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.

Green-Collar Jobs

I get lots of emails from lots of listservs…sometimes to the point that it is so overwhelming that I simply file them away. Today I had a bit of time, so I opened USGBC-NCR’s newsletter and actually read through it. I was glad I did because I found a link the following article and subsequent report: Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities: Building Pathways Out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy

The movement for sustainability throughout the US is wonderful in that it is helping save the world, but it is also a great economic driver – particularly in terms of job creation and innovation opportunities.

Green jobs are available throughout the economy, but this document focuses on jobs in energy industries offers guidance on how cities can link residents to green-collar jobs.

Facts and Figures from the Green Workplace Survey

If you get Google Alerts on the green workplace you will have probably already seen this story, but in case you haven't:

Today the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) released the findings of their Green Workplace Survey. The survey found that 50 percent of surveyed (US) organizations have a formal or informal environmental responsibility policy, but 43 percent have no such policy and no plans to implement one within the next 12 months.

Key findings of the survey were:

• Companies that implement environmental responsibility programs cite improved employee morale (44 percent), increased employee loyalty (16 percent) and a stronger public image for the company (42 percent) as top benefits. They also report increased consumer/customer confidence/choice (20 percent) and a positive financial bottom line (19 percent) as a result of the organization's environmental responsible program.


• The most common barrier to creating an environmental program is implementation cost (85 percent) followed by maintenance cost (74 percent). Other barriers include lack of management support (43 percent), lack of employee support (25 percent), and concern for workplace inefficiency (20 percent).


• Nearly three out of four employees from companies without environmental programs say they want their employers to "go green." Seventy-three (73) percent of surveyed employees in companies without an environmental responsibility policy thought it was very or somewhat important that their organization develop an environmental responsibility policy.


• The majority of "green" programs are created by a senior management team (32 percent) and roughly the same number (31 percent) are also responsible for implementation.


• The HR professionals surveyed rank the top five environmentally-responsible practices to be: 1) encouraging employees to work more environmentally friendly (83 percent); 2) offering a recycling program for office products (83 percent); 3) donating and discounting used office furniture and supplies to employees or local charity (73 percent); 4) using energy efficient lighting systems and equipment such as ENERGY STAR(R) equipment and occupancy sensors (66 percent); and 5) installing automatic shutoff for equipment (63 percent).


• Employees offer a slightly different view and rank the five most important environmentally-responsible practices as follows: 1) donating and discounting used office furniture and supplies to employees or local charity (53 percent); 2) promoting walking, biking, taking public transit (49 percent); 3) using energy efficient lighting systems and equipment (43 percent); 4) offering a recycling programs for office products (39 percent); and 5) encouraging employees to work more environmentally friendly (36 percent).


• Both human resource professionals and employees state that their primary, or number one, motivation for participating in environmentally responsible programs is to make a contribution to society.

Note to the statisticians among us: the Green Workplace Survey's 429 HR professional respondents represent publicly- and privately-owned companies, nonprofits, and the government sector. The 504 employee sample was randomly selected from U.S. telephone population.

You can purchase a full copy of this survey at http://www.shrm.org/surveys/.

One in six British workers unfulfilled at work

Global Vision International (GVI), the ethical volunteering organisation, has found that in the UK unmarried and single women aged between 34 and 44 are most likely to feel unfulfilled in the workplace. GVI also found that one in six British workers feel unfulfilled at work, with 43 per cent hankering to help those less fortunate than themselves; whilst 17 per cent go one step further and cite saving the planet as the only way to attain fulfillment.

Despite the 34 to 44 age group being most likely to feel unfulfilled at work GVI found that this age group has seen the biggest rise in volunteers year on year.

It is really encouraging that people are developing a green conscience and wanting to volunteer to make a difference. Hopefully this research will go another step towards British workplaces making it easier for employees to volunteer, which should have the knock-on effect of increasing employee retention.