How Being More Sustainable Can Boost Employee Engagement

As global environmental consciousness rises, a higher percentage of companies around the world are now focused on creating a more sustainable company culture. Whether that means hiring greener teams, creating more eco-friendly programs, or even starting sustainable initiatives, environmentally conscious practices have turned out to be quite advantageous for businesses in many areas. However, one of the biggest benefits of running a more eco-friendly business might just be improved employee engagement.

Benefits when hiring employee

When hiring new employees, your main goal is likely to attract the best possible talent that is currently available. In case your company culture doesn’t promote sustainability, you might be at a disadvantage, as a high number of job seekers tend to prefer companies with strong eco-friendly cultures.

What’s more, a significant percentage of the workforce might even be willing to compromise on smaller salaries, as long as they work for conscious and sustainable businesses. This is especially true when it comes to younger generations, and is a preference that is only expected to increase in popularity as eco-friendliness and established company cultures become a more prevalent aspect of future businesses.

Building company pride

When you have a team of mindful and conscious employees, promoting sustainability and creating green initiatives will inspire a sense of pride within the company. This positivity and pride towards the business are then bound to translate into your workers’ personal lives, encouraging them to share their feelings with their circles and communities, thus giving your company free positive publicity.

But apart from marketing opportunities, a sense of pride can also do wonders for employee engagement. Simply working for a company that shares your core values and beliefs, and one that makes an active effort to encourage positive changes, is enough to inspire employees to work harder and be more involved in day-to-day activities.

Improving productivity

Sustainability has become a priority among consumers as well, and adapting to the evolving customer needs is a key aspect of any business. However, when engagement and efficiency within the company are low, the success of the business can be obstructed by disorganized employees, unrealized ideas, and unmet customer requirements.

In those instances, hiring a professional agility consulting service is the ideal solution. By fostering an environment of collaboration and communication, enabling teams to effectively visualize work, encouraging a culture of flexibility and efficiency, and discovering opportunities for growth and innovation, organizational agility will give you the opportunity to improve employee engagement and provide ongoing value to your consumers.

Giving back to the community

The concept of a sustainable company culture doesn’t only have to pertain to a broader sense of environmentalism; it can also coincide with your employees’ interests in their communities and local initiatives. This correlation between the business’s core values and relevant concerns in your workers’ personal lives helps to align mutual goals and encourage employees to be happier and more excited about working for your company.

For instance, your business could work with a local charity or organization in order to create a product or line, and then decide to donate a certain percentage of your profits to their good cause. That way, your employees could feel like they are contributing to a greater purpose as well, helping to boost engagement and enthusiasm in the process.

Other eco-friendly benefits

Saving the environment and boosting employee engagement aren’t the only advantages you could enjoy when creating a more sustainable company culture. It turns out that businesses devoted to eco-friendliness tend to outperform their less green competitors in a number of areas, such as having more favorable financial results and faster-growing stock value.

Apart from attracting a wider audience and more conscious consumers, the reason for this could also be the fact that companies aiming to reduce water, energy, and waste consumption tend to have significantly lower overhead expenses, as well as possibly receiving tax benefits and breaks from their local governments, thus increasing overall net profits.

It goes without saying that creating a more sustainable company culture won’t be an easy task. But with enough dedication and hard work, the efforts will be well worth it, once you see the positive impact it will have on employee engagement, as well as the environment.

Source: https://usgreentechnology.com/how-being-more-sustainable-can-boost-employee-engagement/