Hi,
I work for a small environmental consultancy with just seven employees. Although the nature of our work may forbid it, with small overheads it is easy to put acting on sustainability lower on the agenda than other issues (although we are all in agreement that being 'sustainable' reduces costs). Instead, we put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. I am responsible for monitoring the benefits and I can report we have reduced our carbon emissions by c.60% through our actions, and reduced our bills by c.20%. By preaching these kinds of figure I am hoping it will inspire others to take simple, small actions (which combine to create big savings). Our employees have taken home the actions we promote here in the office, and reported similar benefits, proving that change can spur change. Here in the UK, the Carbon Trust has done a lot to promote sustainability and energy conservation, however still not enough is being done. Anthony

Hi,

Thanks for posting this, it's really useful as material for companies and businesses aiming at starting sustainable plans.

As a matter of fact, I re-posted it at our website (www.sustainabilitythebook.com)..

Hope we can keep talking about sustainability and enterprise 2.0.

The end of the article "Engaging Employees in Sustainability" is critical in driving the business case for social responsibility initiatives internally: sustainability and social responsibility programs do help companies stand out from their competition and drive the bottom-line….but they are also increasingly effective in helping organizations stand out from the crowd as employers of choice.

As the author mentions, sustainability initiatives are especially impactful in relation to employee recruitment and retention. Given the current economic environment, many companies can no longer rely on (or afford) the compensation and bonus packages of yester-year to entice new employees. If those companies wish to continue to gain a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining high-caliber, talented employees, the creation of sustainability programs and incentives that speak to those executives’ increased concern for their environment can be very beneficial.

The bottom line is that many current and potential employees no longer want to choose between making money and ‘making a difference’, and will usually show a preference for an employer that enables them to do both.

Lastly, companies that invest in broad social responsibility initiatives such as corporate volunteering and philanthropy programs are not only investing in their brand and perception among customers and their communities, they are also engaging one of their most valuable assets – employees….and it is a well-studied fact that high levels of employee engagement strongly correlate with high levels of productivity.

Tory Clarke, Partner
Bridge Partners, LLC
http://www.bridgepartnersllc.com and http://www.csrinsights.com