Greyston Bakery's ethical business model and community responsibility

¶ … Responsibility Project

The short film that I selected from "The Responsibility Project," (2011) was the video on the "Greyston Bakery" which is a company that is dedicated to giving back to the community. The president of the company, Julius Walls, Jr., makes a statement that "Business should give back to the community, not the other way around" and that this can be done and still make money. Greyston utilizes what they call "open hiring" where anyone in need can try to get a job there and it is apparent that they hire people that have had or are having issues in their life. This is a very important ethical issue within our society as many in these economical times cannot find work let alone those without issues in their lives.

Social pressures from the world state that a company must make money for its shareholders, and that this money must be the first and most important thing. In the short video about Greyston one cannot help but see that they are able to do this while also giving back to the community around them. This is amazing in times like these where most businesses are struggling to even show a profit let alone try to give back to their community.

When considering this video and the example being set by Greyston one can see that in our business and personal decisions that profits do not always have to be set as the only reason for doing things. Greyston shows us that if a product or service is marketed right one can make a great profit and at the same time give back to the community in which they live or operate.

In watching the video on Greyston Bakeries it is hard not to agree with what they are doing. It amazes me that Greyston is able to take an item as small and unimportant as a brownie and do as much for its employees, community, and its shareholders. Their business model of the "double bottom line" I feel should be used by more companies today. A social mission along with a profit mission shows some amazing ethical values. I know myself that in the two corporations that I own I will be sitting down with my board of directors for both companies and will ask them to watch this video. I wish for us to find ways that we could model ourselves after Greyston even if it is in a small way.

It is obvious that I am in total agreement with what Greyston is doing but as the video is short I feel that there are some things that make one wonder. Though the film shows the viewer the ethical standards of the company there is no mention of what legal issues the company faces or has faced in the past. A legal concern for me that immediately comes to mind is in their hiring of people from the community with past issues. I can see where in this type of hiring practices one could be presented with some legal and/or security issues. Furthermore, in my past experiences and knowledge of factory operations another legal issue that I see as a potential problem for Greyston is by hiring unskilled labor there would be a very high potential liability in on the job accidents and workers compensation claims.