Advice and Guides

Introducing Veganism to your Workplace

Kelly Coles Mar 13, 2021 Advice and Guides

In 2018, Vegan Leaders launched the Corporate Initiatives Support Program (CISP) to help motivated vegan employees push for a change in their workplace, which pairs the participant with a coach and provides a step-by-step, nine-month game plan for those seeking assistance in the workplace.

Many vegans hesitate to self-identify or advocate in the workplace due to lack of support from management, and lack of interest from colleagues. However, we know that employers already care about wellness, diversity, and the triple-bottom-line of people, planet & profits. With the right perspective, the vegan message serves all three aspects. Many companies already have vegan employee groups, various plant-based-themed events, and other initiatives.

CISP enables vegan leaders to create and foster ideas that lead to more of these successes. Big changes start with small steps, and when we are ready as the right opportunity comes along. Vegans can change their workplace if they’re so inclined, using basic steps as outlined in the Vegan Leaders Playbook.

2021 – Exciting challenges alleviate challenging times! Introducing veganism to your workplace

Sid Seth has been promoting veganism on the internal communication channels of a multi-national firm for over a year. Whilst he crafted content, such as a list of best vegan restaurants, and organized a virtual vegan baking event, he found that the engagement around his online activities was lukewarm in the beginning.

In the new year, he spotted a social media post where the Firm’s CEO announced his commitment to sustainability, asking for ideas that could make a real difference. Sid jumped on the opportunity and asked politely if the CEO would be willing to take up a challenge that would require changing his eating habits. The CEO, true to his word, was surprisingly supportive of the idea and agreed to support a company-wide vegan challenge. It turned into a gamified engagement opportunity – something fun for all 15,000 employees, vegan and veg-curious.

Participants in the challenge could earn points by completing various activities, and these points would double if they used their experience to influence others. There were different categories to suit all skills and interests. Entries were counted by using hashtags, both internally and on external social media platforms. Participants were able to cash in on their points and receive exciting rewards.

All activities in the challenge had a sustainability-related message to drive positive change and offered unique experiences to all participants. Some examples of vegan-related activities included:

Inspirational steps

cooking or baking vegan dishes
reading articles about the benefits of a plant-based diet
watching documentaries about climate change and other sustainability issues

Social activities

sharing photos of vegan dishes they ate
ordering food from local vegan restaurants
buying locally grown, plastic-free vegetables

Altruistic journey

donating their old fur or leather clothes to a local animal sanctuary
donating their weekly takeaway coffee budget to a local non-profit
learning about intersectional justice issues to reduce suffering on the planet

There are many ways to promote veganism in your organization. Vegan Leaders would love to help you develop your ideas or hear about successful initiatives at your workplace! Click here for more information about this free program.

Should you say you are vegan on LinkedIn?

Darina Bockman Mar 17, 2019 Advice and Guides

If you are a “quiet” vegan with a conservative corporate job, and if your LinkedIn profile currently doesn’t mention your vegan interest at all, PLEASE read these tips and update your profile.

On the other hand, if your LinkedIn profile currently over-promotes veganism (see examples below), consider toning it down – you may be unintentionally doing disservice to the cause.

Vegans are still (sometimes unfairly) often seen as annoying and preachy. That’s one reason why many conservative, high-positioned corporate vegans avoid mentioning their veganism on places like LinkedIn. That is a huge missed opportunity. Mentioning one’s vegan interest – even subtly – does these important things:

•It allows people – like other vegans in your company who may be searching for other vegan contacts – to find you.

•It helps normalize veganism among the influential corporate crowd.

So… how to do it right?

LinkedIn is still essentially a resume platform – even though some personal detail is expected. Here is how you keep your profile very businesslike while cleverly working in your vegan interest:

•Tie your veganism into a legitimate accomplishment, e.g. “Co-president of Harvard Vegan Society”, “Launched a vegan travel app”. You can fit this matter-of-fact statement in the profile intro, Employment, Education or Projects sections.

•Make a soft mention in your introduction write-up – after you’ve dazzled the reader with your skills and credentials. For example, close your intro with “My personal interests include healthy vegan/plant-based cooking and fitness.”

•List Vegan in the Skills section. (this is commonly done)

•Join a LinkedIn group such as Vegan Leaders in Corporate Management – it will show up as “common interest” suggestion to people who share that interest.

It is important to use the word vegan. “Plant-based/vegan” will work. But vague hints like “I am passionate about health, nutrition and environment” will get completely missed in any key word searches.

Now, the following ways of calling out one’s vegan identity on LinkedIn might be too heavy-handed and reinforcing the negative stereotype mentioned above. If you use any of these, at least make sure to balance them out by other impressive, non-vegan-related credentials.

•The (V) symbol after your name. This one is fairly harmless but might confuse people or come across as a little cult-ish.

•A vegan profile headline. Headlines are meant to identify one’s profession or position, e.g. “Experienced Marketing and Social Media Manager at Amazon.” If you must, say “Experienced Marketing and Social Media Manager at Amazon and Vegan” rather than something like “I am VEGAN to save the planet!!!!!”

•A vegan tirade in the profile intro – especially before establishing one’s credentials.

•One-dimensional vegan resume – too much focus on vegan jobs and projects.

Want more content tailored for corporate and Fortune 500 vegans? Please check out our other articles, including advice and guides, interviews with featured vegans in corporate leadership, Vegan Leaders news releases and more.

Vegan Leaders in Corporate Management is a non-profit corporation based in California.

Expert Tips on Creating Plant-Based Movement in Your Workplace

Anastasia Strokova Nov 23, 2018 Advice and Guides

Lessons from Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones Project

What does it take to make an entire city healthier and more open to a plant-based lifestyle?

Dan Buettner, an award-winning journalist, researcher, and a National Geographic fellow, knows exactly how to get it done. Thanks to his Blue Zones Project, communities across the United States from rural Minnesota to beach cities in California to a corporate hub in Texas are being transformed. Cities who commit to Blue Zones Project report savings in health care costs, longer lifespan, drop in obesity and smoking rates and many other improvements.

With our Corporate Initiatives Program kicking off in its first year, we got an opportunity to interview Dan about his perspective on being a change maker and making an impact on corporate and community levels.

Tell us about the work of Blue Zones Project with businesses and corporations?

Dan: Blue Zones Project works with entire communities. Our approach is comprehensive and community-wide and we believe if that if you want to make employees healthier, you have to make their city healthier.

One of the success stories of Blue Zones Project is the community of Albert Lea, MN that has seen a 38% increase in walking and biking and have lost a total of 8,000 pounds.

Blue Zones Project offers workplace certification project for companies, schools, grocery stores where businesses are coached in about 50 ways that an employer can optimize their environment. We encourage business to change policies and implement designs where people would be more likely to move more, eat more plant-based options, connect more, and know their sense of purpose. We coach employers in implementing these changes and if at least 70% of the recommendations get implemented, they get certified by us.

At companies’ cafeteria, we ask them to charge a bit more for hamburgers or meat entrees and use the extra funds to subsidize appealing and delicious plant-based offerings with fresh ingredients and a real chef preparing them so that they are really tasty.

We also convinced employers to offer green trays at the salad bar and red trays at the hamburger line. Bottom line: we don’t take people’s choice away, we try to make healthy choice easier, more salient, and easier to find.

What are some of the essential partnerships that make Blue Zones Project a success?

Dan: Our initiative is publicly supported and privately funded. We work with city governments and leaders and usually develop a partnership with an insurance company or a hospital system to fund the program in a particular community. For example, Albert Lea project received funds from Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic Health System, Walmart, and many other community organizations. We partner with organizations that clearly see the link between the purpose of our program and being able to bring down obesity, smoking and improve health and quality of life indicators in the entire community.

But this project only works if people actually commit to change. Through our program, we encourage people to take a pledge where they agree to do plant-based potlucks with other people, take purpose workshops and volunteer, implement a checklist we give them in order to optimize their home for a healthier lifestyle. We work with a city council to influence such things as restaurant menus with ample vegetable and fruit offerings, favor pedestrian over automobile method of transportation or favor a non-smoker over a smoker.

The change happens gradually, usually, after about 5 years you get enough ubiquity and penetration. Our main premise on which we operate our entire program is we don’t try to change people’s lives, we change their environment. We create an environment where it’s cheaper and more accessible and even cooler to eat plant-based entrees, to eat fewer calories, move more, socialize more, and know your sense of purpose.

What advice would you give to a vegan in a workplace who wants to make a difference in his or her organization?

We don’t take people’s choice away, we try to make healthy choice easier, more salient, and easier to find.”

Dan: Chief Financial Officer and HR department would be the best contact to start with. Financial leaders in companies care about the bottom line. It is quite logical to tie diabetes, cancer, and other conditions with how much it is costing a company in medical expenses and lost productivity. Steer the conversation towards the fact that policies encouraging plant-based eating are ultimately going to lower healthcare costs for any company. In this situation, it will be more productive to take a health approach rather than an animal rights approach.

Advocate for changes that can be easily and inexpensively implemented, at least at first. Fruits, water, healthy snacks…all these items are readily available and would not break a company budget. Work with a cafeteria to have a couple of plant-based entrees as part of a regular menu. Encourage a company to sponsor plant-based lunches to get people trying and realizing how delicious this food can be.

Earlier this year we launched our Vegan Leaders Corporate Initiatives Support Program, which is a 60month coaching program to promote plant-based choices in the corporations. What advice would you give to the participants of this program to make their mission most successful?

Dan: It is fantastic to hear about such an initiative. One advice I can give to the participants is to remember that discipline is hard. It can only take you so far. Don’t strive to change the behavior of people around you. Instead, work on changing their environment and you will see a big difference.

Another important aspect to remember is to strive to create friendships rather than just organizing a certain group. There is a concept of “moai”, which means “meeting for a common purpose” in Japanese. People belonging to a moai develop lifelong friendships fueled by a common purpose and a sense of connection and belonging.

See if you can make meaningful connections through this initiative and think beyond organizing a certain group. Can you give people an opportunity to get to know each other, to bond, to make memories over plant-based potlucks, holding each other accountable and working on a common purpose together?

Then, when the program is done, you will still have 2-3 friends with whom you shared fun getting together and going out to eat vegan Thai food and you can’t wait to do it again.

Have you gotten any pushback through this project or find it difficult for people to commit to the change?

We create an environment where it’s cheaper and more accessible and even cooler to eat plant-based entrees, to eat fewer calories, move more, socialize more, and know your sense of purpose.”

Dan: Blue Zones Project is only done in cities who want this program implemented. We don’t certify employers, schools, grocery stores, and other businesses unless they want it and are ready to commit. The key is to formulate benefits for an organization and get it to opt in.

What’s next for Dan Buettner, what’s the next project?

Dan: I am researching healthiest diets in the world and food that will sustain the world population in the next 50 years where we can live without chronic disease. Both internal and external impacts of our food choices are of great interest to me.

Best of luck with your program!

Earth Day and Other Best Times to Pitch Vegan Ideas to Your Employer

Darina Bockman Apr 13, 2018 Advice and Guides

Do you wish your employer were more vegan friendly? Use events like the Earth Day (April 22 of every year) to open the door. Even companies that generally resist vegan ideas are usually up for something outside the norm around the Earth Day. Besides the Earth Day, at least three other times of the years are excellent for suggesting a vegan theme.

Case in point: My Fortune 500 employer has not traditionally done much for veganism. However, the company is big on sustainability so naturally (even without a push from vegan employees), mentions of a dietary impact on the environment have crept in communications. The year before last, I was amazed to read in an all-employee newsletter that some offices had adopted Meatless Mondays during the Earth month. I believe I even saw the v-word in the memo.

What can you do? Here are a few easy ideas:

If you know your company will be sending some Earth Day communication, talk to the person in charge and see if you can work in some language on vegan benefits. ChooseVeg.com and this Time.com article offer some good environmental talking points.
See if you can put up these flyers or infographics in the lunchroom (or include them in the newsletter).
See if your department/cafeteria would be up for Meatless Mondays in recognition of Earth month. This could be done in May while the Earth theme is still lingering. HSUS has many resources available, including Meatless Monday toolkits.
Suggest a plant-based-only food theme for office events organized in April/May, to honor the Earth month.
Get a buy-in to bring in a guest speaker or outside provider (find out if there is a local plant-based vendor offering nutrition coaching/weight-loss, cooking demos or a vegan food delivery program). Stress the benefit to the employees/company!

Besides the Earth Day, other good opportunities are May/June (getting fit for the summer), September/October (when the benefit enrollment usually starts and employers emphasize health/wellness) and December/January (time of resolutions—challenge your office to sign up for Veganuary).

Or, if you want to do something even more creative, November 1st of every year is the official World Vegan Day. Why not ask your company or your co-workers to recognize it with a symbolic action, such as challenging the whole department to eat vegan for a day. You can even make a fun team-building event out of it.

Remember: Just ask—the worst thing that could happen is to get a no, and you’ll likely give people some food for thought they won’t be able to shake off. And there is a good chance you’ll get a yes!

“Vegbox”: How Vegan Employee Started a Movement at Dropbox

Darina Bockman Jan 24, 2018 Advice and Guides

Do you wish your workplace catered more to issues that are important to you? You can make it happen, as the following story shows.

Cole Deloye, leader of Vegbox

Cole Deloye, 25, had just started at Dropbox as a Compensation Analyst. Being vegan and passionate about promoting the benefits of plant-based eating, he decided to revive an existing but dormant internal group called “Vegbox”. Largely on his own, he set out to bring action-packed “vegucation” to his workplace.

Can you be both a vegan activist and corporate professional? And why are you vegan?

Cole: I view myself as a corporate professional who is vegan. I am fortunate to work at a company that encourages employees to support causes and movements openly.

I became vegan for personal health reasons and also because as a huge animal lover, I was enormously compelled to advocate for them. Those same reasons have also kept me vegan. I feel that going vegan was the best decision I’ve ever made.

You decided to launch a vegan initiative at Dropbox, one month after joining the company. How much interest did you expect?

Cole: I expected a lot of interest especially since I used buzz words like “plant-based” and “sustainability”. I described Vegbox as “A new community of Dropboxers interested in plant-based solutions and sustainability.” Besides appealing to our vegan or vegetarian employees, I figured that discussing the environmental angle of plant-based living would attract additional people. Plus, many employees who do not describe themselves as vegan or vegetarian, or even pescatarian, should still be interested in Vegbox.

“Dropbox was already a veg-friendly workplace. But as “Aim Higher” is our company’s value, we aimed at the next level of plant-based offerings and being one of the best places to work for vegans.”

How did you get the initiative off the ground?

Cole: I immediately started contacting vegan public figures who I thought would make interesting guest speakers. I also contacted the chefs in our restaurant, as well as our head food purchaser, to discuss food sourcing and vegan options. For the Vegbox launch, I asked our internal design team to design a logo, which they graciously did. They also designed placards I then placed at the vegan stations in our restaurant the week of the launch. I created an internal webpage for the group which outlined the mission and values as well as a preview of the year’s events. On the launch day I emailed our entire San Francisco office introducing the group and inviting them to join the Google Group and the Slack Channel. The following week we had our first Vegbox lunch meetup.

I focused on events that would appeal to a wide employee audience. Our first event was a Wine & (vegan) Cheese Tasting with featured the founder of Miyoko’s Kitchen who generously donated lots of her artisan cheese paired with Dropbox wine. Our next two events, also food related, hosted representatives from Memphis Meats and Hampton Creek.

What did you mostly hope to accomplish with Vegbox?

Cole: I had several goals in mind which were inter-connected. One, I wanted to create a community of Dropboxers that live plant-based; identify as vegan, vegetarian or simply are exploring transitioning to a more plant-based diet. Two, our group would help our members achieve a more inclusive and veg-friendly environment at Dropbox. Three, we would raise awareness on the benefits of plant-based living and sustainability to the broader Dropbox community through Droptalks, events and campaigns. And lastly, we hoped to engage with Dropbox leadership and our chefs to adopt more plant-based offerings and transition company practices away from using animal products.

Interestingly, Dropbox already provided vegan options with our free breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, afternoon tea and Friday happy hours so we were already a very veg-friendly workplace to begin with. However, as one of our company values is “Aim Higher”, Vegbox aimed at the next level of progress with plant-based offerings and being one of the best places to work for vegans.

Cole with Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary, in front of Vegbox’s animal rights book library

Hampton Creek’s product demo display – in addition to its signature “Just Mayo” product, the company offers vegan cookies, spreads and other products

What are your plans for 2018?

I want to continue to host a unique, open invite event each month – usually featuring a guest speaker. Our 2018 line-up includes Beyond Meat CEO and Founder Ethan Brown, Vega founder and triathlete Brendan Brazier, What the Health director Keegan Kuhn and Beyond Carnism founder Melanie Joy. We will have a product sampling and presentation by the Lush company as well as film screenings starting with Okja at the end of January. Our beautiful library at Dropbox gave me the idea to request book donations from various animal protection non-profits. We received many book donations and started a book club which began with reading Jonathan Safron Foer’s Eating Animals and we will continue reading other books in 2018.

Another goal for 2018 is to increase our social impact. Each Dropbox employee can donate one Dropbox Business account to a non-profit of their choice each year. Vegbox has a goal to donate 20 accounts to non-profits in 2018. In addition, we are organizing a field trip to Goatlandia Animal Sanctuary.

I will continue to work with our chefs on the animal welfare standards for our food purchasing as well as work with the real estate and design team to make our interior design more animal friendly (i.e. no leather, skin rugs, down pillows, etc.)

I would also like to expand Vegbox to 85 members which would be a 30% increase from year-end 2017.

How does this sort of initiative benefit the employer?

Cole: There are strong benefits to Dropbox. In addition to reducing the costs of our in-house restaurant and snacks by dropping meat, the long-term benefits would be the overall employee health and well-being plus the social goodwill of having a lower carbon footprint and being more animal friendly. Our society is increasingly putting more social capital on animal welfare causes and all companies would benefit from advertising their support of these causes. From a recruiting standpoint, Dropbox would have appeal to candidates that care about health, sustainability and/or animal welfare.

What was the hardest part of this initiative? And what went more easily than you expected?

Cole: As with starting anything new, the hardest part was the uncertainty at the beginning. I had to believe that launching Vegbox was the right move and it would become successful. At first, I encountered some push back and had to adjust my approach and learn from a few missteps.

While I wouldn’t say it was easy to get the speakers to come to Dropbox, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get the founder and CEO of a major vegan cheese company as well as the presidents and founders of two leading animal rights non-profits to come for a talk without compensation. We had never met before and most planning happened over e-mail but they were all interested and willing to come talk to relatively small audiences.

What factors make a vegan initiative at a non-vegan corporation possible?

Vegbox hosts founder of Miyoko Cheese for a guess presentation with wine & vegan cheese tasting

Cole: Succeeding with this type of initiative requires a certain grit, motivation and perseverence. Strong communication skills are essential as well as a certain degree of tact and diplomacy since you are working to accomplish goals outside of your main role and outside of the company’s stated priorities. It helps if a company has internal interest-based groups.

Being creative and flexible is also key. For example, while my main drive is to advocate for animal welfare, this topic often falls on deaf ears. To succeed, I had to try different angles and figure out what appealed to the masses. Lastly, listening to feedback and even criticism was invaluable for the long-term success.

“Veg initiatives have strong benefits to the employer. Cost reduction, better employee health and wellness plus the social goodwill of having a lower carbon footprint and being more animal friendly. Our society is increasingly putting more social capital on animal welfare causes and all companies would benefit from advertising their support of these causes.”

What final advice would you give to others who also wish to raise awareness about veganism in the corporate world?

Cole: As an employee you can be part of defining the values and culture of your company. Your mission will only be as important to those around you as you make it out to be. People will join you if you give them an opportunity to learn something valuable. Align with the company values as much as possible, and pay attention to how you are perceived. Adjust your approach as needed. Lastly, be creative with word choice and branding. The term “vegan” can be rather polarizing and limiting. I often hear people say “but I’m not vegan” when I ask them if they are interested in joining the group. Plant-based is neutral and people understand the concept of this term. Finally, whether your goals are big or small, you have to get started somewhere so just go for it!