Our technical consulting services have a low carbon intensity, as we do not manufacture or distribute products, making our environmental impact relatively small. Our main contributors to environmental impact are primarily from leased office space, business related travel costs, technology, and waste, primarily paper use.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Willdan seeks clear, sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for everyone. We take this responsibility seriously because our work often places us at the center of our client’s environmental, safety, and sustainability challenges. These challenges often involve the opinions of public, industry, and government stakeholders who seek our advice on complex issues. We have helped utilities, towns, cities, industries, and governments find sustainable solutions to these complex issues concerning carbon intensity and infrastructure.
Human Capital Management
Willdan brings together engineers, scientists and technical specialists from all backgrounds to solve our clients’ challenges. At the end of FY2020, we employed a total of 1,353 employees, excluding contractors. Our employees include, among others, licensed electrical, mechanical, structural, geotechnical and civil engineers; land surveyors; certified building officials; certified inspectors and plans examiners; licensed architects and landscape architects; certified planners; energy sales and audit specialists; installation technicians; program managers; policy advisors and information technology specialists.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
While diversity, equity and inclusion has always been a part of our culture, we continue to advance efforts to integrate our principles into all aspects of our work and measure results. We believe our success depends on creating and maintaining a qualified, and diverse company. As our people represent an ever-broader diversity of gender, age, race, cultural background, language, sexual orientation, ability, and national origin, we become an ever-stronger company.
In 2020, we established Willdan’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group (“DEI Group”). The DEI Group is an employee developed collaboration across our company focused on conducting a multi-pronged analysis in four identified areas including, employee recruitment, community engagement, business partnerships and inclusive culture. During 2021 and beyond, the DEI Group will be advancing our diversity program by developing and tracking key performance indicators as we make progress toward DEI objectives. Our vision is to create a culture of acceptance and individuality, where all employees feel respected, included, and encouraged to bring their unique perspectives, ideas, and skills to work each day.
In 2020, we published our initial Sustainability Report. Some highlights in our 2020 Sustainability Report are:
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■ Establishment of our DEI Group
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■ Disclosure of our employee diversity performance data
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■ Disclosure of our cumulative environmental metrics for our energy projects; and
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■ Commitment to reduce our carbon real estate footprint by lowering our facility costs by 25% on a per-capita basis by the end of 2025
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We strive to attract and retain professionals with the diverse expertise our clients and teams require to solve complex challenges, as energy and infrastructure transform and expand. Our goal is for our staff, suppliers, and subcontractors to accurately reflect the communities where we live and work.
To bring more diverse and talented people to our team, we partner with professional organizations that represent and support diverse applicants. We seek out and hire minority-owned subcontractors on our projects and regularly use minority-owned suppliers. These partnerships offer economic opportunity to local, minority-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises. We can better serve all communities by using contracting teams that mirror the culture and demographics of the communities where we work.