T-shirt for your thoughts. . .

A reader recently approached The Green Workplace for some recruiting ideas.  We thought it would be a great opportunity to open a discussion that would benefit all of our readers.  The benefits don't stop there, however, we will give away 100% organic t-shirts for the best ideas you post to the discussion!

Question:  Our company has really strong environmental policies and is actively recruiting for a number of positions.  We really want to reach candidates who think Green.  Our company gives free bicycles to employees, recycles, uses organic materials in production, and the roof of our factory is covered in solar panels.  So far, these programs haven't really become the selling point for applicants that we anticipated.  Do you have any advice?

Answer:  Your current employee base is always going to be your most potent recruiting tool. Think of things they may choose to discuss about your company while at happy hour, at Thanksgiving dinner or while they are chatting with another parent while watching a Little League game. Are your green policies going to be among the headlines?  
Here are some other ideas that are likely to prompt personal testimony:

• Implement flexible schedules, like 4 day work weeks or part time work from home
  
• Inspire some teams to start desk sharing or working anywhere
  
• Consideration of video conference as an alternative to business trips
  
• Reduce quantity of office equipment by increase the ratio of employees to printers or removing select computer monitors
  

Readers:  Please let us know what you think!  Submit your ideas by posting your responses and send me an email with your mailing address, t-shirt selection and size if you wish to claim your 100% organic t-shirt.

Commuting at $4 a Gallon...

..is a real burden for many! While increasing gas prices and environmental considerations are encouraging many to get off the road, some companies are finding ways to help their employees with this goal.

Last week, the Seattle Times had an article, "Employers Going Beyond Requirements for Commute Alternatives," that discussed how some employers are giving additional incentives to employees to get off the road:

• Transit subsidy (T-Mobile)
• Shuttle service (Microsoft)
• Transportation counselors (Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center)
• Telework (Entellium)
• Bonus for biking (Mithun architecture firm)
• Zipcar (Safeco)

What is your employer doing for you?

Image source: 808oasis

State of Utah Moving to 4-Day Work Week

I had the great pleasure of meeting Governor Jon Hunstman (R) from Utah today. An inspiring man on many fronts (he speaks fluent Mandarin and adopted two abandoned babies from China and India for a start), but I was particulaly inspired by his credible commitment to the environment. One of his most recent initiatives is to transition all state employees to a 4-day work week (4 ten-hour days with Fridays off). This will start full time in July and his team will be measuring the economic and environmental results at the 1-year mark. There are many logistics to work out (daycare for employees, etc.), but the benefits he sees are numerous:

1. With this one chnage, state government buildings in Utah will reduce energy consumption by 20%.
2. The state will be more likely to recruit smart, young people looking for work-life balance jobs.
3. They are more likely to retain staff - it's a perceived "bonus" by most to have three day weekends all year.
4. They will be able to provide better service to their constituants (they are open earlier and later Mon-Thurs, so better able to support working moms and dads).

If roughly 17,000 employees across an entire state can take on alternative work hours, how hard can it really be?

For more info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25518225/

Alternative Work is Really, Really Green

I work with companies that embrace alternative work. Alternative, meaning work gets done, but it could happen at any time (after the kids are in bed) or any place (at home, in a cafe, at the office, etc.) This ability to work anywhere and any time is enabled by technology and helps employees juggle personal and professional life. Though workers may give up having an assigned seat, the ability to work in a more flexible way is generally perceived as a net benefit. The benefit for companies adopting alternative work is that they reduce real estate. And they save a lot of money.

Sprint shed 2.4 million square feet of space from 2005 to 2007 and 900,000 square feet will be released in 2008 through their adoption of “work anywhere” environments. This will create an annual savings of $80 million for the company starting in 2009.

American Express has projected annual cost avoids of $17 to $20 million through their initiatives to build high-performance work spaces based on actual occupancy, not headcount.

Here's the green headline here... companies that adopt alternative work are taking on one of the most environmentally beneficial strategies available to them - they are reducing their carbon footprint to begin with.

Alternative work reduces carbon footprint by reducing the amount of resources needed to build larger buildings and to incrementally operate them (energy, water, etc.) AND... they reduce the amount of energy needed to commute to work (note earlier TGW post that employees use twice as much energy commuting than they do occupying their office).

Think about it for your company. In the wise words of Mies van der Rohe, "less is more."

Co-Working: Don't Work at Home Alone!

Work from Home Wednesdays!

Washington, DC traffic has finally gotten the best of me. Well, that, and my sense of duty to the environment. I’ve started working from home one day per week. It’s a tough change for me – even though I know that telecommuting is a great way to reduce environmental impact and my boss is completely on board, I still feel a bit like a slacker for sitting at home in my sweatpants with my cat clawing my feet as I work away (she only looks sweet & innocent).

The major disadvantage for me (besides worrying about being perceived as a slacker) is the ability to track down the folks I need. When I’m in the office and I need to talk to someone, I can always go right over to their desk. If I’m at home, I can’t tell if they are available or not and have to rely on them checking voicemail and email regularly.

I think that having instant messenger (AIM, G-Talk, MSN Messenger, Office Communicator, etc.) available to the entire office would help with both of these issues. IM would at least allow me to see if people are at least on their computer, and they can see that I’m at mine. Also, it allows for shooting over a quick question/comment without having to have an entire conversation.

That said, there are many green pros of working from home:

• No need to drive = fewer miles on the road, less wear & tear on Ralph the Prius, and less gas used
• No need to shower and blow dry hair = less water and energy use
• No need to dress up = fewer clothes to wash, dry, and iron or dryclean
• No need for dog walker = less miles she’s putting on the road + less expensive for me
• Desk next to window = happier Millennial 4 Earth + less need for electric lights
• Temperature control = no need for space heater since I have blankets available
• Not at my desk = people only bother me when they really need me
• No particularly delicious lunch joints nearby = healthier eating, less spending money, and less food in my fridge rotting from not eating it.

What are your experiences?

'Green'-generation facilities management software

Massachusetts-based People Cube make scheduling software, used by thousands of big companies including General Motors and Procter & Gamble, to reserve physical resources such as conference rooms, hoteling space and teleconferencing facilities.

About five years ago, according to CEO John Anderson, the company began selling its system as a way to allocate “hoteling” / "hot desking" space inside companies where mobile workers might need a desk just for one day. Then PeopleCube engineers realized that they could link the hot-desk scheduler into office buildings’ environmental management systems, so that lighting, heating, or cooling could be adjusted to comfortable levels on floors where the hoteling space was filling up and turned down to save energy on floors with lots of empty cubicles.

Now PeopleCube has taken this one step further and partnered with a U.K. consultancy called Building Sustainability Ltd. to add a 'carbon dashboard' to the scheduler, so that facilities managers can see exactly how much carbon dioxide is not being emitted into the atmosphere thanks to their scheduling efforts.

This is an example of how resource management technologies that companies pursue primarily to save money can also contribute to efforts to arrest the development of global climate change.

By adopting a 'hoteling' / 'hot-desking' work style is also a boost for the corporate PR agenda of companies, as they acquire a "green sheen" by reducing the amount of real estate they have to heat or cool, which reduces their carbon footprint.

For more information on this, and further discussion on the difficulties of benchmarking your baseline emissions, which is key to this software, click here.

Remote Work and Your Health

It’s rapidly becoming apparent to the masses that remote work can be good for the environment (less driving, less office space, etc.); however, there are some aspects of remote work that can be hazardous to your health.

This post is inspired by a section on bags & briefcases in this month’s Women’s Health magazine. In between extolling the virtues of different bags and briefcasses, the magazine plopped in an interesting fact: doctors recommend that you carry no more than 10 to 15% of your body weight.

The average woman, according to the magazine, already carries 6.5 pounds of essential items (wallet, phone, makeup, keys, lotion, iPod, etc.). For the remote working woman, the tally begins to add up quickly. In addition to the 6.5 pounds of essentials, she also may carry:

• Laptop (6-10 lbs)
• Laptop support (mouse, power, flash drives, etc)
• Other chargers (phone, iPod, etc.)
• Paper/work materials

Having a job where I travel and sometimes work from home, I invested in an ergonomic backpack to help shoulder the weight. This was great…except that I would cram easily 40 lbs of stuff into it…that would mean I need to weigh between 266 and 400 lbs to carry this load (for the record, I do not).

The average American woman weighs 140 lbs (source: http://www.inch-aweigh.com/dietstats.htm) - meaning that the maximum she should carry is 14 to 21 lbs. I’ve remedied my personal situation by purchasing a smaller, lighter backpack, and when my laptop lease is up, I’m going to lobby for a lighter version.

Just something to think about as we transition more toward mobile workforces.

Could I Get You Something To Drink?

While reading my favorite bike rag there was an advertisement for a cycling event that perplexes me, the Redlands Cycling Classic, http://www.redlandsclassic.com/. It is a road / mountain / kids / track /time trial cycling race / event. One cool thing is that often there are not enough commercial hotels to go around, so the teams stay at host family houses to lessen the demand on local hotels. Hmmm [Could be another blog, yes?]

Anyway getting back to the point, the last page of the add was for a small brewing company that I like, Sierra Nevada. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they take their impact on the food cycle very seriously. They create their electrical power from a fuel cell, they recycle their industrial waste, recover heat from their kettles and CO2 from their fermentation process, not to mention that their waste is used as feed for live stock. Check them out at http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html.

If nothing else, their Pale Ale is delicious and they are a relatively small business. So enjoy one the next time you are out.

Biking to Work - Safely!

Have you ever thought about biking to work? If you're like me, you really want to, but fear the road! I'd love to slip in an extra workout (goodness knows I need it after the holidays) and my gym is right next to the office. Even still, I'm concerned about sharing the road with those crazy D.C. diplomats (immunity causes strange behavior), tired cab drivers and people like... well, like me, who are always in a rush.

My brother recommended Bikely yesterday, a site for bike commuters to share "safe, green routes" with each other. I love it! I found a slightly longer but significantly safer commute to work on two wheels. The Bikely site also gives you elevation changes - extremely helpful for planning for varying energy levels along the way.

Growth without Growth

Companies everywhere are asking how they can grow their organization (add people) without increasing their space. Sometimes the reason is minimizing carbon footprint. More often, it's about saving money and mitigating risk. But what does this entail exactly?

1. Doing more with less. That means less space per person. It means making sacrifies and prioritizing what's really important. First to go are things like file or conference rooms, then comes the common strategy of packing people in like sardines aka "dense pack." Finally, the alternative work options are investigated. Can we get away with accommodating only 60% of our staff at any one time? What about telework or work at home policies?
2. Looking at how we really work. In all of the workplace surveys I've done, 100% of the time, people assume they are in the office significantly more than they acutally are. Where are they? They're working alright, but on the move! They're checking email at home, blackberrying while walking the dog, making calls on the road, you name it. Our offices have lovely pictures of our children, but they are vacant a good portion of the time, which is why companies are frustrated with building and managing empty buildings.
3. Trying new things. So you're trying to save space, but this means giving up your office and a permanent address!! Not an easy change - after all, we're creatures of habit and work is our home away from home. But perhaps it's time to think about "the office" as just another place to work. Some companies are designing their offices as large scale living rooms - you plop at a desk or comfy chair - whatever makes you and your team more productive.
4. Managing to different goals. One of my first bosses out of graduate school had a mantra he still professes today... "must be present to win." He believes very strongly that he must see all of his employees to know they are working, and showing up everyday ensures advancement in his organization. But companies that think differently about what they are managing (not bodies, but products or projects) are able to make the leap to alternative work, and to better utilized workplaces that focus on what is needed to get the job done. Of course training and mentorship comes in to play, but is it needed in the same place and every day?
5. Embracing green thinking. What's great about all of this recent investment in alternative work is that it goes hand in hand with green thinking. Often companies that build space for less people (adopting alternative work) are also considering the green benefits of less travel to the office (reduced carbon emissions) and the need to have productive space while you're there (natural light access, good air quality).

The Virtual Interview

CNN found a story I wrote on GreenPrint last week and decided to interview me, as a user of this product, for a green story they were putting together. For those of you who get interviewed by news organizations every day, you might not be as impressed as I was... this is one highly-functional virtual organization!

Here's how it worked. I got a call from a producer in Atlanta putting the story together. She then sent a local camera crew and reporter from their DC bureau to my office where they asked some of her questions, and a few of their own. The camera crew probably had instructions from the producer as well, but I noticed they captured several impromptu shots. It took one hour exactly.

I'm not sure how they interviewed the head of GreenPrint, but I wouldn't be surprised if a local crew in Portland did this.

Six days later (yesterday) the story aired. Miles O'Brien did the voice over for the story (by the way I never met him, which is a bummer because I really wanted to ask him what it's like to be a space correspondent!)

So how many people worked on this story? I'm guessing with the producer, camera staff, reporters, editors and the like, maybe 8 to 12 total. Very few of these people saw each other (I'm sure some of them have never met) and they pulled together this story without a hitch. If a high-pressure, high-stakes organization like CNN can pull off a project like this virtually in six days, we can certainly learn something from them about remote work.

There was a purpose, a deadline, clear lines of accountability, a deliverable and NO TRAVEL! Now that's a good green story.

The (Really) Mobile Office

The Office of Mobile Design (OMD) has come up with a facinating take on the mobile office called the I-mobile. It looks to be an RV with hinged walls that turn into the ultimate flexible office. The perfect vehicle for the "mobile entrepreneur."

I'm assuming this RV runs on biofuels or maybe those those "wings" are solar panels ;). In any case, it does test the idea of what our office is supposed to look like and how cities might be formed if not tied to a traditional infrastruture. What if every structure was "untethered" or off the grid? We could adjust our location instantly and react to market forces in a totally different way. Not enough business in San Diego? No problem...we're off to San Jose! Or how about Iowa where biofuel costs are low? Or New Mexico where solar energy is easiest to capture? Glaciers are melting and New Orleans is under water again? Try the Midwest.

Huh. I wonder.

Master Builder? And Owner? And Developer?

Those of you who have read Paul Hawkin have probably already heard about this (from A Road Map for Natural Capitalism). Interface carpet has really turned their traditional service on it's head.

"Under its Evergreen Lease, Interface no longer sells carpets but rather leases a floor covering service for a monthly fee, accepting responsibility for keeping the carpet fresh and clean. Monthly inspections detect and replace worn carpet tiles. Since at most 20% of an area typically shows at least 80% of the wear, replacing only the worn parts reduces the consumption of carpeting material by about 80%. It also minimizes the disruption that customers experience - worn tiles are seldom found under furniture. Finally, for the customer, leasing carpets can provide a tax advantage by turning a capital expenditure into tax-deductible expense. The results: the customer gets cheaper and better services that cost the supplier far less to produce."

This got me thinking about buildings. What if, as architects, we stopped selling a building and started selling "healthy places to work?" What if architects financed their buildings and partnered with biologists, engineers, water and energy specialists, contractors and building maintenance organizations to create the healthiest workplaces possible?

And what would our clients look like? They are the new mobile workforce. They come to one of our many strategically located LEED Super-Platinum offices in the city to meet their team or to work in a place with a "buzz" as needed... and to use the fabulous amenities we build (pool tables, cafes, you name it). For our mobile clients, they've already leveraged technology to communicate effectively. All they care about is finding a space that suits the group's functional need or preference when they need to get together. They will go to the place that minimizes their commute, is close to a client or adjacent to public transportation.

So how do they pay for space? What if they didn't commit to leasing just one space, but their lease covers using any number of spaces that meet their general specifications. They reserve space online ahead of time. Online reservation systems have come a long way since we first tried using them with management consulting firms.

So we accommodate a highly agile workforce in a healthy environment where and when they need it. Utlization is 100% if we plan it right.

Why Milton Isn't Green

I work in a design firm and spend a large portion of my time convincing people to change. Remember Milton from Office Space who couldn't let go of his red Swingline stapler (needless to say his office)? Imagine an entire organization of people, very happy in their current work arragements, being asked to not only move out of their office, but to share an office with someone else or to "telecommute." Their reaction varies from reluctant compliance to outright anger. What's even harder than moving into a new space is the change in behavior that is required to make it work.

As my husband reminds me, people are 99% chimp. Our DNA is just not made to change our minds (or behavior) overnight.

I don't know about you, but most of my projects involve some degree of change management. This involves finding champions in the organization and developing a strong rationale for change that appeals to individuals... otherwise known as WIIFM or "what's in it for me?"

Asking folks to go green, i.e. to print less, recyle more, work at home, use new technology and communicate differently... it just won't happen without a lot of encouragement and the most important measurement, appealing to the WIIFM. How will being green not only help the enviornment, but how will it help me do my job? Cost me or my business unit less money? Cause me less anxiety on a daily basis? The good news is that saving enviornmental resources can easily be tied to saving personal and financial resources. How so?

• Working from home or using video conferencing means less time on the road and more time with family and friends.
• Recycling (or precycling) means buying less paper and fewer styrofoam cups.
• More natural light means we all look more beautiful (skin tones are much more flattering in the sun, don't let those lighting salesmen tell you differently) plus we can just see better.
• Better air quality means less trips to the doctor... the list goes on.

Remember, we all need a little urging to resist our Milton-esque tendencies.

Green Collar Worker

I was intrigued by a comment on the The Green Talent War a few days ago. The phrase "green collar jobs" has been bantered about by local and national politicians for the last year. What does it mean? I've heard a couple of definitions:

1. Green collar jobs are effectively local jobs, focused on keeping dollars spent within smaller regional communities to boost local growth and minimize the environmental impact
2. Green collar jobs are tied to renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors

According to Tom Paine, "Green jobs are jobs in the booming clean and green economy. The LOHAS Journal ("Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability") estimates green enterprise as a $229 billion market sector. CleanEdge.org reports clean/green technology as the third largest venture capital investment category in 2006."

From IT Week out of the UK: "As much as a quarter of the US workforce could have a green job by 2030 if a new report released this week by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is to be believed. The report from energy economist Roger Bezdek predicts that with government incentives and investment in R&D, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries could be worth $4.5tr by 2030, creating 40 million jobs across engineering, manufacturing, construction, accounting and management."

Check out this short video from CNBC.

What does all this mean for those of us designing and managing buildings for the Green Collar Workforce of the future? How will their changing business model change their workplace?

A solar company will operate differently, hire different skill sets and probably attract a very different kind of worker than an oil company of today. Will the "local" and "green" emphasis of these new companies also alter attitudes towards travel, commuting, using technology and work-life balance? If the core mission of a renewable energy company is about using energy more efficiently and managing resources at a whole new level, will we spend our time designing new buildings, or rather, using our existing buildings more wisely? Could the "new shiny headquarters" be a thing of the past?

Greening by Example

Where does the corporate facility role in enabling green behaviors begin and end?
I have been thinking about the numerous requests and suggestions that many facility planners and managers receive to enhance recycling, landscaping and other 'green' facility management practices. Most are usually delighted to observe heightened employee desire for eco-friendly workplace features and are eager to take on new challenges to meet the demand. It seems ironic that when roles are reversed, and facility teams are challenging employees to develop 'green' work habits, the subsequent reactions range from subversive disregard to hostile rejection.

This is not a 'rant,' but an observation that facility management professionals are now faced with learning a new discipline - many are quickly becoming leaders in demonstrating the paperless office and showcasing the benefits of conducting paperless meetings. Why? 'Learning and greening by example' is a potent way to influence the business units we serve. It is no longer adequate to simply identify a business need in the workplace and then supply and support the service - we have to 'drink our own champagne' or 'eat our own dogfood,' depending on the way you want to look at it!

Many corporations are probably comparatively similar in the proportion of employees who have had the technical resources to digitize their office and conduct paperless meetings for years. Often, these are technologies that are hardly ever used.

What does it take to compel usage of these tools? Active use and demonstration - we have to be the first to pave the way. It seems odd to expect real estate professionals to take the lead in a 'technology' category, but here are some ideas:

• When sharing documents, send links to shared drives or intranet location vs. document attachments in email to reinforce a 'think before you print' culture. (Information security teams also encourage this practice.)
• Schedule use of projectors and groupware when conducting meetings with powerpoint presentations to eliminate the need for paper copies.
• When using groupware, go out of your way to demonstrate electronic document markup techniques if possible.
• After taking meeting notes on paper, scan to your email and file electronically. Then recycle the paper.
• Go out of your way to drop recyclables in the appropriate container - it is slightly inconvenient to haul empty water bottles and diet coke cans, but others will notice and follow your lead.
• Capitalize on opportunities to showcase how to use videoconference capability to eliminate business travel or to enhance team collaboration.
• Offer incentives to reward behavior, like a prize drawing for attending training on digital work practices.
• Enhance email auto signatures with 'green' slogans or links to articles that enhance awareness. Some slogan examples:

P Think before you print. 10 fewer pages/week/employee = 3619 trees saved.

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

q This message is printed on 99.9% recycled electrons.

Please contribute any ideas that you have!