Employee engagement is a well-established goal that every business should pursue in their goal of long-term retention of productive and motivated employees. This term has recently evolved into sustainable employee engagement, emphasizing employee involvement in a company’s journey toward sustainability.
To illustrate how essential employee engagement activities in the field of sustainability are, we collected some insights from around the world:
- 85% of employees do not feel engaged in their workplace
- 83% of employees think their company is not doing enough to become more sustainable and fight climate change
- Some studies have confirmed that Millennials and Gen Z would accept earning less money to work in companies that prioritize sustainability
These data points to a significant trend for 2023: it will be crucial for companies to find activities that are both engaging for employees and geared toward a sustainable growth path. So let us deep-dive into a few activities you can adopt to increase sustainable employee engagement in your company!
4 ideas for sustainable employee engagement
Plant a company forest by adopting trees remotely
Imagine an activity that combines the concepts of team building, environmental sustainability, and green marketing. Have you ever heard of Treedom? It is a web platform that allows individuals and companies to plant trees remotely and follow their growth through updates and photos, all aimed at helping the local farming community. A most original idea to introduce in your company: adopt a tree for each employee and create your own remote company forest.
Encourage green-commuting
To increase sustainable employee engagement in your company, consider introducing green commuting incentives. Essentially it implies offering incentives to people who travel to work using sustainable means of transportation such as buses, bicycles, scooters, carpooling, etc. An additional benefit could be a company parking area exclusive to commuters who travel by bike or scooter, allowing them to park their vehicles safely.
Organize healthy competition
Another activity that can increase sustainability employee engagement is to organize healthy competition among employees. Why not set up a contest to see who can walk or cycle the most miles in one month or to discover who is most talented at preparing the most sustainable lunches? Similar challenges promote a healthy lifestyle and sustainable practices on top of a greater sense of community and friendly competition among employees. Reward the winners with prizes, such as a free gym membership or a healthy cooking class. Moreover, you can feed your social media channels by sharing photos of the participants and their progress throughout the competition, creating excitement around the event.
Create an eco-friendly office
To create an eco-friendly office, design and organize the workspace minimizing the environmental impact. To achieve this, implement various measures such as reducing energy and water consumption, promoting waste reduction and recycling, using sustainable materials, and providing a healthy work environment. Some examples of eco-friendly office practices include using LED lighting, installing energy-efficient appliances and equipment, using recycled paper and ink, reducing paper usage through digitalization, opting for reusable water bottles and coffee mugs, and providing green spaces such as indoor plants to improve air quality.
Conclusion
Having employees who feel involved in your company’s sustainability journey can positively affect the growth of your business.
As we have just seen, there are many activities you can introduce to achieve this goal. And AWorld can help you: through a combination of data, gamification, and behavioral science, our sustainable app can help you activate your employees, through engagement programs, to make them a key part of your sustainability transition!
