HR Professional - February/March 2008 - (Page 30)

COVER STORY ratcheted up significantly. More and more companies seem to be asking some version of the question, ‘What’s our green strategy?’ They don’t always know what that HOW GREEN ARE YOU? 1.0 Surveys around the world universally proclaim employee desire for a sustainable workplace—which means the will to change is there. Going green starts with fundamental thinking and revision. Begin by focusing on the immediate environment and its daily operation. • Appoint an enthusiastic person to be in charge, someone who inspires rather than imposes. Don’t turn this into an exercise in tyranny. Make it important, but avoid pettiness. No one wants to answer to the green police • Encourage employees to individualize their contributions—walk or cycle to work, share rides. Reward their efforts by relaxing dress codes—it’s hard to walk in heels • Introduce creative and flexible work arrangements—job sharing and telecommuting • Recycle and buy recycled products • Use natural cleaning products • Turn off computers at night • Use energy-efficient light bulbs • Limit air travel • Operate electronically as much as possible • Monitor office temperatures to avoid extremes • Deal with only local suppliers • Provide fitness equipment /programs on-site or subsidize employee gym memberships means, but they know they need to have one. That’s a good start. Hopefully, meaningful action will follow. “But amid all this activity, we don’t actually know whether business as a whole is getting greener— that is, having less of a negative impact on our natural environment by more efficiently and effectively utilizing resources and eliminating wastes of all kinds. There are not yet any national metrics for green business.” Andrew Winston, former director of the Corporate Environmental Strategy Project at Yale and author of the best-selling book Green to Gold, which chronicles both success and failure when companies attempt to go green, agrees that it’s difficult to gauge just how green we are. “On the one hand, the focus on greening is unprecedented a nd profou nd— bu si ne s s e s i n all industries are facing pressu re from the n atu ra l world (like climate change and water shortages), coupled with tough questions from a range of stakeholders —i nclud i ng their ow n customers—like never before. But in terms of how far we are on the road to sustainability, there’s a long way to go. It’s an oversimplification, but North American companies were lagging behind their European counterparts (and many Asian as well) but things are shifting fast. Two of the world’s biggest companies, Wal-Mart and GE, are moving rapidly in this arena, and they’re serious about it.” Leading the way General Electric launched its $12 billion Ecomagination (a line of green products) in 2005 and Wal- Mart, aiming to become the biggest consumer of green power in Canada (and earning kudos from environmental icon David Suzuki in the process), has put forth a number of initiatives including selling only concentrated laundry detergent in an attempt to conserve water and minimize the use of packaging materials such as plastic and cardboard. Dell, DuPont, IBM, News Corporation, Citigroup and Philips have also announced environmentally conscious initiatives designed to reduce their carbon footprints worldwide. “The need for greening isn’t a ‘nice to have,’ it’s a ‘must have’ due to very real environmental pressures and rising stakeholder demands,” says Watson. “Companies are realizing that they must compete on th is rather than ‘wait and see what happens.’ North American companies are rising fast and have all the power, scale and innovation to do it correctly. Many companies here are leaders, from longstanding sustainability advocates like 3M and DuPont, to technology companies like Sun, HP and Cisco, to the giant environmental newcomers like GE and Wal-Mart. A number of smaller companies have been leaders for a long time, like Patagonia and Herman Miller. Finally, new startups, like Neu, an outdoor apparel retailer, are making sustainability core to their businesses.” Although specific government programs exist to provide green incentives for businesses, they represent a very small part of the story according to Winston, who has consulted with companies including Reuters, Coca-Cola, Bank of America and Ikea. TO COMPENSATE FOR CORPORATE AIR TRAVEL. CARBON FOOTPRINT: TOTAL AMOUNT OF C0 2 CARBON NEUTRAL: A TOTAL CARBON RELEASE OF ZERO, BROUGHT ABOUT BY BALANCING 30 F e b r u a r y / M a r c h 2 0 0 8 HR P R OF E S S I ON A L

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - February/March 2008

HR Professional - February/March 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Boards By the Numbers Did You Know Sustainability Education News: E-Recycling Communications News: HR Study FYI Ethics World Watch News: Legislation Legal Compensation Focus Strategy The Colour of Money Sustainable Skills From Brown to Green HR Trends: From Winners to Also-Rans Branding Human Capital HR 101 Interview with David Suzuki Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - February/March 2008

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