Our Commitment
On May 6th, Freedom Forever accepted the #diversitychallenge hosted by Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). We’ll be taking a CEO action pledge to reinforce our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Since applied knowledge is power, we’ll also be joining a diversity challenge roundtable. There, we’ll hear insights and discuss how we can all actively address the issue of diversity.
Diversity in the solar industry
In light of this challenge, it got us thinking about our own practices and how we’ve fostered a community of inclusion. Honestly, we weren’t sure. We had to stop and think about it. Inclusion and diversity have come naturally to us. Thus this challenge caused us to really reflect on our values. We realized that we are by our nature, a diverse company. Our success is dependent upon it.
From the very beginning, we wanted to build a culture of integrity and progress. Through that desire, we laid a foundation upon which a diverse culture thrives.
Diversity at Freedom Forever is a direct result of our core values:
Servant Leadership – is the philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. Top 5 characteristics of Servant Leaders are: Valuing People, Humility, Listening, Trust, and Caring
Integrity – is regarded by many people as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions. This means being honest and having strong moral principles.
Accountability – is the responsibility of employees to complete the tasks they are assigned, to perform the duties required by their jobs, and to be present in order to fulfill or further the goals of the organization.
Collaboration – is the action of working with someone to produce or create something, or the combined action of a group of people, especially when effective and efficient.
Safety – is freedom from harm or danger. As we foster a culture of care and community, we take every precaution to ensure each team member remains healthy and safe to continue adding value to themselves and the team.
Diversity – is understanding that everyone is unique and recognizing our individual differences
Disruption – is a major disturbance, something that changes your plans or interrupts some event or process. No one ever made history by doing the same thing everyone else is doing. It’s our firm desire to do things differently, to do it better and with no apologies.
Each of these core values has resulted in attracting top talent from all over the world, from all different walks of life that hold these same values to heart.
“Across our very diverse company, there are two factors I’ve noticed, 1) we tend to hire people with positive attitudes, and 2) we tend to hire those who are exceptional in their particular profession. Workplace diversity benefits us all by increasing morale while infusing the company with a stronger sense of unity.” –Debbie Duquay (Freedom Forever Talent Acquisition Manager)
To us, diversity isn’t a fad. It’s not a buzzword and it’s not a recruiting lens. It’s a living, breathing belief that ours or any team is elevated when it’s made up of unique perspectives. It’s also worth mentioning that diversity doesn’t stop at the hiring process.
Although we’d love to take credit for the wonderfully diverse talent pool at Freedom Forever, we really can’t. Our culture of diversity and inclusion is merely a result of the foundation of core values that we live by.
Freedom Forever recognizes the importance of maintaining a culture of inclusion and empowerment. By joining the SEIA in the roundtable discussion, we hope to share and learn from other solar companies on how they are actively engaging diversity and inclusion. As one of the leading solar companies, we’re excited to continue to grow in all areas so we can continue our commitment to quality, inclusion, and integrity.