Planet, people, and community—those are the three sustainable impact pillars upon which HP aims to drive meaningful change in the IT industry with its new HP Amplify Impact program announced in February. All partners who are part of HP Amplify, the retooled partner program the global vendor launched in November, are eligible to join the voluntary program.
Ellen Jackowski (pictured), HP’s chief sustainability and social impact officer, says the new program is an extension of HP’s core sustainable impact strategy. “”It’s not just about the impact that we’re making in our own operations, in our own company, but given our legacy in this space, our history, and the leadership that we’ve been able to have, it just feels like it’s our responsibility and our opportunity to then take all of those learnings, share those across our value chain, and scale that impact.””
Jackowski says the program creates an opportunity for partners of all sizes to have an impact, no matter where they are on their sustainability journey. “”Given the problems that we are facing as a society, this isn’t just something a certain portion of our society should be taking on. Everyone has a role to play … no matter how big or how small you are, [or] where you sit in that [partner] ecosystem.””
Partners that join HP Amplify Impact will work with HP to assess their own practices while tapping into the company’s sustainability resources, such as the HP Planet Partners recycling program.
There are two tracks to Amplify Impact at present. Catalyst track members will take the HP Amplify Impact Pledge, participate in a sustainability assessment, and report sales opportunities. HP is initially rolling this out in the U.S. and 18 other countries. “”The pledge covers all three aspects—planet, people, and community,”” Jackowski explains. “”So a partner can choose where within those realms they want to focus. They can focus on all three, or they can start with one and expand over time.””
The Changemaker track is optimized to assist partners that do not yet have a sustainability plan in place and commit to investing in the sustainability journey. HP will closely collaborate with and support Changemaker members in the development of a long-term sustainability plan. The initial rollout includes France, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Australia and select partners in the U.S. Partners have “”various levels of maturity in terms of their own sustainability programs. Some of them are very sophisticated and others are just starting out. So that was important for us to think about how we present options and [have] some flexibility, so that there’s something for everybody,”” Jackowski says.
HP is several decades into its own commitment to sustainabiity. “”We’ve got a lineup of some of the most sustainable products in the industry,”” says Jackowski, who notes that sustainability is not only good for the planet, but it’s good for business too. In 2020, HP had more than $1 billion in new sales, due in part to sustainability, she says, and HP wants partners to be able to benefit from this as well.
In addition to more buyers wanting to source responsibly, more employees want to work for companies commited to sustainability. “”Employees, especially the younger generation, are very interested in this topic. They’re passionate about it. And when we embed sustainability into their work, it brings more purpose to the work that they’re doing.”” HP, in fact, changed its performance management system last year to allow all of its 55,000 employees to set a sustainable impact goal, she adds. “”That empowers them to be part of the solution … That’s really invigorating. It’s matching purpose and people’s values with the core of their job function. And I think for retention and recruiting, this is a big difference.””
Turning to the “”people”” pillar, Jackowski says HP did a lot of self-reflection last year on its own progress with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), noting that there’s always more work that can be done. “”We recently set a goal for example, to double the number of black executives across the company. And we’ve revamped a lot of our diversity, equity, inclusion training, and started all sorts of different forums within the company on the topic as well to look for solutions.”” HP will be sharing its internal DEI training resources with Amplify Impact partners.
DEI ties closely to climate justice too, Jackowski says. “”As we continue to develop our environmental solutions, we’re thinking about that climate justice aspect and connecting diversity, equity, inclusion to our climate action.””
Finally, the third pillar, community, focuses on bridging the digital divide, she explains. One effort in this area is HP LIFE, a free, skills-training program for entrepreneurs, business owners, and lifelong learners all over the world. HP has seen a “”huge uptick”” in users since the pandemic started. “”We’re going to continue to scale programs like that,”” Jackowski says.
Also in response to the pandemic, HP, in partnership with TIME for Kids, NASA, and Britannica, launched Turn to Learn, a program that delivers printed educational content to support teachers and students in underserved communities and communities lacking internet access.
HP’s goal is to enroll at least half of its HP Amplify partners in the voluntary Impact program by 2025, according to the company.
“”We really need everybody, all of our partners working together with us across our industry, to create the systemic change that we need,”” stresses Jackowski.
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