How can employers encourage sustainability at work?
Every day, we make choices in our lives that affect our planet and the future of our children. We try to “go green” and live more sustainable in almost every aspect of our lives. Be it in our diary, mobility, or general consumption. We try to save energy, we try to save water, we try to buy sustainable products, and we do many other things individually to reduce our carbon footprint.
But, there is one big part of our lives that we tend to forget when trying to become more sustainable: Our workplace!
We spend more hours at work than we do at home or elsewhere. Thus, by creating a more sustainable workplace, employers can help their workers reduce their individual environmental footprint.
Companies have crucial roles to play in this regard. This is not because they are the major contributors to global warming and environmental pollution, but they have the capabilities in form of incentives and opportunities to design innovative ideas in reversing what damages our ecosystem.
What is a Sustainable Workplace?
Essentially, a sustainable workplace is a worplace that doesn’t harm the environment or its workers by balancing the planet, people, and profit (the 3 pillars of sustainable business) to produce success and viability in the long-term. In fact, a sustainable workplace has the goal bring long-term benefits to the environment, the workers, as well as the company itself. This is exactly in line with the stakeholder theory, which is one of the most purpose-driven approaches to business!
Every day, more companies are beginning to adopt more environmentally sustainable workplace practices and sustainable business models, not only to fulfil their corporate social responsibility, but because sustainability makes business sense, in terms of reduced operational costs, improved employee health and well-being, and a better bottom line.
Environmentally sustainable workplaces are those that seek to protect the environment, to conserve precious natural resources and to minimise damage both internally and externally to the business.
5 Benefits of Encouraging Sustainability at Work
1. Reduced carbon footprint
Sustainability is good for the environment, and it’s also good for business.
By encouraging sustainability at work businesses can save money on energy costs. They can also reduce their emissions footprint, which is crucial in protecting the environment.
By using eco-friendly practices, businesses can reduce their carbon footprint. As a result, it can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. In addition, eco-friendly practices can help to conserve natural resources, such as water and energy.
The benefits of a lower carbon footprint for your company are numerous. First, it benefits your company to be seen as an environmentally-conscious brand.
Many consumers have become increasingly aware of the environmental impact on the world around them. As a result, they look favourably upon companies that are doing their part in trying to reduce this impact.
2. Enhanced company culture & image
In sustainable workplaces, environmentally friendly practices improve the company’s image and bottom line.
Promoting sustainability at work encourages employees to use natural resources responsibly. It means conserving energy, water, and other resources while still producing the necessary products or services.
By creating a healthy environment, companies can reduce their impact on the planet and protect valuable resources.
Sustainable workplaces are also more ethical than traditional workplaces because they protect the environment and workers’ health. In addition, sustainability is a crucial factor in promoting green innovation, such as biomimicry. By working towards a sustainable workplace, businesses can encourage creativity and innovation.
When employees work in a sustainable workplace, they are likely to be more environmentally conscious and responsible. As a result, it can lead to positive public relations for the company and increased sales.
By creating a sustainable workplace, companies can make social responsibility to their employees. Social responsibility is the understanding that individuals have an ethical and moral obligation to act in ways that improve the well-being of others.
3. Higher productivity
One of the top benefits of encouraging sustainability at work is that the workplace can lead to higher productivity. In addition, sustainable workplaces are those that responsibly use resources. They avoid using resources that can damage the environment or cause health problems.
Sustainable practices also create a more friendly and productive environment. By reducing waste, businesses can improve air quality and generate less noise pollution.
If you’re looking to improve your team’s productivity and environmental sustainability, look into implementing a sustainable workplace policy at your business.
4. Reduced costs
Sustainable practices are a great way to reduce costs. For example, a company that encourages sustainability at work can reduce its carbon emissions by installing solar panels or wind turbines (yes, solar is worth it). As a result, it can lower its overall expenses, and it may even be able to sell excess electricity back to the grid.
Another cost-saving benefit of sustainability is that it can reduce waste production. When businesses reduce their waste output, they can save money on disposal fees and transportation costs. They also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which could have adverse environmental effects.
Businesses can reduce energy bills, waste management costs, and environmental damage by using sustainable practices. They can also create jobs and promote economic growth.
By implementing sustainable practices into their businesses, companies can save money and improve their environmental impact. It’s estimated that companies could save billions if they enforce sustainable policies.
5. Increased employee loyalty retention
Sustainability can be a great way to improve the workplace environment and create a more sustainable future. In addition, a sustainable workplace can result in more satisfied employees because they will be able to see the benefits of their work directly.
Sustainable workplaces also encourage employee participation in decision-making. It helps ensure that everyone understands the impacts of their actions on the environment and other employees. It also helps to create a sense of community within the workplace.
How to Encourage Sustainability at Work?
1. Use green energy
There has never been a better time to switch to 100% renewable energy! Prices are low and the planet will be much happier and healthier for it. To see how much you could save, for your organisation and the environment, try the Big Clean Switch today.
If your premises allow, try to place solar panels on the roof to benefit from even lower energy prices. Switching to renewable energy is a good, easy, and cheap way to encourage sustainability at work, while supporting a positive human environment interaction.
2. Go paperless
The papers used by an organization take up a considerable percentage of the office space. This is leading to a crisis not only in the workspace but also affecting the environment. Millions of trees are cut down to cover our needs for daily usage of paper.
It is an irreplaceable resource that has led to negative impacts on our environment.
Going digital is the solution to this growing problem. It saves you the cost of using paper daily. Also going digital makes it convenient to back up necessary documents, which saves time and space for an organization. Thus, providing a helping hand in protecting trees and reducing carbon emissions, while at the same time minimizing e-waste, by huge numbers.
In case it’s too hard or not possible to get rid of paper completely, make sure to only use deforestation-free paper. If paper doesn’t say where it’s come from, we can’t guarantee it’s not linked to deforestation. We can all take steps to protect forests globally by ensuring that the paper we use is 100% recycled or FSC certified. If you think recycled paper is always off-white and flimsy, times have changed! You can get 100% recycled paper that’s indistinguishable from virgin paper. That way, you can contribute your part to the circular economy.
3. Curb energy consumption
Very often, energy is used very inefficiently in many companies. Not only at a cost to the environment, but also at the cost of the companies themselves. For example, the unnecessary operation of machinery and lights is diminishing sustainability.
A reduction of energy consumption will help the cause of sustainability. You need to create awareness and make everyone acknowledge it. Actually, it doesn’t take much to do this. For example, you can post stickers, asking employees to swicth off the lights when not in use. You could also install lights with automatic motion sensors. Finally, cleaning up regularly can also help a lot to reduce your company’s energy consumption.
4. Promote green commuting & home office
As a sustainable leader, you can encourage your employees to reduce carbon emissions by asking them to:
- Walk to work if they live nearby
- Use a bicycle and endorse it
- Use public transportation or carpooling
- Work from home if possible
- Use refurbished electronics
You can enhance these efforts by incentivizing them. An increased number of perks will improve the active participation of your employees. Thus, leading to sustainable company culture.
One can also provide remote working or work from home benefits. It will reduce the carbon footprint of every individual of an organization. At the same time, it will be possible to reduce costs associated to renting business premises. The more of your employees work from home, the less space you’ll need to rent for your office.
Ultimately, you can get involved as an activist at your workplace, which will set a perfect example among others to follow the sustainable way of organizing a workplace.
5. Sustainable Dining
Food accounts for 70% of global biodiversity loss and around a third of global emissions. We can all do more to reduce the environmental impacts from food.
When catering meetings or events, could at least 50% of the food we serve be vegan? Can we ensure that we serve less meat but better quality (i.e. free range, organic, high-welfare)? If serving biscuits and snacks can we make sure they contain only RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil? People may be hesitant to try a vegetable sausage, but vegan and veggie options are so convincing now it’s difficult to tell the difference!
Finally, consider to start your own small vertical farm in or next to the office. The great thing about vertical farming is that you can basically do it everywhere: indoors, outdoors, on the balkony, on the rooftop, or inside your building. It is a great way to make your food supply more sustainable as you can control yourself how the food that your team will eat is grown.
