"My Vegetarian Job"

My employer made the East Bay Express:

Mal Warwick is a staunch believer in socially responsible business. So is his colleague and former mentor, Ben Cohen (the Ben, of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream). These guys share the belief that businesspeople have the power to democratize their economic system. They even wrote a book about it, Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun, which Warwick describes as “a no-nonsense how-to for people who are running, or want to start, small-to-mid-size businesses.”

Warwick runs Mal Warwick Associates, a small consulting firm that works primarily with nonprofits. In 1990 he joined a group called Social Venture Network, where he met such progressives as Cohen, Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm. They showed him how to assess his company’s impact on employees, vendors, and suppliers, and develop an economically just business model. Having long been one of the leaders in the direct-mail industry for recycled paper and soy-based inks, Warwick already knew ways for businesses to “lighten their environmental footprint.” Yet he realized that wasn’t enough: In the mid-’90s, Warwick introduced several radical measures to transform his company. He committed to pay all his staff at least a living wage, which in Berkeley is $12 to $13 an hour. He decided to elect a rank-and-file employee to the board of directors every year. He even made incentives for staff to ride bikes or take public transportation to work. All that was just the tip of the iceberg.