Are Greener Employees Better for your Business?

Discussion and Presentations

Presentation- Are Greener Employees Better?

Discussion- What are we doing to encourage employees to be green at work and at home?

Resources, programs and services

Are Greener Employees Better? Questions

Are they more productive? Are they more efficient? Are they healthier? Are they more effective managers? Are they happier?

If the answer to any one these is YES, then, What can we be doing to encourage employees to

be greener in the workplace and at home?

What We Are Talking About

Greener Lifestyles

Energy efficient Saves money utilities

Fewer toxic chemicals Green cleaning, low VOC paints, off gassing.

Less trash/more recycling Civic responsibility Knows about household hazardous waste

Resource efficient Purchases less stuff/purchases used stuff

Green Life Style Benefits

Saves Money Reduce Health Impacts of VOC and OZONE.

Fewer headaches, respiratory issues More refreshed feeling

Better Quality Sleep Heart healthy, reduces cancer, weight Better memory, less depression, better recovery

(in all respects)

Green Worker Benefits

Understands benefits Good for health Good for bottom line

Follows protocols because green is not optional

Confident in company green strategy Confident in peer group

What the Employees Thought

Logicalis Survey 62% employer should provide green

incentives to employees; 57% could be greener, if asked to be; 43% believe employer pays lip service to

environmental issues;

What the Employees Thought

Logicalis Survey 49% employer wastes energy; 45% employer needs new schemes to reduce

waste; 37% welcome training. 81%-92% of Americans prefer working for a

company with a good environmental responsibility reputation.  (Ipsos Morri and MonsterTrack)

Conclusions

Employee health improvements Employee functionality improvements “Green” is important to employees Employees want to be confident employer is

not wasteful

Conclusions

Employees need to feel protected Employees need to know and understand

decisions employer makes. Green initiatives can help retain and motivate

key talent.

Question 1

Did your company do anything special for Earth month?

Question 2

Does your company have green benefits? Commuter transit benefits Light bulb give away Green home working day Green service day Tips for home

Question 3

How does your business communicate about its green initiatives with employees? Email newsletter Print newsletter Union newsletter Lunch room display Signage within workplace Meetings

Question 4

Are green actions encouraged or required? How much is automated (lights on sensors) and

how much is decision based (recycling in break room)?

How is correct decision-making reinforced?

Question 5

Who is responsible for greening employees? Human Resources Managers Other function that undertakes greening:

environmental health managers, facility managers, operations.

GREEN HR BENEFITS

“Green HR initiatives are in bloom” according to the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association

100 percent offer in-office recycling 73 percent offer mass transit incentives; 46 percent offer car pooling incentives; 45 percent offer flextime 27 percent offer incentives for alternative fuel

vehicles

GREEN HR BENEFITS

Employer Assisted Housing $5,000 Financial Reward for buying car that

gets 45 mpg $2,000 Giveaways like re-useable bags Wellness and fitness programs Locked bicycle parking, showers, locker

room.

Green HR Benefits

Employee stipend of $300 per year to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs and improved energy-efficient windows.

Employee stipend of $1000 per year toward a solar hot-water system, solar PV panels and a wind turbine or a wood-pellet furnace.

Green HR Benefits

Employee challenges; commuter challenge, carpool challenge, paper saving challenge, safety challenge.

Offsets to remain carbon neutral

Green Working Holiday

Employees are given day to green home with kit of cleaning products, weatherization tools and light bulbs (kit cost is $50). Must provide documentation and Hr hosts contest.

Employee is given a sustainable gift and attends educational programs before eating a free lunch. This can be followed by cleaning or volunteer effort—like painting school with low VOC products.

Leaders

King Arthur-recognized by Wall Street Journal as one the top small Workplaces green teams aligned with the company’s values, identified significant cost savings through its recycling

programs, waste and energy reductions, and use of green cleaning products. 

Employees knew where to find savings and how to effect the changes they recommended.

Stewardship 101 classes that tackle work-related issues as well as help employees reduce their personal environmental impact. One example is a home-efficiency class that helps employees to reduce their energy use.