For many years now, companies of all sizes have taken giant steps in building a link between customer strategies and environmentally sustainable policies. Yet, many may still underestimate just how vital a company’s degree of “greenness” is to its own employees and potential hires.
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This message sprouts from a growing body of evidence that makes a compelling case for taking your green initiatives even deeper. At least 12 peer-reviewed studies—plus several more popularly distributed surveys—now show that more top jobseekers are highly attracted to organizations with sustainable practices and also are more likely to stay with the eco-conscious companies they join.
A Bright Green Relationship
Consider these recent findings:
Employees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs if they work for a company that’s perceived to be environmentally friendly, says a study from the Charlton College of Business at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
From the employees’ point of view, being green might be even better than having lots of green, according to the study, which was published in a recent issue of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Review. In fact, a firm’s financial performance had no correlation with employee happiness levels, researchers found.
“The results of our study confirm that there is a significant positive relationship between perceived environmental performance and employee satisfaction,” the researchers found. “One can say with 99.9 percent confidence that the relationship exists,” they concluded.
Meantime, a survey of 504 employees conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management as part of its larger-scale Green Workplace Survey, found 61 percent of those whose organizations participate in environmentally friendly practices report that they are “very likely” or “likely” to stay with their current employer simply because of its environmentally responsible program.
Lastly, a recent Harris Poll® of 900 working adults stated the pro-green sentiment even more intensely: It found that 44 percent agree with the statement, “I would rather be unemployed than work for a company that’s knowingly harmed the environment.”
Green Is Good
Sustainability actions often lift up a company’s reputation and status, drawing jobseekers who want to feel proud to work for a prestigious organization that’s admired for environmental stewardship. That peerless connection, therefore, creates a larger role for management in its quest to strengthen the link between people strategies and environmental policies.
In today’s Leadership Daily Advisor, we highlight a few key tactics to remember as you amplify and lead your company’s green recruiting and retention strategy.
Exceed industry norms. To really stand out in today’s green-hued workforce, executive leadership teams are working even harder to adopt sustainability practices that truly distinguish their organizations from other employers, such as by integrating sustainability with their brand, products, and services.
Case in point: Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corps’ “CodeGreen” initiative is an organizationwide, multiyear strategy to identify, monitor, measure, assess, manage, and reduce environmental impacts. Each casino property has a nine-member CodeGreen team representing different parts of the operations. Each is tasked with a detailed plan and targets to achieve during the year. The company tracks five key metric areas (electric, natural gas, water, waste, employee engagement, and customer awareness) and creates a quarterly scorecard for all of its properties.
While the companywide strategy has returned significant cost savings plus boosted employee engagement, Caesars undertook a bigger challenge in 2015 by committing to science-based climate change targets—the first company in the hospitality industry to try such a goal.
Partner for the greater good. The eco-friendly message must reach across functions—and be all-inclusive, experts say. The challenge? Overcoming the lingering perception that sustainability is a cost center, rather than a business imperative, according to a study of 120 multinational companies by The Conference Board. Corporate sustainability touches nearly all functions of an organization, including finance, HR, marketing, supply chain, governance, health and safety, logistics, and technology. Yet a majority of top corporate sustainability executives are at least two degrees removed from their CEO in the corporate hierarchy, the study found.
Use the lingo. Provide managers with “green” fact sheets to use during meet-and-greets and candidate interviews. Use the language of green recruiting at job fairs and college recruitment sessions. College grads and Millennial job candidates will be drawn to your “greenness” if you can successfully prove your company’s true interest and support of policies and practices that leave a “minimal environmental footprint,” “promote and encourage sustainability,” and instill “social and eco-responsibility.” Always offer hard proof in the form of sustainability reporting that highlights your firm’s superior environmental record.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we present more steps toward a greener workforce strategy.