Unlock The Secret of Corporate Sustainability: Employee Engagement

Have you ever wondered why an increasing number of organizations are engaging employees in their respective sustainability initiatives? This is because time and again, it has been proven: people drive results. Indeed while employee engagement in sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) may be a hurdle for many companies, the truth is, there is an increasing number of leading companies that engage their workforce in their environmental responsibility and corporate goals (which are geared towards attaining profitability or  sustainability).

Workforce for Good, Employee Engagement in CSR/ Sustainability reports how 12 Fortune-level companies included employees to create principles that can form a “focused, forward-thinking, corporate environment” and result in corporate sustainability leadership:

• Improved Talent Attraction

• Lower Workforce Attrition 

• A More Inspired Workforce

• Increased Productivity

• Innovative Products and Services

• Reduced Environment Footprint and Costs

• Enhanced Corporate Branding and Image Internally and Externally

Proof of the strong relationship between employee engagement and corporate sustainability is a Gallup analysis that showed: “Organizations’ employee engagement scores directly related to their earnings per share (EPS). Organizations with employee engagement scores in the top quartile of Gallup’s overall database in 2006 and 2007 posted earnings in 2007 and 2008 that were on average 28% higher than those of their competitors.” (State of the American Workplace Report 2008-2010 by Gallup). This is further highlighted by an employee attitudes survey by Sirota Survey Intelligence, which reflects that “when employees are positive about their organization’s CSR commitment, employee engagement rises to 86%.”

According to the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), environmental and sustainability (E&S) employee education and engagement “has spread rapidly and evolved into a more institutionalized element of companies’ broad sustainability strategies.” How should companies then create and embed a culture of sustainability within their organizations? In Toward Engagement 2.0: Creating a More Sustainable Company through Employee Engagement, a five-step process is proposed to assess corporate culture, establish their business case and deliver results through employee engagement:

Step 1. PERMIT

By allowing employees to choose and lead local initiatives, companies are actually empowering staff and inspiring them to achieve overall company goals. An example of this is how Baxter employees are allowed to sponsor local events for Baxter World Environment Week.

Step 2. EDUCATE & ENGAGE

Organizations are encouraged to adapt education and engagement tools such as green teams, social media, volunteerism and awards and incentives programs to approach their target audience. These strategies must always be new and fresh to the employees to create and sustain interest. For these initiatives, companies need to ensure a balance of local and personal objectives with the corporate objectives and structure.

Step 3. ACT

To make employee engagement personal and voluntary, ensure that there is a link between the employees’  actions and the company’s sustainability goals. By doing so, employees will not only take action at work but also in their respective homes and communities.

Step 4. EMBED

Evolving a company’s culture can be very difficult. Hence, it is best to design employee engagement initiatives by aligning it with the current culture.

Step 5. EVALUATE

As with all initiatives, measuring success is important but this is perhaps the most challenging aspect in developing programs. Several lessons from leading companies can help reduce the difficulty and create more impactful engagement measures. These include collaboration with human resources professionals for training, incentives, and the use of quantifiable metrics and techniques to calibrate and prioritize initiatives.

People drive results. Aside from companies’ financial performance, the same can be said about CSR initiatives. By allowing employees to engage in CSR programs and educating them to support sustainability practices, companies ensure that employees deeply understand what sustainability means for them, the company, and the environment. By the time that CSR is firmly embedded into companies’ values and goals, businesses must also remember to evaluate their sustainability practices so that they can continuously improve and perpetuate their CSR programs.

Currently, FCS offers a wide range of sustainability consulting services to help firms in their strategies. These solutions are also integrated and delivered by some of the best energy management consultants, technical experts and environmental specialists. Click on the button below to find out how FCS can help create your organization achieve sustainability.