Employees and World Environment Day

World Environment Day is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment, celebrated annually on 5 June.

For employers, their environmental credentials and their commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly practices are increasingly important, as employee expectations have shifted to require businesses to focus on acting ethically and responsibly.

For those looking for a job (particularly from the Millennial and Gen Z workforce), finding an employer who is committed to delivering meaningful change and actually believe in their ESG policies has become a key factor.

With the care sector facing increasing difficulty in recruiting and retaining talent, is this a way to set yourself apart from your competitors? However, people don’t want to work for employers that simply pay lip service to environmental issues. Therefore, whilst introducing policies on environmental issues is key, it’s really important that you live the values behind the policies in order to help attract talent and retain it.

So, what steps can you take?

1. Recycling: Are you doing all that you can to help employees recycle at work? Start with the basics and set up designated recycling bins for food waste, cardboard, plastics and glass. Some employers now also provide swap stations for old clothing, such as kids’ clothing and school uniforms, to make clothing recycling easy! However, it’s important to make sure employees understand what can and cannot be recycled!
2. Reduce energy consumption: Try switching to energy efficient lighting (LED) or install motion sensors to reduce usage. Think about your energy provider and whether their energy comes from renewable sources.
3. Incentivising sustainable travel: To support employees on their journey to work, explore whether it is possible to introduce cycle to work schemes, e-vehicle schemes and workplace charging points, as well as finding ways to encourage the use of public transport by providing season ticket loans, offering public transport cost contributions or donating to a chosen environmental charity when employees use buses or trains to get to their place of work.
4. Sustainable clothing allowances or uniform: To help employees consider the environmental footprint of their clothing and reduce the purchase of ‘fast-fashion’, businesses could offer allowances or to reimburse employees for work clothing purchased from sustainable clothing brands, or introduce uniforms made from natural or recycled materials.
5. Choose sustainable products: Can you opt for eco-friendly cleaning products and bathroom/kitchen supplies? Maybe you can also make use of eco-office supplies, such as recycled paper and sustainable furniture (perhaps from recycled sources).
6. Seek employee buy-in to their ESG initiatives: Given that employees are now more driven to work for purpose-led organisations and companies that share their values, employers should encourage employees to embed ESG initiatives within their work culture. This can be achieved through environmental committees or task forces, focusing on ways that the business can adapt to help improve its carbon footprint and act more sustainably. This can help to increase employee engagement, which in turn can impact on retention rates.