As the business community continues to make the shift to sustainability, employee engagement has proven to be a critical component for success. After all, who better than frontline staff to identify unnecessary waste and environmental impacts, consider how to do things differently and suggest ways to improve processes. The boost to morale that comes from asking their opinion is a nice bonus too.
Even with the best of intentions, many organizations struggle with how best to move beyond token, ad hoc, “feel good” actions to attain that engagement and deliver measurable results. Follow these seven tips and you’ll be well on your way:
1 Develop a formal strategy
Like any initiative in your organization, the best-planned ones deliver the greatest results. So, prepare a strategy for employee engagement on sustainability and tie it to your broader business goals. Better yet, have your employees develop the strategy with the support of senior management. This will give them a sense of ownership while cutting through much of the cynicism you may encounter.
2 Strike employee green teams
Create one or more employee green teams and set them up for success. Ensure broad representation, give them a clear mandate and resources, and provide them the tools to do their job. Help them focus on the areas of greatest impact to your business and relevance to your employees.
3 Make the program accessible
Not everyone cares about the same sustainability issues or is prepared to make the same efforts. So offer various ways for your employees to participate, tailor programs to local offices or regions, employ a range of tools – offline and online – and place a strong emphasis on constant communication. The more visible the program, and the more access points it offers, the more staying power and impact it will have.
4 Make it fun
Many sustainability topics are complex and challenging so it’s important to bring some fun into your sustainability engagement program. Friendly competition and incentives (known as “gamification”) are always effective. So are humour and levity.
5 Provide support
Employee engagement is an opportunity to help your staff build skills and capacity. But it requires clear terms of reference and programs that allow employees to support their co-workers. Research shows that this mutual support generates an increased commitment to the organization.
6 Think employee development
Use the program to support employees’ individual skill sets or development needs. Help them develop their own sustainability goals or tie volunteer opportunities into the program. In short, it’s a strategic HR tool.
7 Be open
Addressing issues of sustainability is as much art as it science. It requires input from a range of stakeholders and feedback mechanisms to help measure success. But most of all, it benefits from a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
Save money, improve efficiency, foster innovation, make better-informed decisions and build brand equity and reputation. Engage your employees around sustainability and you will begin to reap the rewards.
