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 Greening the Workplace 2011:
Engaging Employees to Benefit the Planet and the Bottom Line
Shareholder pressure and greater demands for corporate accountability are the fastest growing catalysts for greener workplaces, according to a new survey released today by Brighter Planet, a leading provider of carbon and energy calculations.
Twenty-three percent of employees polled said their organization’s employee conservation programs were motivated primarily by pressure from shareholders and increasing demands for for improved corporate governance, nearly double the 13 percent in Brighter Planet’s first employee engagement survey in 2009.
The main driver for sustainability efforts in the workplace remains sales and marketing, according to 30 percent of employees polled. After shareholder pressure, product development is the third ranking motivator at 13 percent, up from 11 percent in the previous survey.
More than half of all employees surveyed said their workplaces have sustainability programs, a 5 percent increase from two years ago, showing a steadily rising trend for companies, government agencies and other organizations in greening their work sites.
However, Brighter Planet’s survey also found that many employees believe their companies and organizations are doing a poor job of implementing efficient, user-friendly sustainability efforts. The percentage of very effective or somewhat effective programs dropped 8% compared to findings in 2009.
“Demands for corporate and social accountability are at an all-time high," said Patti Prairie, Brighter Planet CEO. "Many organizations are floundering in their efforts to promote sustainability. Our survey and analysis is a guide for engaging employees in initiatives that can have a direct impact on the triple bottom line—people, profits and the planet.”
Brighter Planet conducted the employee engagement survey as part of its company mission to help businesses and organizations operate more efficiently, conserve energy and save money while improving the planet.
The full 2011 report is attached to this message and can also be found here: <http://attachments.brighterplanet.com/press_items/local_copies/105/original/employee_engagement_2011.pdf?1322867541> .
Other key findings of Brighter Planet’s survey of approximately 1,000 employees show:
· Financial services, government and wholesale sectors are the laggards in sustainability efforts, while environmental, energy, utility, and non-profit organizations get the highest ratings for program effectiveness. Smaller organizations tend to outperform larger ones.
· The most effective programs promote sustainability in emerging areas like business travel, purchasing, water use, and food at much higher rates than their ineffective counterparts. That said the most common areas of sustainability engagement are still waste and recycling, energy use, and commuting.
· Employees are the main advocates for sustainability, but since 2009 management has starting taking a greater role and is now the main green advocate at one in five organizations.
· Organizations with a system for employees to share ideas—including use of electronic media—were more than six times as likely to have programs rated as “very effective” by employees.
· Workplaces that collected data on their carbon footprint, the impact of staff travel and commuting, and employee sustainability efforts were about three times as likely to have a “very effective” program as those that did not collect such information.
More info:
www.brighterplanet.com <http://www.brighterplanet.com/>
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