Advocating for Change: How Transparency and Accountability Drive Sustainability at Humanscale

We’re living in an era of distrust; from “fake news” to disinformation campaigns, it’s no wonder why a company’s word alone is no longer enough. In order to combat rising societal mistrust, companies have turned to transparency as a critical tool in establishing deeper relationships with their consumers. In fact, a recent study showed that 86% of Americans believe that transparency is critical in shaping their opinion of a brand and whether they choose to engage with them. Furthermore, consumers are very specific as to what “transparency” looks like and can easily sniff out any insincerity or attempts to purport misleading information. As such, businesses that are open, honest, and clear about their goals and intentions are ones that will win and secure consumer trust in the long term.

When it comes to sustainability, we at Humanscale believe that striving to be “less bad” is simply not good enough, and this has been a core focus of our operations since day one. As a company, we are working towards not only minimizing our negative impacts, but also towards producing positive changes with transparency and our net positive impact approach. And while this might sound like tokenism to some, we’re dedicated to walking the walk. We’ve fully embraced these core values and are doing our part to live up to our goals and be transparent about them in the process. Humanscale is dedicated to improving our products for both our consumers and the planet by removing toxins from products, and publishing third-party transparency labels, among many other measures we’ve adopted in recent years.

Removing Toxins From Products

With respect to building materials and manufacturing, several chemicals and substances such as formaldehyde and vinyl are widely used, but are extremely harmful to human health and the environment. Manufacturers tend to turn to these ingredients since they are widely available and hence cost-effective for both the former and the end-consumer, but often have several runoff effects that most significantly impact impoverished communities around the world. As such, Humanscale has made concerted efforts in past years to eliminate the use of such Red List materials in the majority of our products and are continuing to do so in the few products remaining.

This process is by no means a simple one, however. Safe materials are not only more expensive, but require more effort for manufacturers and suppliers to obtain, further complicating the supply chain. Though suppliers were initially resistant to exploring new options for ingredients, we at Humanscale were determined to rethink and reframe the status quo. Working closely with open-minded suppliers and calling for change created a positive ripple effect in the supply chain, leading more suppliers to offer and create safer alternatives that we were able to implement in our manufacturing processes.

Though redefining the supply chain to ensure that we remove Red List materials is an integral step, this alone isn’t enough. It takes increased demand from our customers as well, which is why transparency about the manufacturing process is so important. It’s no small feat, but we believe that this will not only help to get us to our goal, but will also help the entire industry move towards sustainability.

Publishing Third-Party Transparency Labels

In recent months, the pandemic has transformed how consumers think about the products that they bring into their homes. From the final product’s impact on biodiversity and their own impact on wildlife, customers are not only savvy but are also actively researching which brands align with their personal principles. Third-party transparency labels are akin to ingredient labels on food – consumers should have full disclosure on the products they’re purchasing for their homes and offices.

Humanscale has published more Declare and Health Product Declaration labels than all other furniture manufacturers combined. These labels not only streamline data for consumers but are also verified by external auditors to give our consumers peace of mind that our products are certified to be sustainable and free of toxins.

Our Commitment to Becoming Net Positive

These are but two examples of our commitment to sustainability and being net positive -- it’s an ongoing process that we’re dedicated to sharing with our consumers. Our efforts include much more, such as design innovation, impact partnerships, and increased advocacy for sustainability – all of which we explore in our annual CSR report. Ultimately, we’re all in this together, and by working together we can create a more sustainable future.