When you choose furniture for your workplace, what matters most?
Is it the design or the durability, the fit or the function, the color or the components? As workplaces evolve into more welcoming and dynamic destinations for collaboration, it’s hard to compromise. It’s fair to want it all — and feel like your purchase is responsible, too.
Environmental efforts are ingrained in HON’s culture, and they strive to create products that help their customers confidently meet their own greener goals while bringing a feel of the outdoors into their spaces as well.
The world is noticing their efforts. Newsweek recently ranked HNI Corporation, HON’s parent company, among the most responsible companies in the country. At number six out of 500, that’s ahead of hundreds of household names. As we near Earth Day on April 22, they’re taking a closer look at the many ways HON helps workplaces feel more fresh, sustainable, and closer to nature.
ESG in Office Furniture Matters
Ocean plastics are among the most alarming environmental concerns. A patch of floating debris in the Pacific Ocean is effectively the third largest island in the world behind Greenland and Australia.
That’s why HON partnered with SEAQUAL INITIATIVE to help turn reclaimed marine plastics into fabric now available on the HON products you already know. They’re as soft and durable as their predecessors, and available in a fresh, full range of colors that may surprise you. HON’s new Getaway, Kai, Vast, and Wavelength fabrics are available on most of HON’s award-winning seating options, office dividers and organization solutions including Workwall, and other popular lines. From cool and serene Beach, Bay, and Tundra tones to warmer Grasslands, Countryside, and Garden hues, these post-consumer fabrics create a connection with the natural world we all share.
“People don’t want a stark white office. They want to be cozy, like they’ve been working from home the past couple of years,” says Sasha Shpak-Greenfield, a Textiles Product Manager at HON. “A mix of warm and cool, classic blues and greens with desert colors like terracotta as well, invite employees back to work.”
The Best Products Are Built to Last
According to the EPA, the U.S. throws out 12 million tons of furniture each year, and almost all of it ends up in landfills. Like the trend of “fast fashion,” where clothing is hastily created and lasts as long as the latest trend, there’s an obvious solution: Make products that last longer. It’s a value HON considers every day.
Material selection and timeless design are found in solutions like HON’s Ignition® and Nucleus® task chairs, which are created with intentional durability at every level. They’re easy to clean and tough to the core with warranties that ensure years of life. And if something is accidentally damaged, there are plenty of spare parts. You don’t throw away the car you love just because you get a flat tire. Isn’t it better to repair a broken caster than replace an otherwise capable chair?
“We have an entire sustainability team working to make our products even better,” says Shpak- Greenfield. “When it comes to the makeup of our chairs, we consider the frame, the fabric, even the glue as part of that sustainability story from the initial design to reducing the packaging we use to ship our products.”
Reduce Waste at Every Opportunity
Many companies consider environmental efforts a long-term investment, with actual dividends still years away. But that distant horizon is closer than it seems. Increasingly, attracting and retaining employees comes down to company culture, and trust in an organization’s leadership on sustainability often extends to overall decision making. HON is committed to creating, and sticking to, best practices.
“Sustainability is very personal to me, and there are initiatives across all of our product lines. We have to lead the change, from our suppliers to our dealers,” Shpak-Greenfield notes. “We donate material samples throughout Iowa, and our trim is ground down and turned into the trunk liners in cars. We are exploring reuse of our own materials, like turning sawdust into the particle board we use in our laminates, and we currently use compressed sawdust in our seat bases.”
HON’s Preside® tables punctuate any meeting space — for quick collaboration, conference rooms, and flexible workspaces. Whether woodgrain is your style, or you prefer bright pops of color, HON’s laminates are engineered with forward-thinking design that reduces waste and minimizes environmental impact.
