Sustainable Business

SB September 2013

Sustainable Business magazine - essential reading for sustainability professionals

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Viewpoint Employee Engagement Employee engagement: we ask the experts In the run up to this year's Sustainability Leaders Awards, SB has delved into the minds of some of sustainability's leading lights, and asks one of the most prominent questions in the business community; how do you engage employees in sustainability? TUI Travel group environment manager James Whittingham Keep it simple. Make it engaging. The tone has to be right, and it has to be sufficiently engaging to create a call to action but not by nagging, preaching or being too dictatorial. People have to want to do it because they feel they can play a part, albeit a small part, in the organisation's overall aspirations to be a more environmentally responsible business. But there is a fine line between dictating and being engaging. Carillion chief sustainability officer Tom Robinson Engagement works best when communication with employees is accessible and relevant (e.g. whether it is spoken or written it needs to be jargon-free and be something they can identify with). Better still if you can find the "feel-good factor" by making it fun or benefit something that the employee(s) care about. Anglo-American head of sustainable development & energy Samantha Hoe-Richardson Encourage people to tell their own stories. On World Environment Day we asked our employees to complete the phrase "The environment matters to me because..." and illustrate it with a photo. The response was overwhelming and inspiring. Reasons ranged from the need to protect native species, enjoying the natural world through leisure activities and preserving it for their families to continue to enjoy into the future.

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