What do you do if your employees are not engaged in sustainability initiatives?

Initiate engagement by articulating your sustainability vision and objectives to employees. Illustrate the significance of sustainability to stakeholders, emphasizing its relevance to your organization, customers, and society at large. Communicate your sustainability strategy, policies, and targets, aligning them with core values and mission. Utilize clear, concise language devoid of jargon to ensure comprehension and resonance. Maintain consistency, transparency, and frequency in communication, employing diverse channels and formats to reach diverse audiences effectively. By fostering an environment of open dialogue and shared understanding, you catalyze employee involvement and commitment to advancing sustainability initiatives.

Senior leadership (=CEO) is of uttermost importance to accelerate sustainability ambitions. She or he must make a statement about this for ALL employees. The ones who are hindering this work do not have a place in the organization any more.

Communicate the importance: Explain why sustainability matters and how it aligns with the company's values and goals. Provide education and training: Offer workshops, seminars, or online courses to increase awareness and understanding of sustainability issues. Lead by example: Demonstrate your commitment to sustainability through company policies, practices, and initiatives. Encourage participation: Create opportunities for employees to contribute ideas, suggestions, and initiatives related to sustainability. Recognise and reward: Acknowledge and celebrate employees who actively engage in sustainability efforts. Foster a supportive culture: Cultivate an environment where sustainability is valued and integrated into everyday operations.

To engage employees in sustainability initiatives: Educate: Raise awareness through communication. Incentivize: Offer rewards and recognition. Empower: Provide opportunities for involvement. Train: Develop necessary skills. Lead: Set an example through actions. Adapt: Continuously refine strategies based on feedback.

A sustainability plan is crucial for organizations to proceed. Not only does it codify real intent to move towards sustainability, but it should also provide an actionable plan that gets support with company resources.

Informal sustainability committees in an office setting are generally not good. Without a principal supporting the efforts with money and internal power to drive change, the committees often end up spinning their wheels and lead to demoralization. The ‘othering’ of sustainability as an “issue” in architecture is reinforced by ineffective. Committees. It’s better to drive a firm wide initiative that the committee helps to plan. Without a dedicated sustainability person to help with, the committee usually does not have the time or power for real change.

Don't forget to provide real support for your employees to participate in sustainability activities. You can't expect them to do it all on their own time especially when they haven't bought into sustainability concepts yet. Consider providing volunteer time on company overhead, or other incentives to pursue sustainability actions.

Al involucrar a los empleados en los proyectos de sostenibilidad, se promueve un sentido de responsabilidad compartida hacia los objetivos y resultados. Quienes, se sentirán parte activa de la iniciativa aumentando su sentido de pertenencia y su conexión con los valores de la empresa.

As a leader you must have the courage to share the responsibility of all parts of the sustainability work. If you have persons responsible to report to the management, things WILL BE achieved!

Make it easy and start with the basics. Do you have a pet recycling bin, is is next to other waste disposal? Use simple posters. E.g. "Do you really need that many paper towels to dry your hands?"

Crea grupos de trabajo o comités de sostenibilidad dentro de la empresa, donde los empleados interesados puedan colaborar, intercambiar ideas y trabajar en proyectos sostenibles. Invita a expertos en sostenibilidad o líderes de proyectos exitosos a dar charlas y conferencias internas sobre casos de éxito, buenas prácticas y tendencias en sostenibilidad. Pero, una de las partes mas importantes para fidelizar esta educacion de los empleados es, reconocer y premiar a quienes demuestren un compromiso destacado con la materia, ya sea a través de la implementación de iniciativas, la generación de ideas innovadoras o la participación activa en programas de la empresa.

In my business @Husstainability we committed a survey after 6 years and 60 customers later. The result? 1. The most important part of the journey to become more sustainable was education of ALL employees. 2. Second was to conduct an analysis of the environmental and climate impact of the value chain.

Instead of punish lack of engagement, encourage employees that show ambitions and action within sustainability. This works for kids, teenagers – and grown up professional adults ;)

Competitions to show increased engagement in sustainability is a good way of activating employees, and the management group! It also makes this "serious" subject more fun :)

Worth analysing if the initiatives are utopian and/or just pushed down from the top. Never works, just like any other initiative. Sustainability is about changing behaviours, the ways we do little things and the "drop in the ocean" narrative. Helps to 1) Infuse the program into the brand and the values of the company. This needs to be a deeper fabric. 2) Lead by example - Engage in the initiatives yourself (leadership). 3) Do (visual) storytelling around impact e.g. of using plastic cups, paper towels, use of paper, leaving lights - what is this costing us? 4) Create ambassadors - share stories of employees who are doing things differently, make them champions of the program and reward them. Incentives are powerful drivers of behaviour