration highlighting women’s growth and influence in sports, hosted by Telemundo Deportes’ Ana Jurka.Zona Mixta, Telemundo Deportes’ leading late-night weekend sports studio show, will highlight a variety of topics around women in sports. The program is hosted by Ana Jurka with a roster of correspondents and sports professionals, including Veronica Rodriguez, Arantza Fernandez and Daniella Lopez Guajardo as well as experts like Claudia Trejos who covers boxing.Next month, Telemundo continues building the excitement on the road to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, airing the U.S. Women’s National Team’s upcoming “friendlies” against the Republic of Ireland on April 8 and April 11 on Universo and Peacock.

Since its inception, Unstoppable Women (Mujeres Imparables) has created a diverse community of women with inspiring life stories, shared educational resources about Latinas, and aligned with community partners on key national initiatives. Mujeres Imparables is part of Telemundo’s El Poder En Ti community outreach program and seeks to advance Latinas in the workplace and beyond.

To learn more about the Mujeres Imparables initiative, please visit “Mujeres Imparables” on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and connect with Telemundo on Facebook and Twitter.