Monday, March 8, 2010

The Business Case for Environmental and Sustainability Employee Education

A new study by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) finds that environmental and sustainability (E&S) employee education and engagement initiatives help companies achieve a range of business objectives from attracting and retaining employees to boosting the bottom line.

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The National Environmental Education Foundation is developing a program to help companies use employee education and engagement to align corporate environmental values and day-to-day operations while also improving their bottom line.

Our goal is to help managers at leading companies create a corporate culture in which each employee is committed to doing his or her part to improve the environment. Internal employee education varies widely from company to company, with the responsibility resting in Human Resources, the EHS office, procurement or elsewhere. 

To understand the dynamics better, we began by completing a report, “The Engaged Organization,” highlighting best practices, strategies, process, lessons learned, metrics and organizational culture. “The Engaged Organization” provides survey results and case studies documenting that environmental education is already standard practice at many companies. Environmentally educated employees are improving a business’ bottom line and helping it implement its sustainability goals. Sustainability practices save money and reduce environment impact. By engaging their workforce, companies large and small are making changes to everyday business practices that show tangible, bottom-line results.

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