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So you’ve got a Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) policy – great – but merely having a policy in place is no longer enough. Sustainability in companies is directly linked to employee engagement, branding and a truly embedded sustainable culture.
But how can businesses maintain their day-to-day operations, balance their finances, manage their staff, and everything else – as well as ensure sustainability is at the heart of their business? That’s an easy one: by developing a sustainable culture.
A company’s culture is generally the set of beliefs, values and attitudes held by the people (from top to bottom) that make up that company. Culture can arise by itself, and be shaped by the company’s actions and policies. A company’s culture guides the decision-making of the staff by setting expected behaviours and expectations about how things should be done, what is valued and what is not tolerated.
Understanding this, when we mix culture and sustainability, the result is a company whose staff group have shared values and beliefs in social fairness, economic efficiency and having positive environmental impacts.
Sounds great right? So how do we create such a culture?
Senior leaders must ‘Walk the Talk’
If your senior team doesn’t live and breathe the culture – then why would anyone else?
As role models and those whose actions are often scrutinised closely, senior leaders play a crucial role in demonstrating the importance of sustainability to the company.
However, it’s not just what these senior leaders say – it’s what they do that matters. So if they have a plant-based diet, use public transport, own an electric car, bike to work, take part in community work etc… they are setting an example and sending a strong signal to all about what they and in turn the company values.
In this day and age where many people work remotely this can be unseen, so encourage your staff to highlight their actions that represent their sustainable ways.
Embed sustainability in decision-making processes
Sustainability is culturally ingrained when it enters into every major decision. Whenever there is a business case, sustainability is mentioned, whenever a meeting is planned sustainability is thought of, and whenever any supplier is brought on board their sustainable impact is judged; the list goes on. From business strategies to operations and benefits, sustainability should be a talking point.
A good way to get there is to have a senior leader representing sustainability. So similar to when the Brand Manager chimes in about the use of the logo, the Sustainability Manager will wade in with sustainability input.
Define your Sustainability targets and longer-term goals
Ok, so we all want to reach Net Zero – but what does this actually look like for your business?
Sharing your sustainability goals, targets, objectives and actions will get employees on board with making the necessary changes.
In addition, embedding these targets into annual staff appraisals will ensure everyone is on the same page and delivering to the same goals.
Create habits where staff live and breathe values naturally
Culture develops when the same behavior, action or process is validated time and time again – a habit. It becomes the norm that new staff are introduced to and the default for the wider staff group.
So to represent a true culture – your values need to be lived and breathed – and that’s where habits can help.
In sustainability terms, habits could be something as simple as switching PCs off at the end of the night or something as big as allowing staff time off or to work outside when the weather is nice to get more vitamin D,
It’s not about the actual habit though. It’s about the ‘why’ behind the habit.
You need to reinforce the ‘why’ at all times. For example, to a new employee, we don’t tell them “You have to turn off your PC at the end of the night” instead we tell them “We all turn our PCs off at the end of the night to minimise our carbon footprint.”
Creating a new habit at first can feel odd and forced but if the habit truly reflects your company’s values, it will feel natural to those that share these values. 20 years ago it felt forced for many households to recycle, with many often forgetting what could be recycled, but now we naturally throw cardboard, plastic, glass, food and more into the correct bins, without thinking about it.
Introduce some sustainable symbols
Symbols a lot like habits can help strengthen values and culture but don’t require any actions.
Examples of symbols which could help promote a sustainable culture:
· The type of food/drinks regularly consumed and available options.
· Pet-friendly spaces.
· Spaces filled with plants (aka office jungle)
Develop sustainability knowledge and competence
It’s important that staff understand what sustainability is so they can easier integrate it into their business decisions. Sometimes simple training can lead to innovative thinking. Educate your team that Climate change isn’t just a green thing – it’s about profit and loss, problem and opportunity, business and morality, futureproofing and job security.
Put together the best team to help create a sustainable culture
All employees from senior leaders to front-facing and back-of-house staff must be personally engaged in day-to-day sustainability efforts.
However, as a starting point, every company has staff who already care deeply about sustainability – Find them! Then recognise them by creating a sustainability group, representative, or champion and task them with creating a culture focused on sustainability.
Communicate your progress internally and externally
People naturally want to succeed, so measuring and communicating your progress on sustainability measures will spur your teams to commit to your goals and remind them of your sustainability agenda.
Act on Employee Initiatives
If your team has come up with an innovative way to be more sustainable, leaders should seriously consider the initiative and not be scared to invest funding into the idea.
Companies get better ideas when they bubble up from the bottom and staff aren’t scared to fail. Once staff see the impact their idea has had, they will truly start believing that they have a role to play in delivering your culture.
Encourage competition among employees
An effective way for a company to create values is to build healthy competition. Set your staff some sustainability challenges:
· Couch to 5k
· Lights off hour
· Walk not drive
· One Coffee a Day
Next steps
If your business is at the first steps of creating a new culture? Then our HR team can help.
We invest 100% of our profits into Business Support activities designed to boost the economy. Therefore working with our expert Business Advisers the HR team will identify if there is funding available for you to access, if not they will provide you with a competitive quote to complete the project.
Get in touch with the team at HR@stepscotland.co.uk for more information.
