The value of mission and vision statements is the extent to which they reflect reality and are able to be put into practice. S.C. Johnson regularly appears in lists of the most respected US companies and was a pioneer as a socially responsible company. The company was listed as No. 27 in the “100 Best Companies to Work For” list published by Fortune magazine in 2008. The organization is respected for its commitment to putting its values into practice.
In 1976, S. C. Johnson formally stated its guiding philosophy called This We Believe”. In this statement, the company expresses its beliefs in relation to its five stakeholder groups: employees, consumers, the general public, neighbours and hosts, and the world community. Here is what the company states.
Employees: We believe our fundamental strength lies in our people.
Consumers: We believe in earning the enduring goodwill of the people who use and sell our products and services.
General public: We believe in being a responsible leader in the free market economy.
Neighbours and Hosts: We believe in contributing to the well-being of the countries and communities where we conduct business.
World Community: We believe in improving international understanding.
What makes this statement different from those of many other business mission statements is that S. C. Johnson breaks down its responsibilities to each group into identifiable and measurable objectives. For instance, in the employees’ section, it explains its “no meeting day policy”. This states that there will be no meetings on two Fridays per month, enabling employees to be more productive heading into the weekends and decreasing the need to take work home. Several publications, including News Week and the Wall Street Journal, praised this policy as an innovative approach to more productive, less stressed employees.