The philosophy to “Always do what’s right” has been engraved in Cypher Environmental from the beginning, starting with the product development. Our goal was, and still is, to solve environmental issues with sustainable and environmentally friendly products.
“As we became more profitable, we decided to make it a core foundation of our company. We believe in it so much we decided to make a tagline out of it,” says Todd Burns, President of Cypher Environmental.
On a global scale, we are working directly with our mining clients to improve the health of the areas surrounding the mines, or other worksite areas.
Cypher’s Environmental Social Governance (ESG) plans are frequently evolving. We recently announced a new program where we donate 12% of our profits to local charities.
Beyond that, Cypher Environmental takes between 2-5% of its revenues from major projects (domestically and abroad) to the communities right next to where the project is located. Quite often this takes the form of a donation of additional product, which is applied to help improve the infrastructure of a nearby community. This way, the product can be applied to roads in the area, which will improve the infrastructure and the health and environmental conditions in the community itself.
If there is no application for that product in the local community, Cypher will consider looking at cash and other kickbacks for the customer.
“We love the fact that our technologies are used to reduce the environmental footprint for the mines that use our product. It reduces the burden on the local community,” says Todd Burns.
The benefits of a proper ESG plan — like donating profits to local charities and a percentage of revenues back to our clients — outweigh the initial cost. Cypher Environmental wants to set the bar high for other companies around the world, but also make a difference not only in our backyard, but also abroad by working with our clients to make a difference.
Todd Burns says, “We’ve slowly been stepping up our game in terms of making the world a better place and contributing to our community and supporting our team members. We always try to make the right decisions.”
Cypher Environmental has done many things to take it a step beyond just doing what’s right to display our core values to our members including:
- Introducing our Deferred Profit Sharing Plan to match up to 4% of salaries to put towards a retirement savings plan.
- World-class benefits package for all team members.
- Initiating the Employee Assistance Program that focuses on mental health. Team members have access to a 24-hour hotline to speak to a counsellor or therapist, free therapy sessions and other resources.
“It’s important to take care of our teams, our products and communities around where we work. Our standard practices and principals are guided through a philosophy of caring about individuals and caring about the world,” says Todd Burns.
Beyond developing the right products for the environment and taking care of the team, Cypher’s do-good approach extends to local, and global communities.
This year, Cypher will be organizing our fourth annual charity golf tournament. All of the money raised will go to The Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre. In addition to the monetary donation, organizing this tournament is a major in-kind investment. We close our office for an afternoon so everyone can come out and play in the tournament.
“We hope people will place a lot of value in places that have these types of core values and beliefs,” says Todd Burns. “We do it because it’s the right thing to do, but at the end of the day we think it’s win-win for everyone involved: our team members, the clients we work with, and the communities we work with internationally.”