Valley City Corporate Social Responsibility: Practice to Policy

Valley City Electronic Recycling has been a leader in electronic recycling, asset management, and data security space for 15 years. They provide safe, secure and sustainable recycling solutions for electronic, medical and industrial equipment to clients around the Midwest. Their high standards of social performance, environmental performance, accountability and transparency earned them their B corps certification. 

Jason Kehr, President of Valley City, believes policies are bred out of culture. The company started its alternative hiring program seven years ago, when a returning citizen approached the company for a job opportunity. Following his hire, Valley City began working with the Hope Network and Goodwill to bring in employees with criminal backgrounds or other roadblocks to employment. Now the majority of the employees in the recycling sector are hired through these programs, making Valley City a model of corporate social responsibility. Candidates still have to be qualified for the position, but according to Kehr, “There is no shortage of labor or talent.”

“Valley City has experienced a stable workforce and most hires are responsible workers, hungry to learn and contribute,” Kehr said. 

The benefits, according to Kehr, are an exposure to a labor pool with talented hard working individuals, and different thoughts and backgrounds that contribute to the corporate culture.  Challenges come in the form of transportation issues, as a majority of the employees don’t have a reliable means of getting to work, as well as scheduling around conflicts such as court appearances. 

As a smaller company, Valley City is able to understand employees on a more personal level, and can be more lenient and flexible with these conflicts.There is an emphasis on retention and employee care, offering employees assistance in the form of bus passes, and continuing work to potentially partner with a local bank to employ small lines of credit to eligible employees in need. Since working with these programs, Valley City has hired around 50 returning citizens. 

Valley City uses programs through Goodwill and Hope Network to hire workers that have barriers to employment, such as a criminal record.

Outreach and Policies 

There are no set policies in place enforcing these hiring practices, rather it is embedded in the culture of the company and its values of accountability, commitment, community, equality and integrity. Valley City opted in to “Ban the Box”, a nationwide fair chance hiring campaign for the removal of conviction history questions from job applications for private employers. Valley City believes the greatest value is giving people a chance and watching them grow. 

Emphasis on outreach and education to other businesses in West Michigan to adopt some of these hiring strategies is also a priority. Valley City works with Talent 2025 on educational initiatives to spread the word on fair hiring practices, including producing a series of videos about the experience of hiring returning citizens. According to Kehr, interest is spreading in this area and more and more companies are expanding their corporate social responsibility with inclusive hiring strategies. 

“We believe it is part of our mission to be a good steward of our environment and in turn a responsible corporate citizen and community member,” Kehr said.