Inside Westport: Taking a look at IMPACT

Westport isn’t just a global leader in clean transportation solutions, we are so much more, and we have our employees to thank for that. People are typically drawn to working here because they are passionate about the environment and social change, and that passion isn’t just part of the work they do, it’s also important to them personally.

When a group of Westporters noticed that many staff were volunteering within the community on their own time, they decided to form a group to combine and organize their volunteer efforts; and so in 2007 IMPACT was born. IMPACT is the employee-driven Westport community engagement initiative, founded on three pillars: COMMUNITY, ENVIRONMENT and EDUCATION. The team has an ambitious mandate to have its activities leave a positive and measurable impact on the community.

Westport encourages its employees to contribute back to the communities in which we have a presence, through employee volunteering, sponsorship, cooperative programs and environmental awareness. The IMPACT program is a way for Westporters to do this. The program is grassroots and is led by a committee of engaged employees. They try to organize at least one event per month, along with a whole week-long program of events in the summer, called “IMPACT week.” Two very popular events are the “lunch-and-learn” program and group trips to help at the food bank. When a Westporter has an idea for a community project, they bring it to the committee’s monthly meeting, and the team helps to organize a group event. Anyone can join the IMPACT committee, which is currently championed by Westport product engineer, Greg Harper.

It’s through IMPACT that initiatives such as blood drives, invasive species removal outings, the Great Canadian Shore Cleanup, sorting food at the food bank, teaching children about science at the Telus World of Science and even group micro-lending projects through Kiva.org get planned and implemented.