Legit Forum takes care of its employees as you would expect from a family business. There is close engagement, creating a healthy foundation for a successful collaboration. Employees are the heart and soul of the organisation. That means if the people develop their competencies, Legit Forum develops as well. This development is provided by an internal training centre called WIJS. WIJS offers internal and external training and courses for the whole organisation or at an individual level.

Essential for our employees is a pleasant and above all safe working environment. At Legit Forum, this is a principle condition for letting people work. All necessary safety measures for a safe working environment are strictly observed and regularly checked by various owners. In addition to strict safety standards, Legit Forum contributes to the health of and a pleasant working environment for its employees and their families. Some of the ways Legit Forum does this are by offering a bike plan, a high-quality collective health insurance policy, and an excellent pension plan. At work, employees enjoy a pleasant work environment that suits their various activities.
For instance, we’re installing more and more sit-stand desks, and are offering free fruit to employees. It’s not just within its own organisation that Legit Forum takes its responsibility towards people. When starting and maintaining relationships with suppliers or business partners, we look carefully at the location of the company and the working conditions of their employees.

The business activities conducted by Legit Forum reach beyond national borders, which means they impact the environment internationally. We try to limit that impact to a minimum by taking increasingly strict measures on various fronts. The sourcing of materials is critically analysed to limit the use of new raw materials and ensure the origin of materials. For example, for the development of Ecoplex (high-quality poplar plywood as a sustainable alternative for other wood types) we did not just look at the quality of the end product, but also where the material came from. Ecoplex comes from ecological forest plantations where trees are grown as crops, meaning no primary forests are harmed. Intercontinental products are avoided whenever possible by looking for alternatives of equal quality closer to the Netherlands. All this to reduce the CO2 footprint.

When it comes to power sources for production, logistics, and personnel transport, Legit Forum conducts an active policy. Buildings are made more sustainable by installing solar panels and making them more energy efficient. One of the ways we have done this is by replacing the fluorescent lighting with LED lighting and by installing solar water heaters.

Diesel cars are actively being phased out, as are the relatively high-pollution Euro-3 engines in lorries that are used for transport. Here we actively encourage electric cars as an alternative and we are purchasing lorries with Euro-6 engines. Through the implementation of high-quality transport planning software, the transport distance of the lorries is limited by about 6% of the total kilometres driven. In addition, relatively cleaner lorries are used for longer distances.

Waste separation is done actively within the companies of Legit Forum. Wood, metal, paper, and residual waste are actively separated. In addition there are residual flows of the plastic type ABS, which is processed in the cleanest possible ways by specialised waste processing companies.

When adding products and services to its portfolio, Legit Forum actively looks at the related sustainability aspects. For instance, we look at the origin and the raw materials that were used. These properties are examined together with the supplier and/or manufacturer and documented in material passports.

In addition, we look at manufacturers’ work processes and how sustainable they are. Legit Forum requires that manufacturers employ safe and respectful working conditions for their employees. In addition, Legit Forum likes to work with manufacturers that operate sustainably, for instance by generating their own power with solar panels or biomass systems. Recovering value from manufacturing process waste is another important aspect in this context. When composing its product range, Legit Forum looks critically at the sourcing of materials and potential sustainable alternatives. For example, slow-growing wood types are used more effectively in terms of yield by processing them into veneered sheet material instead of solid wood, and we actively look for fast-growing alternatives to combat deforestation. Additionally, the range of furniture panels on the sales end is expanding further and further. That doesn’t just mean a higher yield in terms of material use and reduction of waste, it also offers benefits when it comes to the physical strain put on personnel working with the materials.