Middlebury, VT — In many cases, sustainability initiatives are only as good as the buy-in they receive from employees -- the men and women who ultimately turn off the lights, throw their trash into recycling bins, and take the bus to work.

But what are the key ingredients needed to bring employees on board? Brighter Planet, an environmental services company that helps people reduce their environmental impacts, aims to find out with a survey designed to explore how employers and workers interact on sustainability.

"It's becoming clear that employee sustainability programs are growing in importance and show great promise with regard to the triple bottom line, but relatively little is known about their current extent, effectiveness, and how they are perceived," Brighter Planet CEO Patti Prairie told GreenBiz.com in an email interview. "The survey will help inform the next generation of social media-powered employee sustainability programs and hopefully begin to guide corporate sustainability policies and practices."

The company allows visitors to its website to measure their carbon footprint, find ways of reducing it, and track their progress. It has launched a variety of web-based campaigns, such as an #earthtweet tweet-a-thon and a drive to enlist bloggers in raising awareness of climate change.

Prairie plans to use the information from the survey to help focus future efforts on improving and scaling corporate sustainability programs. The impact from successful engagement programs can be immense and help companies meet a variety of sustainability goals, such as indirect climate impacts.

"Scope 3 potential is the next wave, with companies increasingly finding that environmental good in indirect areas like employee commuting, business travel, and supply chain management can be as real as in direct spheres," Prairie said. "Employee sustainability programs can be instrumental in reigning in these indirect environmental impacts, while also reducing traditional impact."

Deadline to take the survey is Nov. 30, with results announced in mid-December.

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