«The ecosystem of a beehive represents our vision of the working environment: collaborative, productive, inspired by organization and mutual, constant commitment. The way bees act daily, helping themselves and the environment, is exactly what we do day after day: we work for our “hive” generating a positive impact on everything around us».
These words come from a pleasant interview we had with Giorgia Lavazza, Lead HR Business Partner of Beko Italy.
Beko has decided, as a company, to celebrate the birthday of each employee by giving them the opportunity to adopt a hive. Thus, many new beehives are born and will be born in the apiaries of the Beeing network.
Today, we asked Giorgia to tell us more about this project, and we want to share with you the insights that came out.
Who are you and what role do you play in the company? What does Beko do?
I am Giorgia Lavazza and I’m a Lead HR Business Partner at Beko Italy.
Beko is a Turkish consumer electronics company founded in 1955, when household appliances began to play an indispensable role in people’s homes. Since then, we have become one of the top three brands of large household appliances in Europe.
Beko is a leading company in the appliance industry, whose mission is to change the lives of its customers through a wide range of innovative and sustainable products and solutions.
What are your values, especially in the field of environmental, social and economic sustainability? What positive impact do you want to make on your sector, on the territory, on the community around you?
Since I joined Beko, the company’s commitment to social and environmental sustainability has been clear to me. Its purpose is “Inspire sustainable life in every home“. Beko’s mission, in fact, is to promote a sustainable way of life in every home through durable and innovative products. Thanks to our technology, innovation and business model, we are committed to enabling our customers to make meaningful and positive choices that ultimately result in greater well-being.
When we talk about environmental sustainability, it is not just a matter of business for us: in Beko, the principle that guides our daily choices and actions is “contributing to the creation of a healthier planet for a healthier future”.
A healthy life is only possible on a healthy planet and each of us can really make a difference and contribute to a greater purpose. The idea is creating a positive domino effect starting from small actions.
This is why we are committed to a sustainable selection of raw materials, followed by concrete actions in production: the collection and reuse of rainwater in some industrial processes, Green electricity from renewable sources and the use of recycled material is just one of the ways we connect nature to Beko. Our mission is to create environmentally conscious products. Efficient production processes that take advantage of the most modern technologies allow us to create products that recall the past while shaping the future.
If we set these challenging goals as a company, why not do it individually every day? So, we decided to start a partnership with Beeing in order to support their mission ensuring a real and positive change on the environment and society in which we live.
How did the partnership with Beeing come about? How did you come up with the idea of giving your employees the adoption of a beehive?
At Beko, I am in charge of organizing the activities of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and I have always wanted to involve people in something unusual and innovative, at the same time making them protagonists of the impact that they could have created themselves on an environmental level.
In order to continue to make a difference in terms of environmental sustainability we signed the collaboration with Beeing, a company that puts sustainability before everything and aims to protect the most important pollinating insect, bees. The survival of these fascinating creatures is directly related to the very existence of the human species and the well-being of numerous agricultural crops. Protecting bees is therefore essential to ensure terrestrial biodiversity and to preserve the natural cycles that support food production.
The missions of Beko and Beeing go perfectly with each other: we both take care of the planet to make it a healthier place for us and for future generations, through simple actions impacting positively on the Earth’s ecosystem.
Did the project involve employees? Did it encourage employees to take action to protect the environment?
As a company we decided to celebrate the birthday of each employee by giving them the opportunity to adopt a beehive to contribute to the mission that Beeing carries out and Beko joined. Employees not only appreciated the thought of their birthday, but are happy to be able to take part in the initiative: with a simple “click” they contribute to the protection of bees and the ecosystem.
We decided to support this initiative because the ecosystem of a beehive represents our vision of the working environment: collaborative, productive, inspired by organization and mutual and constant commitment. The way bees act daily, helping themselves and the environment, is exactly what we do day after day: we work for our “hive” generating a positive impact on everything around us.
Thanks to the collaboration with Beeing, I discovered that the swarm is the ideal model of a healthy organization that cares about well-being and productivity, just as it happens within Beko where we achieve optimal levels of performance and motivation, thanks to collaboration.
As every swarm is made up of bees, the company is composed of people who, regardless of their role and their job, aim at the same goal, that is to ensure the success of the company… just like in a swarm where the tireless work of bees determines the survival of the swarm itself.
What is the key message you would like to convey to other companies or organizations wishing to undertake similar environmental sustainability initiatives? What are the basic steps you would advise them to follow to succeed?
Talking about development, corporate sustainability has now become an issue that can no longer be avoided. On the contrary, it must be the guiding principle in the business choices that the companies face daily.
Without respect for the planet and its limited resources, it becomes very difficult to think about a sustainable tomorrow. For this reason, we adopted responsible and sustainable business behaviors to reduce our environmental impact and ensure the protection of the environment that hosts us. We develop and use technologies that can curb the pollution of our waters, create products by recycling other materials and, thanks to Beeing, contribute to the protection of bees, guardians of the health of our ecosystem.
Through the partnership with Beeing we wanted to create the so-called “positive domino effect“: bees, for example, are among the main actors in the protection of the territory and their decrease heavily affects the whole natural cycle. This does nothing but further damage the environment. For this reason, we chose to support Italian beekeepers through this program of adoption of beehives, combining the preservation of biodiversity with an aid to a profession that is vital for the protection of the environment.
An essential aspect that I would like to emphasize is reminding us that any choice and action taken today will compromise the needs of future generations. That’s why at Beko we try to act in the most sustainable way possible today to ensure a better tomorrow: this is our choice of life.
When we look at the strong sustainable actions that come from our collaborations with local companies, we feel our mission – to safeguard pollinators and biodiversity – becoming more shared and real than ever. We feel that there really is a community working to build a bright, ethical and liveable future for all.
The history of Beko shows us that growing in respect of the environment is also possible for companies.
And the success of this story proves it.
Develop with us a project with bees with a high positive impact on the environment and join the movement of corporate sustainability!