2011 a Better World Report

7/29/2019 2011 a Better World Report

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Y

Our Journey Towards

A Better World Around You


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.Who we are

1.1 A message rom CEO Brian Walker

1. Who is Herman Miller?

1.3 Our legacy o leadership, corporate values, and community

1.4 Our history o design and innovation

.Dimensions of our Better World program

.1 Community Service

. Inclusiveness & Diversity

.3 Health & Well-being

.4 Environmental Advocacy

Additional GRI data on hermanmiller.com

Contents


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| A BETTER WORLD REPORT 2011 Herman Miller1

Asking the right questions:

A message from CEO Brian WalkerIts important to ask the right questions, isnt it? We used to ask how to avoid lling landlls.

Or how to reduce our use o styrooam? Now we ask about shrinking our carbon ootprint and

the true environmental and social costs o manuacturing, assembling, and shipping a product.

Or how integral is building a better world to our corporate strategy? Are we using green energy?

Can we point to measureable results?

Times have cer tainly changed since Herman Millers environmental programs began in the s.

Now we see environmental advocacy as part o a larger eortone we call Better World. For

years, one o our corpor ate values has been A Better World, which shows just how critical it is to

our business.

We put together this Better World Report ever y year to let you k now how were doing. Are we

perect and do we always reach our goals? O course not. Building a better world is not so much a

goal as an everyday act o lie.

For me, the remarkable thing about our eorts to build a better world is their broad-based support

throughout the global Herman Miller community. Widespread engagement on the part o Herman

Miller employees has led to wide variety o recognition: # rankings in FORTUNEs Most Admired

companies survey, eighth consecutive listing in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, a Sec tor

Leader and Sector Mover in Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) Sustainability Yearbook

, Just Means Social Innovation Award or Best Sustainability Perormance, EPA WasteWise

Award or Green Purchasing, and a perect score or the ourth consecutive year in the Human

Rights Campaigns Corporate Equality Index.

Will we constantly try to improve the perormance o our customers environments?

Yes. Will we continue to work toward the goals stated in this report and build on the progress we

are reporting here? By all means. And I tr uly hope this report will give you some ideas about how

you can join us.

Thank you,

Brian Walker

Chie Executive Ocer

.| Who we are


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Who is Herman Miller?A business is rightly judged by its products and services, but it must also face scrutiny

as to its humanity.

DJ De Pree, ounder, Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller is named afer a West Michigan businessman who helped DJ De Pree buy

the Michigan Star Furniture Company in . It didnt hurt that Herman Miller was DJs ather-

in-law. Since Miller had a good reputation or honesty and was well-known in the business

community, DJ renamed the company afer him. And weve been Herman Miller ever since.

.| Who we are


5/24


Our legacy of leadership, corporatevalues, and communityHerman Miller is well-known or its philosophy o leadership and employee engagement. Our

ormer chairman and CEO Max De Pree wrote about it all in his books Leadership Is an Art

and Leadership Jazz. We call our corporate values Things that Matter. Here is our

corporate mission.

We will be the leading provider o thoughtully designed interior products or places where

people work, heal, learn, and live. Our products will solve real problems, delight the eye,

complement the ways our customers choose to express their environments, and they will be

afordable. We will be an inspiration to our customers in the ways we create a great place to

work or our employees, achieve operational excellence, provide a solid investment or our

shareholders, advocate or the environment, unite a diverse and talented group o people,

and exempliy a orce or positive change in the communities in which we live and serve.

Ultimately, our aspiration is to design and build a better world around you. Whether you are

an employee, a customer, a shareholder, or a neighbor, we will use our energy, our creativity,

and our resources to improve the places where you work, heal, learn, and live.

Herman Millers culture results rom the collective attitudes, aspirations, ideals, and

experiences o the people who work here. We believe that each person at Herman Miller has

potential and multiple talents. We also believe that the way we experience Herman Miller asemployees is important to our ability to perorm at the highest levelsor our customers, our

shareholders, and our neighbors.

Our leaders, including our board o directors, take our commitment to building a better world

seriously. They review our perormance, monitor compliance with ethical standards, and

measure their own compensation against their ability to manage our business according

to our values.

We have a strong tradition o employee engagement at Herman Miller. Most o us own stock,

and we work together to delight our customers with great design reliably delivered. For more

about who we are and what we do, please visit hermanmiller.com.

.| Who we are


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Our history of designand innovationFor over years, we have worked with some o the most outstanding designers in the world

Gilbert Rohde, George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Isamu Noguchi,

Robert Propst, Bill Stump, Studio ., and Yves Bhar. They have taught us a habit o mind that

begins with a problem, researches possibilities, and produces a durable and beautiul solution.

That is our view o design.

This way o thinking about design has led us to be innovative in many parts o our business.

Our environmental advocacy continues to lead our industry. Our graphics and communications

are distinctive and award-winning. The Herman Miller Perormance System, modeled on the

Toyota Production System, innovates every day and delivers our products dependably around

the world. We innovate in our human resource programs to make the employee experience at

Herman Miller ullling and productive.

Above all, our design thinking has led us to consider a better world around you our ultimate

aspiration, one that requires not only sustainable business practices, but community service,

health and well-being, saety, and inclusiveness and diversity.

.| Who we are


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When we think about buildinga better world around you,we organize our work into four areas:

Community service

Inclusiveness & diversity

Health & well-being

Environmental advocacy

In working in these areas, it boils down to building communitywith you and around you,

in your work space and in your neighborhood, among amily and among colleagues,

in our backyard and around the world. Read on to see how weve done in the ongoing process

o meeting our goals.

| Dimensions of our Better World program


8/24


Community ServiceWe take community service seriously. Our employees seek out volunteer opportunities in the

community, and we allow each o them sixteen paid hours a year to work with the charitable

organizations o their choice. Herman Miller people regularly take part in initiatives ranging

rom highway and river cleanups to youth mentoring programs. Herman Miller sets goals or the

number o employee volunteer hours we contribute annually to our communities. Our three-year

goal is , hours, and we are well on our way to reaching our goal with , hours afer

the rst year. We report our progress in meeting these goals to the CEO.

Connecting with Kids in Bangalore

August 7, 1, was an unusual Saturday or a group

o Herman Miller employees in Bangalore. Aer 1 days

o collecting donations and a 3-minute drive, the team

arrived at the Ashraya Orphanage. Fourteen kids greeted

them, told them their names, one by one, and continuedwith all the innocent things you can think o, in the

words o Chanda Gohrani. The Herman Miller team

was so touched by the example o a volunteer music

teacher at the orphanage, several o them signed up

to teach classes every weekend. This is what we mean

by community service.

. | Dimensions of our Better World program


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We Care

In its ourteenth year, Herman Miller and the architecture and design community volunteered

in We Carea day o creativity and craf-making or underprivileged children in cities

across the U.S. and Canada. At a local West Michigan event, nearly local youth gathered

to create gifs or amily and riends. We are lucky to have a abulous team o rms that help

make this event possible by donating time, craf materials, and ood.

Women or Women International

Nearly women at Herman Miller volunteered or a ourth year with Women or Women

International, an organization that mobilizes women to change their lives by bringing a holistic

approach to addressing the unique needs o women in conlict and post-conlict environments.

Meeting monthly in small groups by acility, these women write letters to their sisters in

Kosovo to support them in the rebuilding o their lives.

Habitat or Humanity

Over the past six years, Herman Miller volunteers have helped build homes or Habitat or

Humanity. This years LEED-rated home or a amily o three has reported gas and electric

bills totaling $ per month. The house includes an energy-ecient urnace, double-paned

windows, energy-ecient light xtures, light bulbs, and much more. Even the driveway andoundation were mixed with a waste byproduct, ly ash. The house was built in record time

business days!

Japan Relie

In response to the Japan Earthquake, employees throughout the company contributed

nearly $,. This was matched with $, rom the Herman Miller Foundation.

When combined with an initial gif o $,, as well as $, in proceeds rom the sale

o product on our eCommerce site, the total amount available to assist victims o this disaster

was approximately $,. In addition, colleagues throughout Asia auctioned o crafs

by designers to raise unds or victims o the earthquake.

Bath Rugby Community Foundation

Herman Miller in the U.K. supports the Bath Rugby Community Foundations Business Enterprise

Project, which oers local school children the chance to improve their learning skills and to nd out

more about how businesses work. In addition to unding the program, Herman Miller employees

also support this program as volunteers who act as classroom assistants in one o the organized

teaching sessions or discuss dierent aspects o Herman Millers business with the kids.

Herman Miller in the U.K. also supports the Girls Development Squad and the Inclusion afer

Schools Club, which works with children with disabilities and learning diculties.

A ew additional organizations and causes we supported this past year:

- Juvenile Diabetes Research F oundation (JD RF)

- Employees in Bangalore, India planted trees across three streets in one day

- Adopt-a-Highway

- Learning Enrichment through Adult Participation (LEAP) program

- United Way (Greater Ottawa County) Day o Caring

- Charity Co-ed Sofball event

- Throughout the year, hundreds o employees assisted a variety o local

organizations through ood, clothing, personal hygiene and toy drives.

- Chattahoochee River cleanup

- Ride or Kids to benet children with brain cancer

- Corporate Challenge K walk/run to benet the Atlanta Food Bank

- The Strong Legs Run K or Childrens Healthcare o Atlanta

- Rebuilding Together Eighth annual sponsorship o a needy home repaired

and rehabilitated with the goal o leaving the home warm, sae, and dry.



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Inclusiveness & DiversityWe value the whole person and everything each o us has to ofer, obvious and not

so obvious. I believe that every person should have the chance to realize his or her

potential, regardless o color, gender, age, sexual orientation, educational background,

amily status, skill levelthe list goes on and on. When we are truly inclusive, I believe

we go beyond toleration to really understanding what makes us unique and what unites

us as human beings.

Brian Walker, President and Chie Executive Ocer

Inclusiveness & Diversity (I&D) is much more than a social program at Herman Miller. Working

to become an inclusive community is both the right thing to do and a business imperative

that directly aects our ability to grow as a company. To eectively compete in the global

marketplace, we recognize the need to attract and retain the best talent available. An inclusive

environment allows our employees to be more innovative and create products that best meet

the needs o our customers around the world. And a diverse supplier base ensures we have the

best suppliers to choose rom.


Education Always Comes First

In an initiative called Talent 14, Herman Millers

Inclusiveness Resource Teams ormed an alliance with

Holland New Tech, a brand-new school in the Holland,

Michigan Public School System. We plan to ollow 1

eighth and ninth graders through to graduation in 14,teach them about continuous improvement, teamwork,

and collaboration skills at Herman Miller, and in general

show them the kinds o careers open to high school

grads. We hosted them or their rst day at Herman

Millers design and production acilities in March.

Who knows, there may be a uture CEO in that group.


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Business Contracted with Minorityand Woman Owned Suppliers

80

0

20

40

100

60

120

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

MillionsofDollars


Eight Inclusiveness Resource Teams (IRTs) organize our g rass-roots eort s: Asian; Black;

disAbility Advocacy; Womens Initiatives Network; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender

(LGBT); Hispanic; Male; and Generational Outreach. Two additional IRTs (disability and remote

workers) organize our eorts in the UK. Each IRT is charged with implementing initiatives that

not only benet our employees and communities, but also help Herman Miller to meet our

business objectives. In the past year, IRTs grew to members.

Our I&D scorecard measures our eort s in several critical areas including Who We Sell

to (customers), Who Does the Work (Talent), Where We Work (Employee Engagement),

and Who We Sell to (Supplier Diversity). Scorecard results are reviewed regularly by the

companys senior-level leadership and the Board o Directors. This past year, we improved

our results by points, a % increase over the previous scal year.

We have always worked to build a strong and diverse supplier network. Supplier sourcingand qualication, Tier reporting, mentoring, community and business outreach, and training

and education are among the strategies we use to strengthen our supplier diversity eorts.

A ew achievements by our Inclusiveness and Diversity teams last year:

- percent rating on Corporate Equality Index rom

the Human Rights Campaign (ourth consecutive year)

- Chicago Pride Celebration, co-hosted by LGBT IRT and Chicago sales team

- Fifh annual $, community scholarship

- Addition o three new Inclusiveness Resource Teams

(Generational Outreach IRT in U.S. and Disability and Remote Worker IRTs in U.K.)

- Spring Fashion Show and Fundraiser or local Womens Resource

Center hosted by Womens Initiatives Network (WIN) IRT

- Distribution o backpacks lled with school supplies or , west Michigan children

- Provided instructor-led and online diversity training or all employees

- Total spending with women and minority-owned businesses reached . percent

- Nominated or the Corporation o the Year award by the

Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC)

- Launch o Supplier Diversity Advisory Council, with CFO serving as executive sponsor

- Attended national conerences, including National Urban League (Black IRT),

Out & Equal Workplace Summit (LGBT IRT), U.S. Business Leaders Network (disAbility

Advocacy IRT), and National Hispanic Corporate Council (Hispanic IRT)

Woman Owned

Minority Owned


12/24



Roving Leadership Alive and Well at Herman Miller

Dan Bos and Terry Lopez saw a problemtoo ew saety

suggestions and too many saety incidents at GreenHouse

Operations. They asked Kirsten Barkel to do something

about it, and Kirsten took charge. She and a team

talked to people, created communication tools,and generally made saety more visible and more un.

Saety suggestions rom employees are up 78%; incidents

are down 7%. Kirsten has become the complaint

department with a smile noting that employee ideas

have been crucial to their success. Her Saety Liaison job

is now a development position or anyone interested in

learning about Herman Millers saety culture. We have

leaders with all sorts o titles at Herman Miller

Health & Well-beingWe believe the health and well-being o our community is a goal or all employees, is integral

to our aspiration to create a better world, and is consistent with the way we value the potential

o each and every person. As a company committed to ergonomic design, we want to make

every employee and every customer comortable, sae, and productive at work by applying

these principles: t the user; t the task; and allow or posture change and activity variety.

Our expertise and leadership in ergonomics puts us in a position not only to help our

customers, but also to help ourselves. We strongly believe in a healthy and health-positive

workplace. Many programslike our bike purchase reimbursement programintegrate with

environmental eorts.


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Carpooling/Bike Pooling Programs

Several programs help us reduce the amount o uel we consume, thereby reducing the impact

on our wallets as well as the environment. Employees can create either a carpool or bike

pool prole including their address, hours, and whether or not they are willing to drive or are

just looking or a ride. Then they log their hours to be entered into a monthly drawing or a

$ gif certicate.

Employees receive the ollowing one-time reimbursements:- $ when purchasing a bike or personal use (or $ or a bike tune-up)

- $ when purchasing a hybrid or uel-ecient car

- $ toward an approved helmet or use when riding a motorcycle or scooter

Health Management

We continue to invest in tools that will help employees understand and improve their health.

The Herman Miller Health Management Program helps employees and their partners become

more aware o their health and more involved in improving their overall health habitsand

provides the opportunity to earn nancial rewards or participating.

WebMD

WebMD remains our partner to acilitate health awareness and education. WebMD has

created a personalized site or Herman Miller employees to take their HealthQuotient and

manage their health. Employees who completed the Health Management Program received $

incentive again this year to help o set the cost o medical premiums.

On The Move Walking Program

Employees are encouraged to participate in this w alking program including setting a daily goal o

number o steps. Walking maps are provided or several sites. Employees can then log their daily

steps and be enrolled in a drawing or prizes.


Fuel Savings Update

602bicycle reimbursements

437,225miles saved by car/bike pooling

111,375total dollars reimbursed to employees

91uel-efcient vehicle reimbursements


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Injury Incident Rate per 100 Employees

2010/2011

4

0

1

2

5

3

6

Herman Miller Industry Average

InjuryIncidentRateper100

Employees


Saety

From the production loor to the workstation, rom stacking products to adjusting seats

ergonomically, we ocus on saety in everything that we do. Our Corporate Saety Vision is thatHerman Miller will establish a culture where saety expectations are driven by all employees

with the understanding that all injuries are preventable. There is a consistent, veriable, and

ongoing identication and correction o problems and hazards.

Our Saety Policy

Herman Miller is committed to the highest standards in health and saety management.

Our corporate saety goals are key to our business success.

To drive continual improvement in OH&S management and perormance, we will:

- Go beyond compliance with occupational saety and health regulations and other requirements- Pursue prevention o injury and ill health and elimination o any risk.

- Promote employee well-being

- Demonstrate and implement best health and saety practices

- Promote health and saety knowledge and awareness

Our Ongoing Goals:

- Zero injuries

- Excellence in saety perormance

- Elimination o unsae behavior

Four o our acilities are recognized by the Michigan Voluntary Protection Program: ZeelandMainsite, GreenHouse, Midwest Distribution Center, st Avenue acility. In addition to our

participation in the Michigan OSHA Voluntary Protection Program, our Behavioral Based Saety

program helped us work toward our goals.

Behavior Based Saety

We launched a corporate-wide behavior based saety program in . This innovative

workplace strategy reduced on-the-job injuries by percent in the rst year. The program

relies on interactions and coaching between team members to reduce the kinds o accidents

that we believe account or percent o all injuries. Six manuacturing sites have implemented

the behavior based saety program.


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Spreading the Word

In March, 11, Steve Jackson, Commercial Environmental

Manager, represented Herman Miller at the Social

Innovation Awards in London. The audience included

executives rom well-known companies like Coca Cola,

Cisco, Nokia, and Nestle. Steve was glad that in 1we reached 91% o our goal to have a zero operational

ootprint by . He was surprised that Herman Miller

was the only nominee in the Sustainability Perormance

category that night in Londons nancial district. The

judges said in introducing Steve and Herman Miller

that we were the clear winner. Now lets go aer that

remaining bit.

Environmental Advocacy

Like community service, inclusiveness and diversity, and health and well-being, environmental

advocacy at Herman Miller began with corporate values rst put into words by the ounder

o our company, DJ De Pree. In , DJ said that Herman Miller will be a good corporate

neighbor by being a good steward o the environment.We have been working toward that

goal ever since.

DJ also had other ideas ahead o their timewindows in all company buildings, including

manuacturing acilities, and requiring that percent o any Herman Miller corporate site be

set aside as green space. Today, living with integrity and respecting the environment are

two ways we work to build a better world.

We believe the environment is a cause every corporation should put high on its agenda.

As part o our annual Earth Day events, employees can bring in their own recyclable waste rom

home (newspapers, paper, burnables, etc.) Employees have taken it upon themselves to make

a better world or all o us.


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Our Environmental Policy

Herman Miller is committed to sustainable business practices in every thing we do. Our corporate

environmental goals are a key metric o our business success.

On the journey toward sustainable business practices, through continuousimprovement, we will:

- Go beyond compliance with environmental regulations and other requirements

- Pursue prevention o pollution and elimination o waste o any kind

- Implement technologies to eciently use energy resources

- Design our products, processes, and buildings or the environment

- Promote environmental knowledge and awareness

Environmental Quality Action Team (EQAT)

In a group o our employees launched the Environmental Quality Action Team (EQAT) and

persuaded senior management to elevate environmental advocacy in Herman Millers corporate

agenda. This grass-roots eort , typical o our belie in employee engagement, has ensured that

being mindul o the environment extends to all groups and all parts o Herman Miller.

One important component o the EQAT initiative is our ISO Team, which includes

Environmental Health and Saety (EHS) Specialists at all o our major oce and manuacturing

locations. The EHS Specialists meet regularly to share inormation and to ensure that Herman

Millers EHS requirements are maintained company wide.

Fiscal year brought about some challenges with regard to our sustainability goals.

As we reach closer towards our zero ootprint goals, we ace the challenge that on the path

to zero, the nal % reduction will be the most dicult to achieve. Additionally, the sales

volume or this past year was ver y strong, driving up material usage and energy consumption.

Still, we believe that we have the programs in place to meet our scal milestones and

goals launched in .

Electric

Gas

2008/2009

90 million k Wh

2009/2010

85 million k Wh

2010/2011

82 million k Wh


Energy Use

2008/2009

353,500 mmbtu

2009/2010

340,500 mmbtu

2010/2011

301,310 mmbtu


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Perfect Vision Goals

320.30 tons (/)

53.83 tons (/)

59.98 tons (/)

50.83 tons (/ goal)

13,171.80tons (/)1064.11 tons (/)1327.91 tons (/)

768.59 tons (/ goal)

0.0percent (/)

71.6percent (/)100.0percent (/)

100.0percent (/ goal)

320.93 tons (/)12.05 tons (/)

15.37 tons (/)

10.90 tons (/ goal)

114.80million gallons (/)



20.80million gallons (/ goal)

. percent (/)

.percent (/). percent (/)

. percent (/ goal)

VOC air emissions

Solid waste to landfll

Renewable energy

Hazardous waste

Process water use

Operational ootprint reduction

0

0

100

0

0

0

TONS2020 GOAL

TONS2020 GOAL

PERCENT2020 GOAL

TONS2020 GOAL

GALLONS2020 GOAL

TOTALOPERATIONALFOOTPRINT2020 GOAL

95%

75%

88%

PROGRESSTOWARD2020 GOAL



81%

90%

100%





Operational Footprint

Operational Footprint: We experienced an % reduction against our goal o % (last year s

actual). With the .% increase in sales over scal , we exper ienced these increases:

- Air emissions increased by six tons rom scal .

- Hazardous waste increased by three tons.

- Landll waste increased tons.

- Process water use increased by eight million gallons.

VOC Emissions to Air

Between and Herman Miller recorded more than an percent decline in VOC

emissions. We also track our nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulur oxide (SOx) emissions at our

Energy Center, where we burn scrap wood to create energy. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulur

oxides (SOx) emissions rom our Energy Center operations were . tons and . tons,

respectively. Our UV water-based nishing system or Zeeland Operations has been up and

running since , resulting in lower air emissions and hazardous wastes.

Since we have recently grown through acquisition, we continue working hard to improveseveral acquired sites that manuacture wood products. With their emissions, our reduction

to baseline slipped rom percent to percent.

Hazardous Waste

To achieve our goal o zero hazardous waste generation by , we have reduced the use

o hazardous materials in every aspect o the manuacturing processrom raw materials to

building and equipment maintenance. The number o our acilities that release toxic chemicals,

dened by the EPAs Toxic Release Inventory, has been reduced rom seven to one and the

number o toxic chemicals that we use in our acilities rom twelve to two. The reduction to

the / baseline year decreased rom a percent reduction to percent.


18/24


Non-Hazardous Solid Waste

2008 / 20092007 / 2008 2009 / 2010 2010 / 2011

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

MillionsofPounds

Fiscal Year

Composted

Sent to landll

Waste to Energy (on-site)

Waste to Energy (including o-site)

Recycled


Solid Waste to LandllOur goal is to deposit no solid waste in landlls by . Although landll increased by

tons, in mid-, we started composting the bottom ash rom Herman Millers onsite Energy

Center. Since this bottom ash had been one o the largest contributors to landll, we expect

to see a sizeable reduction in landll during the coming year. We are also pursuing additional

reuses o the waste powder resulting rom the powder-coat painting o our metal parts or

ling and storage products. Our Geiger, Georgia site sends nothing to landlls; what they cant

recycle they send to Huntsville, Alabama to generate power or the NASA operations there.

Our Ningbo, China site also sends all non-recyclable solid wastes to a waste-to-energy acility.

Process Water Use and Quality

We look or every opportunity to upgrade and improve the ways in which we use water, rom

installing low-lush toilets and waterless urinals to reducing the amount o water used or lawn care.

None o our acilities discharge waste water directly to the environment. All process water is

either discharged to local waste water treatment acilities or hauled away or treatment.

Meeting our goal or process water consumption in manuacturing is among our greatest

environmental challenges, and we are determined to get there. Although our reduction to

baseline slipped rom percent to percent last year, we maximize the reuse o process

water throughout various manuacturing operations. We continue to investigate the most

current technologies to help us meet our goal o zero process water use.


19/24


22

6

3

69

35000

25000

15000

0

55000

45000

75000

65000

Scope 1direct

CO2-eq(metrictons)

Scope 2indirect - electricity consumed

Scope 3other indirect

RECs

2008

20092010

2008

20092010

20082009

2010

20082009

2010


Climate Change and Carbon Footprint

Last year, we reported that, as o May , , we were using percent renewable electrical

energy in all our acilities world-wide by purchasing certied Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)

and continuing a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with our local electric provider.

This continued or scal year . The RECs retired or , along with the PPA, represented

percent wind and percent biomass projects. Savings rom energy eciency suggestions

rom our employees covered the additional expenses we incurred in purchasing the RECs.

New in , we added a goal o being carbon neutral by (Scopes and ) to our Perect

Vision goals. For scal , we achieved a % reduction in our carbon ootprint against our

goal o a % reduction, based on the purchase and retirement o RECs and the PPA.

We have purchased over , Mwh o RECs and over , Mwh o percent wind power

rom the Harvest Wind Farm located in Huron County, Michigan, one o the largest commercial

operating wind projects in Michigan. Our renewable energy certicates (RECs) are purchased

with savings achieved rom energy eciency projects such as Energy Star projects, lighting

upgrades, LEED projects, and manuacturing-related projects.

The Herman Miller Energy Center generates percent o the steam needed by Zeeland

Main Sites manuacturing operations, o which percent comes rom the incineration o

wood waste.

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions

%LESS

%LESS

%LESS

%MORE


20/24


Third-party veried

** Wood waste at Energy Center and biodiesel

* Metric tons o COe [CO equivalent]

Note: 63 percent o our greenhouse gas emissions rom electricity were ofset by RECsNote: The purchase and retirement o 59,386,614 kwh o RECs was third-party veriedNote: Our 9 worldwide Scope 1, Scope , and Biomass emissions have been third-party veried

Calendar metric tons*

Renewable Energy Certicates (RECs) 41,489 59,154

Calendar metric tons*

Stationary Combustion owned and leased

Local Fleet north america

Company Vehicles

Subtotal Combustion Emissions north america

Combustion Emissions outside north america 630

2,340

996

22,505

19,169

2,739

1,119

21,120

679

17,262

Emissions rom Purchased Electricity outside north america

Subtotal Emissions rom Purchased Electricity north america

Purchased Electricity owned and leased

60,26060,113Total Scope Two Emissions

2,077

58,183

58,183

1,774

58,339

58,339

Product Delivery north america

Business Travel north america

34,339 33,467

30,280 28,221

5,2464,059

Total Scope Three Emissions

CO rom Biomass** north america

13,118 16,265

13,118 16,265

Biomass


Energy Conservation

Energy reduction projects resulted in a net decrease in electrical energy and natural gas use

last year. Included in the energy numbers are all leased acilities and acilities included in

our organizational carbon ootprint calculations. The EPAs Energy Star program, purchasing

renewable energy, and implementing company-wide energy eciency programs allowed us

to achieve signicant savings in energy use and dollars during scal , including an annual

cost avoidance o over $,.

Our most successul energy eciency projects have ocused on the updating o our actory

lighting systems and LEED projects. By converting HID lighting to T luorescent lighting and

adding control technology, we cut our lighting bills in hal. General system upgrades as a resulto our continuing improvements through the LEED certication process has netted a %

reduction in building energy costs where LEED is implemented.

Our energy reduction eorts are equivalent to not driving . million miles, or planting

acres o trees, or saving enough energy to power averaged size homes or one year.

We continue to reduce our energy use, increase our use o renewable energy, decrease our

transportation, and design our products to be energy ecient. Herman Miller is publicly

reporting our GHG emissions and strategy to allow investors and other interested parties

to view this data. This is our second year o publicly reporting our emissions through the

Carbon Disclosure Project, the only international climate change reporting system.

Total Scope One Emissions 23,135 21,799


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Greenhouse Gas Emissions: reducing our carbon ootprint

In we began the process o documenting our carbon ootprint using the World Resources

Institute and the World Business Council or Sustainable Development (WRI/WBCSD)

Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Revised Edition),

The Climate Registry General Reporting Protocol (version ., May ); and The Climate

Registry General Reporting Protocol . Updates and Clarications ( December ). We

have used emission actors provided by the Climate Registrys General Reporting Protocolto calculate our Scope direct greenhouse gas emissions that are under our controlour

natural gas usage and local leet emissions. Scope indirect emissions are calculated rom our

purchased electricity. We have also included a limited amount o our Scope (optional) indirect

emissions rom our product distribution process and our corporate business travel.

We believe it is important to report a portion o our optional emissions because shipping goods

to our customers is a big part o our business. We will continue to track and include optional

emissions rom product delivery miles and business travel (Scope ).

We believe it is important to report a portion o our optional emissions because shipping

goods to our customers is a big part o our business. We will continue to track and include

optional emissions rom product delivery miles and business travel (Scope ).

Our Buildings

Architecture and architects are important to us and to our business. We helped ound the U.S.

Green Building Council (USGBC) and our GreenHouse building won LEED Pioneer status in

light o its environmentally sound, aesthetically pleasing, and nancially benecial qualities.

Today, we are committed to building or renovating our acilities to achieve at least Silver

LEED criteria. We are among the top tier o Michigan-based companies with the most

LEED-certied buildings. We have LEED-rated projects in the U.S. and U.K., including

Herman Millers ,-square-oot Los Angeles showroom, the rst LEED-CI Platinum

project in Los Angeles.

Habitat Restoration and Protection

Several o our West Michigan building sites eature native lowers and g rasses, as well as retaining

ponds that support a diversity o plant and animal lie. We use Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

at all acilities to reduce pesticide use and minimize our impact on biodiversity and human health.

For acilities that require regular groundskeeping, we use a phosphorus-ree ertilizer to prevent

harmul runo into surrounding natural areas.

None o Herman Millers operations directly aects the International Union or Conservation

o Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List threatened species habitats.

The rePurposeSM Program: helping the community and the environment

Our rePurpose program provides new lie or no-longer-needed oce urniture and other

items in a socially responsible, economically viable way. We take used oce urniture rom

our customers and match it with non-prot groups. The customer realizes tax advantages;

the non-prots get the urniture they need; we prevent tons rom going into landlls. Were

continuously expanding the rePurpose program, and our customers are enthusiastic about it.

In rePurpose diverted tons o assets rom landll.

This equals*:

, gallons o gasoline NOT being consumed

, tree seedlings grown or years


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DfE Goals


Design or the Environment Initiative (DE)

Designing our products with consideration or their environmental impact is a central corporatestrategy. Were ocused on incorporating environmentally sustainable materials, eatures, and

manuacturing processes into our new product designs.

Working with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), our DE Team evaluates new

product designs in the key areas o material chemistry and saety o inputs, disassembly,

recyclability, and carbon. Today, all new Herman Miller products are designed using the DE

protocol and all pre-existing products are held to these standards as well. In scal , we saw

a shif in our product mix to those products that have not yet been approved against our DE

protocol. We also added the sales rom the recent acquisition o Nemscho. This is relected in

our scal result o % to our goal o % o all o our product sales coming rom DE-

approved products. Our goal or is %.

All Herman Miller engineers and purchasing agents go through DE training, including product

development teams in the U.K. as well as in China. We have also trained our design sta at

Brandrud and Nemscho.

Along with DE, ull lie cycle assessments (LCA) have been conducted or major product

categories/product lines representing percent o revenues. LCA is a tool that, rom raw material

extraction through end o lie management, identies the ull range o environmental impacts

assignable to products and services. LCAs help to quantiy how much energy and raw materials

are used, and how much solid, liquid and gaseous waste is generated, at each stage o the

products lie.

54% PROGRESSTOWARD2020 GOAL

58%2011/2012 GOAL

100%2020 GOAL


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Recycled Content

Since we try to incorporate recycled materials into all o our products, we careully monitor

each products weight and the percentage o recycled content used. We work to balance ahigh percentage o recycled content with our desire to provide the most environmentally sae

materials.

Energy-Efcient Products

As part o our environmental advocacy, we try to create products that reduce energy use or our

consumers. LED technology in the Flute TM personal light uses to percent less energ y than

traditional task lights. The Twist LED Task Light uses %-% less energ y than traditional under

cabinet luorescent task lights.

level Certication

level is the certication program or the BIFMA e-: Business and Institutional Furniture

Sustainability Standard (BIFMA e). It has been created to deliver the most open and transparent

means o evaluating and communicating the environmental and social impacts o urniture products in

the built environment. Currently, percent o our product lines are level certied.

GREENGUARD Certication

Herman Millers major lines o systems urniture, oce seating products, and ling and storage,

including Meridian products, have earned GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certication and

GREENGUARD Children and Schools Certication or low-emitting products.

Sustainable Wood

We acquired Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain o custody certication at our Zeeland, Michigan,

Main Site manuacturing acility in . In , we expanded the scope o our cer tication to includeour Spring Lake, Michigan, acilities making ling and storage products. We can oer FSC-certied

products in a variety o laminate and veneer work sur aces and tables, as well as certain ling and

storage products with wood tops/ronts. Geiger Internationals Fulton manuacturing acility in Atlanta,

Georgia was granted FSC Chain o Custody Certication in . Geiger can contribute to LEED

projects by oering FSC-certied products manuactured at the Atlanta acility.

ecoScorecard

In , Herman Miller became the rst large contract urniture manuacturer to incorporate

ecoScorecard into its product catalog. Herman Miller ecoScorecard is a ree, web-based technology

platorm providing environmental inormation and sustainability documentation about products or

all major green building rating systems. We continue to work to expand our product catalogue on

ecoScorecard in order to make pursuing LEED certication easier.

These eor ts contributed to our eighth consecutive listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

The Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) group selected Her man Miller, Inc., or inclusion in The

Sustainability Yearbook and awarded Herman Miller both the SAM Sector Leader and SAM

Sector Mover distinctions. The Sustainability Yearbook provides an overview o the results o the th

SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). Only the top-scoring % o participating companies,

with a minimum score o at least % o the score o the SAM Sector Leader in each o the sectors

assessed, are eligible or inclusion in The Sustainability Yearbook. And this past year we were given the

Best Sustainability Perormance Award at the Just Means Social Innovations Awards.


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Log onto hermanmiller.com to learnmore about what we are doing ora better world around you.

Visit us on Facebook:www.acebook.com/HermanMiller

Follow us on Twitter:twitter.com/hermanmiller

Illustrations done by:Ben Goss

For more inormation about our products and services or to see a list o dealers,

please visit us at hermanmiller.com or call (8) 851 1196.

1 Herman Miller, Inc. Zeeland, Michigan.

Aeron, Meridian,y,z are among the registered trademarks o Herman Miller, Inc.TM Flute is among the trademarks o Herman Miller, Inc.

SM rePurpose is among the service marks o Herman Miller, Inc.

GREENGUARD is a registered trademark o the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.

TM level is a trademark o BIFMA International

SM ecoScorecard is a registered service mark o ecoScorecard, LLC.

Were the types that think that the only way to reach audacious results is to set audacious goals.

Were very proud to share our accomplishments with you, but we know were not perect and

can always do better. Were committed to doing our part and excited to share what weve learned

with you.

We hope our Better World Report will give you some idea o the scope o our eorts to make

the world a better place. We update this report annually. We make every eort to respond to all

GRI disclosures; we report additional GRI data on hermanmiller.com.

We welcome your eedback on this Report. Send your comments

to the [email protected].

Documents

2011 a Better World Report