Being sustainable helps fight climate change AND improves team engagement
15th August 2022
Climate change is a collective effort. It requires all businesses to take action to make real change.
But the matter of sustainability has long gone beyond being for purely environmental reasons: it can shape both internal and external perceptions. That’s the message coming through from recently published major pieces of research.
Almost two-thirds of respondents in a Deloitte study says that a company’s sustainability efforts would play “a major factor” in deciding whether to work for them.
A separate study by Topline Film found that 25% of UK office workers would turn down a job rather than work for a business that has a poor environmental record.
Your employees believe in sustainability
This message comes from a genuine drive among the workforce to make a difference in the fight against climate change.
National Grid discovered that over three-quarters of UK adults want to play a part in helping the UK with climate change and “more than half want to work for an organisation that helps us get there.”
The recruitment and retention of talent’s become a significant and growing challenge for many businesses, as the fallout of the pandemic brought “the Great Resignation”. Your candidates are clear about the environmental profile of the company they want to work for. Making efforts to continue to become more sustainable will only help to increase the attraction of the role you’re offering.
Sustainability helps you cut costs
A side-effect of investing in becoming an increasingly more sustainable company isn’t just limited to the costs of advertising and recruitment costs; they could reduce your turnover of employees too.
A clear business vision that includes sustainability can help you to attract a larger proportion of tomorrow’s business leaders. These efforts can be a key driver to attact new hires. Investment in these employees will mean you can train and retain them at a higher level than previously. The result is a more engaged workforce with higher productivity, and lower employee churn and recruitment costs.
Gain an edge on competitors through your sustainability plans
Years of data show that a commitment to sustainability can even lead to improved business performance.
“You will do better financially by doing things like having a great sustainability programme.”
Jeffrey Hollender, Professor of Sustainability, New York University.
You’ll want to consider creating a defined roadmap that caters for actions and measures to drive results for your programme. It isn’t something to create in year one and look at in year four. Instead, try to treat it as an ever-evolving part of the needs of your business. The flexibility will help you to shape it to any changes within your company.
Get in touch with the experts
We’re happy to advise and assist you in your sustainability efforts. All you need to do is contact us and we can help you to fight climate change with the UK.
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