At HARMAN, we believe it’s our shared responsibility to build products and
technologies that not only improve people’s lives, but also contribute to a more sustainable future. With this
in mind, we wanted to learn more from our employees about how they blend sustainability in their day-to-day
lives. Robert, product manager with HARMAN for over 9 years, shared his journey to sustainability – from
both a personal and professional perspective.
Sustainability starts from within
For Robert, sustainability is all about the way we
treat our planet and balancing the use of resources that we have available to combat climate change. And for
him, that all starts from within.
“If we want to see change, it all starts with ourselves, as we all
share a responsibility”, shared Robert. On a personal note, he believes we should strive to
find ways to reduce our carbon footprint in both our private and professional lives – and the way to get there
proved to uncover new horizons: “When I stopped eating meat six years ago, I had to learn new
tasteful plant-based recipes – in a similar way, we as a company can find great ways to make our products
more sustainable, without any
compromises”.
Getting engaged in sustainable actions at HARMAN
In recent years, sustainability has grown in importance for the company’s
entire business ecosystem. To contribute to HARMAN’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040, Robert
participated in a 6-month study program in sustainability management, which allowed him to get better reference
points for these challenging discussions.
Robert currently leads and coordinates sustainability initiatives for new
product development within the Martin by HARMAN brand. Together with a strong team of product managers and
representatives from engineering functions, they are working relentlessly to develop solutions that reduce the
carbon footprint impact.
“It has been fantastic to experience how the discussions have
matured and there is an overall strong buy-in from everyone to do things in a better way, despite not
always being easy”, Robert shared. “We have already achieved some very
measurable and visible wins on the packaging side, and we have significantly reduced the amount of
oil-based packaging like polystyrene foam, now using cardboard materials for the outer packaging and the
inner buffer.”
One challenge at a time
To best understand his customers’ pain points and develop better products,
Robert must travel to several locations globally. To keep the business trips sustainable, HARMAN offers a
footprint off-set program encouraging employees to use as a sustainable travel option.
While these efforts are in line with
customer expectations for sustainable partners and suppliers, Robert values the sustainable shifts he’s seeing
inside HARMAN.
“The biggest impact so far
is the change of engagement by employees all over the organization – sharing the same goal of reducing
carbon footprint and be more cautious on our spend of resources.”
The road to sustainability may not be easy – but our employees are paving their way through active
engagement and collaboration. And it’s people like Robert that keep us headed in the right direction.
If you also want to be part of a team that builds technologies with a positive impact on society and
planet,
check out our opportunities and envision your career with
us.
