Don't Take Workforce for Granted

29 Mar 2011 – Alicia Ayars

Since its release in 2006, companies have continually cited a screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” as a credible mechanism for promoting the importance of sustainability to employees. Unfortunately, companies often stop there. Don’t get me wrong, due to an inappropriate outburst during a training day, my colleagues are aware of my not-so-secret crush on a certain Nobel-Prize-winning ex-VP, but I do not believe that a sustainability engagement strategy resting solely upon his broad shoulders stands a chance. But if a video isn’t enough, then what elements comprise a successful employee engagement program? And why should companies divert resources away from commercial projects in order to enhance employee engagement?

Business Case

The need for enhanced employee engagement is becoming more urgent due to dramatic shifts in employee demographics. By 2016, over half the global workforce will be comprised of Generation Y (Gen Y) employees, many of whom come with more demands than their older colleagues, including a greater desire for work to be fulfilling and align with personal values. While this shift in demographics may seem daunting, a recent National Environmental Education Foundation report highlighted that employee retention may be as simple as offering a supporting internal environment and sustainability education. Given the high cost of replacing employees (between 70% and 200% of the average annual salary), methods to attract talent and minimize turnover will have to change in line with these shifts in demand. Businesses that fail to recognise this fundamental fact will miss one of the greatest opportunities in the 21st century to mobilize and empower their workforce.

Where to Start

In the past, engagement tended to focus purely on awareness, training programs and community service, with limited connections to businesses’ core operations. As such, engagement was just another cost borne by the company, with limited tangible returns in value. In 2006, SustainAbility identified a shift towards engagement aligned with business, societal and individual values, which could have a greater impact on the effectiveness of engagement programs. Unfortunately, this shift has been rather slow in coming.

The first step in harnessing this effectiveness is to develop and communicate a convincing sustainability policy, one that shows the company’s honest intent and provides an indication of how it will achieve future sustainability successes. In addition, employees will benefit from efforts to outline hard targets and goals along a clear timeline. In this case, more is most definitely better.
Once a policy is in place, it is essential to communicate with and engage employees in enacting it, which requires solid understanding of the beliefs and values that shape their responses to situations. In a recent interview with SustainAbility, John Marshall Roberts, CEO of Worldview Learning explains that once these are understood, it becomes easier to communicate with an audience on a level they understand (and this understanding may help further shape and improve the policy itself).

Implementation

While framing engagement programs is crucial to setting the right tone, companies also need to think strategically about implementation. SustainAbility has long maintained that crowd-sourcing is a powerful engagement tool. Companies are increasingly leveraging the power of their connections with the public to create new products (think of GE) and solve problems (think of Starbucks), but are they using the power of their own employees to create and own programs? Unsurprisingly, Google is tapping into its vast employee network to identify new start-ups for potential investment. While different from crowdsourcing to develop engagement, Google clearly understands the value of its employee knowledge base. This approach ultimately capitalizes on the full range of a company’s creative capacity and helps develop a sense of internal ownership and momentum, and increases the likelihood that the initiative will succeed.

It is also essential to leverage existing organizational structures to embed and amplify your sustainability message internally. Clearly articulating the role of different functions in implementing the strategy and enlisting key functional leaders as advocates will both help integrate sustainability into existing ways of working. And aligning compensation, performance development and other incentive structures with sustainability goals will both demonstrate commitment and drive greater awareness and action across the employee base.
Finally, one of the newest and most powerful tools in the company’s arsenal is social media. It’s no secret that Gen Y workers rely heavily on social media to engage with companies and their own peers. A recent Pew Centre study, Social Media and Young Adults, found that 73% of teens and 72% of young adults (ages 18-29) regularly use social networking sites. These statistics overwhelmingly demonstrate that to Gen Y social media is absolutely essential as a form of communication, and companies that fail to master it will inevitably fail to engage.

Get Going

Many of the companies SustainAbility works with through its Engaging Stakeholders program are already pursuing innovative engagement strategies, providing useful examples for those starting to think seriously about employee engagement. The DSM Next initiative is a powerful example of young employees engaging with their peers to promote the sustainability agenda throughout the organisation. Intel has implemented a suite of engagement-focused programs including its “Planet Blue” social media platform and Sustainability in Action program (through which employees can submit project ideas for funding) to share Intel’s expertise in environmental sustainability.

While these initiatives differ greatly, DSM and Intel have each tailored programs to align with their company cultures. In both cases, engagement focuses on this sense of internal ownership and momentum, providing the kind of value that is increasingly being demanded in the workplace. In a world where competition for talent is ruthless, companies not pursuing these strategies are missing a tremendous opportunity to unlock greater performance.