Engaging Employees to Improve Environmental Stewardship

According to a recent study, working with a company’s entire workforce, is the best way to build a company’s sustainability efforts. The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) just released a report on the environmental education at companies including Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, HP and more.  There were many lessons that companies of all sizes can learn from the study to help them integrate their sustainability initiatives throughout their organizations. Many companies that were in the report also participated in a roundtable webinar. Here are some of the findings:

• Three-fourths of the rspondents in the survey that led to the NEEF report said that green hiring would grow, according to Diane Wood, president of the National Environmental Education Foundation
• A company that represents itself as a good environmental steward also finds it easier to retain and recruit employees, says Ken Strassner, a VP at Kimberly-Clark Corporation
• Interface, a leader in sustainable business practices, has been working on changing its culture to focus on internal education for 15 years to build a strong communication structure. It also offers innovative green products including carbon-neutral products that have carbon offsets built into the price

At Cisco, an internal web portal is used to communicate environmental programs and efforts that will soon be marketed to customers says Kenis Dunne, Sr Manager of Internal Communications at Cisco. The portal includes such resources and tools as a calendar of events that urge employees to get involved in sustainability initiatives, a discussion board and informal video features.

The full report, The Engaged Organization, is available on the NEEF’s website.

  PERSONALLY SPEAKING

Listening to the insights and learnings that other businesses are sharing about their sustainability programs and communication strategies helps the learning curve for other organizations working toward similar goals. These corporations are making notable progress on the environmental education front, but it doesn’t happen overnight. ~ Megan

Megan Brown is the Client Relations Manager for Renewable Choice.