Stakeholder Engagement
Building strong relationships
Our ability to operate successfully depends on strong, open and trusting relationships with many different stakeholder groups. We are committed to listening to the questions and concerns of those who care about what we do, taking action to resolve issues, and communicating transparently about how we operate. We also understand that every group requires a different frequency and type of engagement. Below is a snapshot of our approach to engaging with our various key stakeholders.
- Customers: We engage with our customers primarily through daily personal contact via our sales and marketing teams, and through regular interactions at the leadership level and occasional surveys. We also invite customers to learn more about our company on our website, on field trips and at forums and trade shows. When requested, we provide input to support our customers on topics such as procurement, supply chain sustainability and supplier-qualification processes.
- Suppliers: In addition to daily contact with our suppliers through the procurement of goods and services, we provide resources to promote sustainable forestry practices to the forest landowners and log suppliers who supply our mills with wood fiber. All our suppliers must comply with our Supplier Code of Ethics. Our critical upstream suppliers, those we depend on for market success and the sustainable operation of our company, fall into two categories: suppliers of wood and other raw materials, and suppliers associated with the machinery and technology vital to our manufacturing operations. We select our Tier 1 suppliers through a rigorous process that incorporates assessments of safety, technical expertise, quality, service, security, reputation and other sustainability risks. Key elements of our strategy to mitigate supply chain risk include supplier choice, supplier diversification, contract negotiation and monitoring procurement and materials management KPIs.
- Investors: We engage in regular discussions with our institutional shareholders, host investment presentations via webcast and attend investor conferences. Our earnings reports are available via webcast each quarter, and we provide detailed information about our company in our Annual Report, Proxy Statement and throughout the investor section of our website.
- Employees: In addition to direct leadership communication and engagement with teams, our CEO and senior leaders regularly host town hall meetings and webcasts. Our internal website and company news app feature daily news and stories, leader blogs, polls, videos and reader comment sections where employees can share opinions and observations. We also have an internal innovation platform that encourages employees to share ideas for improvement, as well as comment, “like” and collaborate on other ideas. We measure the overall effectiveness of our work environment annually via employee feedback surveys, and we develop action plans to close any gaps we find. Our labor relations continue to be guided by principles jointly developed with the union that represents most of the employees in our U.S.-based businesses. The principles are designed to foster cooperative relationships and employee empowerment. Our labor principles allow employees in North America the right to free association, including the right to freely choose to organize and bargain collectively.
- Policymakers and Regulators: Our government relations team and other leaders regularly interact with policymakers in the United States and Canada. We support direct advocacy engagement by our employees and are members of several trade associations and issue coalitions, such as the National Alliance of Forest Landowners, the American Wood Council, the Forest-Climate Working Group and others. We provide legal and ethical campaign contributions, support grassroots letter-writing campaigns and serve on governmental advisory committees.
- Indigenous Communities: We are committed to proactively developing and maintaining positive, mutually beneficial relationships with Indigenous communities wherever we operate. The needs and perspectives of Indigenous communities are relevant to many of our management and business decisions, including the use of public land and resources. We work with local Indigenous communities to promote, increase and support their participation in the forest sector. To guide these efforts, we have a robust Human Rights Policy that governs our interactions with local communities and Indigenous peoples. We are committed to ensuring that all our business activities are conducted in line with this policy and are committed to communicating, promoting and sharing this Human Rights Policy with all our employees, contractors and external stakeholders.
- Local Communities and General Public: We engage with community leaders and members of the public in a variety of ways, including town halls and in-person meetings, as well as periodic surveys of public opinion. We have public consultation processes in Canada, including engagement with First Nations, and community advisory panels in the U.S. In addition, our entire wood supply is certified to the SFI® Fiber Sourcing Standard, which specifically requires a written policy demonstrating commitment to comply with social laws, such as those covering civil rights, equal employment opportunities, gender equality, diversity, inclusion, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment measures, workers' compensation, Indigenous peoples' rights, workers' and communities' right to know, prevailing wages, workers' right to organize, and occupational health and safety which meet the spirit and intent of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. We also host tours of our facilities and support two forestry learning centers: the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center in Washington and the Cool Springs Environmental Education Center in North Carolina. At the same time, we build relationships with local media to help tell our company story and provide timely updates to community stakeholders. Members of the public may engage with us through the numerous “Contact Us” sections of our website; inquiries are routed to the appropriate internal experts for response. People may also submit concerns via our EthicsLine at 800-716-3488.
- Nongovernmental Organizations and Nonprofits: We engage and partner with numerous NGOs to conduct research on wildlife, biodiversity and other environmental issues on our lands or in nearby communities. We also provide support for organizations that promote sustainable business practices. We participate in local, regional, national and global forums with multiple stakeholders and directly engage in public policy development. Some of the groups we partner with include: American Bird Conservancy, American Forests, American Forest Foundation, American Tree Farm System, Bipartisan Policy Center, Carbon Leadership Forum, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Forest-Climate Working Group, Forest History Society, Forest Society of Maine, The Natural Climate Solutions Alliance, NatureServe, New Hampshire Audubon, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, Society of American Foresters, Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, The Trust for Public Land, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Women’s Forest Congress, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Resources Institute and many more.
- Universities and Research Organizations: We engage with universities and governmental organizations that conduct research advancing the scientific understanding of our industry. We participate in cooperative research on forestry, sustainability and innovation topics with select universities as well as with governmental research labs, such as forest products labs and U.S. Department of Energy research labs. We are a longtime member of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc., the University of Washington's Stand Management Cooperative, the Forest Productivity Cooperative and the Climate Smart Land Network, to name a few. We also support university outreach and research programs at Clemson University’s Wood Utilization + Design Institute, Michigan State University's Forest Carbon and Climate Program, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University's College of Forestry, University of Alabama, University of Arkansas' Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Georgia, University of Maine's Cooperative Forestry Research Unit and a number of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Chairs at the University of Alberta. These partnerships are strongly supported by our in-house scientists, who co-publish numerous peer-reviewed papers in journals and present at national and international conferences.
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