Sustainability in the Workplace: What Employees Think and What Employers Should Do
Wednesday, 9th November 2022
The evidence is conclusive. Employees want the companies and organisations they work for to do more about energy efficiency and sustainability in the workplace.
That’s according to a new study from Infogrid. While businesses are shaken by myriad challenges—the new hybrid workplace, the health impacts of the pandemic, and soaring energy prices and inflation—our research showed that concerns remain about their carbon footprint, energy use, and sustainability.
What’s more, if employers won’t do anything about it, employees say they’ll act themselves.
So how should employers respond? Here, we share some of the crucial insights from the research—to help you implement measures to support the health of your business, your staff, and the planet.
What do employees think about sustainability in the workplace?
Our research collected the perspectives of 4,000 hybrid working employees, both from the UK and the US. It found that, while some businesses are starting to act on measures to improve workplace sustainability, most employees think they’re still not doing enough.
Here’s what we learnt:
Firstly, there’s a real sense of concern. Nearly two thirds of all employees (55% in the UK and 71% in the US) said they were concerned about workplace sustainability. Questions of energy efficiency and cost are top of the agenda.
But they’re not convinced that businesses are doing what they should. 45% of employees said that their businesses are not doing enough to improve.
What’s perhaps just as striking is that one in five aren’t even aware of what their employers are doing at all. It suggests there’s an important issue of transparency at stake here: employees want to know what’s being done about sustainability, and businesses should share that information to win their trust. More on that later.
Employees would take action themselves to improve energy efficiency and sustainability. Many said that they would raise the issue to managers, urge their colleagues to do more, offer their own time to help, and do small things like turning lights off when they’re not being used.
Crucial for employers, though, is that issues surrounding workplace sustainability performance would encourage employees to change jobs. In our 2022 Hybrid Workplace: Return to Work report, we found that over 40% of employees would consider moving to—and staying at—a different company if they committed to net zero.
However, employees don’t always see sustainability as the responsibility of the employer. Rather, most survey participants actually think that building owners, landlords, and people that manage the building are more responsible for energy efficiency and sustainability than employers. However, with increasing energy prices affecting everybody, employees have a role to play.
So, are employees right? What are employers actually doing on sustainability?
While the employee perspective matters in itself, are they right that businesses aren’t doing enough? With changing expectations and regulations, the truth is that, for most employers, there’s definitely room for improvement—and not just for the benefit of employees.
What’s clear is that businesses think they’re doing enough. According to an IBM survey of 1,900 global executives at the end of 2021, nine out of 10 said that their business would be working on sustainability in the months ahead.
However, scepticism among employees remains. One damning study from 2022 found that workers think their employers are “more talk than action” on workplace sustainability. The research from Giki found that less than a quarter of UK employees believe their employers are doing a good job on reducing its impact on the environment.
In fact, UK government data suggests that businesses can still save up to 25% on their bills through energy efficiency. Companies can make the savings through a mix of energy saving measures and behavioural change—including by optimising heating, lighting, and other systems and equipment.
In short, there’s plenty more to be done—particularly in light of new government energy efficiency regulations and incentives. In the UK, commercial rented buildings will need to improve their Energy Performance Certificate to Band B by 2028, meaning that building managers will need to act fast to improve their performance. Meanwhile, in the US, the Inflation Reduction Act has introduced tax incentives for improved energy efficiency.
This means that great energy efficiency is coming, whether employers are on board or not.
What more can employers do?
Employees are clear about what they want from their employers—and, ultimately, they’ve got the right idea. But what can employers do to keep up with these demands?
Here are six strategies for what you should be doing to improve your energy efficiency and satisfy your employees.
Invest in digital tools and technology to improve efficiency. It’s something favoured by almost a third of employees (28%), to help you monitor and optimise energy efficiencies in the workplace.
One laundry company, Oxwash, used energy monitoring tools to reduce the environmental impact of their processes. As a result, they saved two kilos of carbon for every laundry cycle.
Utilise data on energy efficiency to ensure you’re doing enough. A quarter of employees support the monitoring of building energy data, while nearly one in five said they would support the collection of any anonymous data if it improved energy efficiency in the building.
Be transparent about your sustainability efforts. Studies suggest that employees want their employers to engage and support them on the issue of energy efficiency. But many employees want to know what their company is doing.
For example, our 2022 Hybrid Workplace: Return to Work report found that over half employees want to see data on building health and efficiency themselves. If your employees don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll fail to win their trust.
Commit clearly to climate goals. In the name of transparency, a clear commitment to sustainability or net zero goals will give the right impression to employees—as long as you put steps in place to meet them. Our research shows that it will help you attract talent too.
Use smart systems for HVAC. In a typical commercial building, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems account for nearly 40% of total energy use—with a lot of that going to waste.
Investing in HVAC systems that are only used when needed will help you reduce that energy intensity—and mitigate your carbon footprint.
Find out more: Building Intelligence for HVAC: Benefits and Examples
Optimise your FM processes. Ensuring that your facility management processes are working in the most efficient way possible will help you meet your sustainability goals. Fixing leaks, monitoring maintenance and equipment performance, and optimising security processes can all help you reduce your carbon footprint and waste.
For example, preventative maintenance can reduce the number of trips engineers need to make to your site, creating substantial reductions in CO₂ emissions. The same goes for improved security systems. One UK local council cut carbon emissions by 99% with an automated security system.
Make sustainability a priority with Infogrid
At Infogrid, we can help you satisfy your employees’ desire for sustainability in the workplace. Working with the world’s smartest IoT sensor technology, Infogrid can help you monitor your buildings’ systems in real time, to reduce energy use and cut your carbon footprint.
In today’s context of soaring energy prices and greater investor emphasis on ESG, sustainability is not just an employee demand. Rather, it makes good business sense too.
Let us help you cut emissions, for the sake of your staff, the environment, and your bottom line. Book a demo with us to find out how.