Want to build a business for the long haul? Follow these steps to become a good corporate neighbor

As someone who works in the data center industry, I never imagined that planting trees and maintaining orchards would be part of the job description.

But this Earth Day, my company launched a partnership with a nonprofit to restore areas devastated by wildfires near our locations, and we’re also working with a foundation to plant orchards in many of our U.S. markets with the goal of providing fruit to local food banks.

Does all this feel good? Sure. But it also makes business sense.

In my industry, being a good neighbor is not a pipe dream. It’s a must – not only to gain access to the communities we serve, but also to ensure we keep employees local and protect our investments. This is critical for data center providers, as they typically build facilities for 30-40 years.

This physical presence and long-term time horizon make our sector unique. But no matter what your company does, the benefits of building strong relationships with local stakeholders often far outweigh the costs. In fact, companies that practice social responsibility can increase their market value by as much as 6% and their revenue by as much as 20%.

Here’s why it’s important to be a good neighbor and how it can bring long-term success to a business.

What makes a good neighbor?

Think about the neighbors you wish you had next door. They take care of their property, are considerate and community-minded. When it comes to the role of a corporate neighbor, the same principles apply.

Over the last decade, my company has established operations in nearly 20 communities. Not only do we create good, well-paying jobs and use local labor whenever possible, we also strive to be respectful.

One way is to ensure that the campuses we build enrich the community, not blight it. Many of these are built on long-abandoned brownfield sites that we rehabilitate and bring back to life in line with our commitment to sustainability. Our campuses are designed to operate quietly and cleanly, and are attractive buildings with appealing street views.

Not building a new space? Factors like noise and aesthetics still impact your neighbors, whether you’re renovating new office space or moving into shared space.

Listen – and create added value where it matters

One of the most powerful ways to build a positive relationship? Listen. Instead of pretending to know all the answers, get out there and ask the community what matters to them. Companies like ours put together dedicated stakeholder engagement teams to find out what will be most useful.

This is where implementation matters. In our experience, people don’t demand the very best. For example, if a community tells us it lacks green space, we might adapt our landscaping to double as a park.

Find local organizations you can partner with

Another way to be a good neighbor: Find partners in the nonprofit sector that align with your company values. Research shows that consumers and employees want community involvement. Nearly nine in 10 Americans believe companies should address social and environmental issues, while the same share of employees believe that companies that encourage volunteer activities provide a better work environment.

Encouraging team members to support initiatives of their choosing can be a powerful motivator. One example is software giant Atlassian, which gives employees five days of paid leave per year to volunteer for causes they care about. Or Nike, which runs a global Community Impact Fund where local groups can apply for grants, with employee volunteers making the selections.

At each of our data centers, everyone strives to give back once a quarter, whether it’s planning gardens to improve Virginia’s bee population or partnering with a school in an underserved area of ​​Phoenix to fund a teachers’ day and raise funds for families in need.

While large companies may seem to have more capital and resources to contribute, smaller companies can also make a big difference. About three-quarters of them say they give their employees opportunities to engage in volunteer or community service.

Do not neglect educational partnerships

Finally, educational partnerships can have a tremendous impact: they create a critical hiring pool for companies facing a talent shortage while broadening the horizons of local students.

We recently saw the impact of this first-hand when we worked with staff at a high school in one of our markets to support their careers training program, and then partnered with a foundation to deliver a presentation on careers in the data center industry and beyond.

The ROI of a good neighbor

When you show a community that you are serious about working with them to meet their needs, wonderful things happen.

For one thing, it’s easier to hire and retain employees. Most people want to work for a company that cares about the community. When employees are proud to be part of that company – and when other members of the community praise its efforts – they’re more likely to stay. Six in 10 workers say their employer’s purpose is one of the main reasons they stay, and employees are 12 times more likely to recommend a purpose-driven company.

The result is a virtuous cycle. Happy employees and higher employee retention mean better results for customers, which in turn increases returns for shareholders and increases the tax base for the location. In our case, it also opens the door for further expansion and innovation in this market.

Even for companies with a permanent presence, there can be a groundswell effect. Think of Starbucks or Whole Foods coming to town. We’ve found that a campus that revitalizes the surrounding region attracts local companies that want to be nearby. More local jobs and tax revenues are the result.

In fact, the economic benefit of our sector is enormous. For every direct job created in the U.S., data centers support more than six more. Much of those jobs are in places like Virginia, where the total employment impact of data centers increased 32% between 2017 and 2021, to around 86,000 jobs.

Another advantage is the halo effect among customers. Many of our customers are socially committed and want to know that we are particularly committed and do good for the community. They are not alone in this: almost eight out of ten consumers prefer to buy from companies that want to make the world a better place.

At first glance, it may seem like being a good neighbor has no immediate impact on a company’s bottom line. But not respecting and listening to the local community costs a company time, money, employees or customers, rather than creating value by investing in things that lay the foundation for long-term success.

Ultimately, everyone wants to feel good at their workplace. But what is the real point of being a good neighbor? Building a company that lasts as long as the trees we plant.