Green Success Stories sat down with Isabella D’Burke, Digital Content and Sustainability Manager of Horizontal, a minority-owned professional staffing and services firm that includes Horizontal Digital and Horizontal Talent. We discussed her passion for environmental sustainability, her ESG studies, and especially how every person and every company – even those not directly involved with sustainability – has a role to play in helping in the fight against climate change.
Tell us a bit about your sustainability journey.
I’ve always had a passion for environmental sustainability, but never knew how I could have a professional impact if I weren’t working for an environmental-specific company. While attending The University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, for my Master’s degree, I learned more about corporate sustainability. In Europe, sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) work is much more regulated and established than what I had known about in the United States. This progress motivated me to learn more about corporate sustainability and ESG efforts outside of what I had learned in my courses, which resulted in my dissertation, “Avoiding Tokensim: How U.S.-Based Staffing Firms Can Embed Environmental Sustainability Into Their Brand Image.”
After studying ESG through my master’s program, I was able to take that information back to my company, Horizontal, and the work began. Since the fall of 2023, I have had the opportunity to build our ESG initiative, and our work at Horizontal is just beginning.
As a service-based provider, we may not be the first thought when it comes to creating environmental change, but everyone plays a valuable role in fighting climate change. For us specifically, our journey has started like the saying, “You can’t love someone unless you love yourself first.” By working on our internal efforts, we can better support the Earth and learn how to better support our clients. Therefore, our journey begins with a three-pronged internal approach: reporting, global alignment and stakeholder involvement.
Our reporting establishes a baseline as to where we’re at. We have partnered with Sustain.Life (soon to be Workiva Carbon) to track our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. By aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SBTi, ISO 14001 EMS and more, we can ensure that we are committing to goals that are bigger than just our organization and have a global impact. Finally, by involving our stakeholders such as internal employees, clients, candidates and more, we can be sure that our efforts are authentic to who we are and our services. We can learn what is meaningful to stakeholders as we develop our ESG initiative, and we can expand our reach further by sharing our story and helping others with their work.
We recognize that we are at the infant stages of our environmental journey and that our work is just beginning. But we are also proud of the progress we have made and look forward to seeing what our positive impact can be.
Tell us a bit about the product or solution you offer.
Horizontal is a certified Minority Business Enterprise with two brands: Horizontal Digital and Horizontal Talent. Horizontal Talent is a professional services company specializing in technology, digital & creative, marketing and business strategy. With operations in the U.S., India, Malaysia and Australia, we offer talent, team and project solutions that focus on quality and diversity to meet the varied needs of our clients across the globe.
Horizontal Digital is an experience forward consultancy that invests in understanding the needs, wants and ambitions of customers through the data they provide — data that is unlocked across every digital experience and engagement. We use this data to meet customers in the right moment, at the right time, on the right channel. And we amplify these moments with precise strategies, technologies and creative approaches to maximize their value. Horizontal Digital has operations in the U.S., India, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Horizontal Talent ranks in the top 2% of staffing firms worldwide and has been named Best of Staffing Firms for clients, candidates, employees and for women. Horizontal Digital is the fastest growing Salesforce Implementation Partner in North America, Platinum Partner with Sitecore, and a Salesforce Summit Partner.
Share a green success story with us – how have you helped customers or other businesses in the fight against climate change?
As a professional service provider, we are in a unique position where we are connecting with clients every day to help with their talent, team, and project solutions. Considering we’re early in our ESG journey, I’ve been really proud of the conversations we’ve been having with current and future clients. When you’re a professional services firm like Horizontal, having value alignment and the capabilities to understand what ESG projects our clients are invested in is very important. Now that we’ve been expanding our efforts, we are having valuable conversations about our efforts, what it means for clients, and how we can support our client’s ESG initiatives, whether it’s ESG hiring, short-term ESG teams, digital ESG transformation, and more.
What would you do with $1 billion dollars?
I’m taking a page out of Bryan’s book (https://greensuccessstories.com/improving-the-environment-and-the-bottom-line-with-esg-and-energy-management/), where I wouldn’t mention it, then would invest, invest, invest. I would set aside enough for me and my family to be comfortable, buy a home, travel, and then reinvest the rest in the community, specifically investing in environmental efforts!
What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?
Companies are looking for professional service firms that are more than just their services. What your values, company culture and ESG efforts are matter. While technology advances and we utilize AI to optimize workflows, clients are going to prioritize suppliers based on your unique solutions, your adaptability based on industry trends, how solutions can be specialized for each partner, and how your values align.
What would you like readers to take away from this article?
We all play an important role in the preservation of the environment, personally but also professionally. Even if you don’t work for a sustainable-specific company, every company and every job makes a difference. Digital transformation, staffing, and professional services play a major role in ESG that isn’t always known about or is as flashy as other efforts.
At Horizontal Talent, we match exceptional talent with outstanding companies, which means we are speaking to job seekers and companies every single day. We have the opportunity to positively partner with different industries, job positions and more, while improving our environmental efforts internally.
Look into ways you can partner with companies like us who are working on our ESG efforts and see how your company or job can make a difference, whether it’s through paperless contracts, responsible technology recycling, reusable products in office, energy efficient offices and more!
How should readers get in touch with you and/or your organization?
Let’s connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabella-dburke/
Learn more about our ESG work at Horizontal: https://hubs.ly/Q02Dd5JK0
Find your next job through Horizontal’s staffing services: https://hubs.ly/Q02Dd6Jy0
Learn about our talent, team and project hiring solutions: https://hubs.ly/Q02Dd7c60
Kudos
Many thanks to Isabella D’Burke and Horizontal.
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