10 reasons why employee engagement can benefit your business

The effects of a changing climate on the UK economy are well known, as presented in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment 2022 report. Whatever your business, it’s likely that your suppliers and customers will be affected by it in some way.

Engaging employees in addressing the climate emergency helps them to embed those concerns at every stage of a business transaction. Whether it’s choosing a supplier, negotiating a deal, or communicating with a customer – slight changes can make a significant difference.

Over time this mindset becomes part of your company values. This helps to create more sustainable outputs, which can improve both your business and the wider environment in which it operates.

Kate Raworth’s pioneering 2017 book ‘Doughnut Economics’ draws a direct link between the economy and our environment. She says that business has a direct impact on the world around us, and that being aware of that relationship and then acting upon it, leads to better business outcomes.

The Embedded Economy. Credit: Kate Raworth and Marcia Mihotich. CC-BY-SA 4.0. Citation: Raworth, K. (2017), Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. London: Penguin Random House.

Encouraging employees to think of your businesses as behaving like nature can translate to tangible savings. As Kate Raworth reflects, nature creates no waste and operates efficiently. Encouraging your employees to operate like nature could be highly profitable for your business.

By questioning every business choice and adapting to the needs of the environment, your employees can actively reduce your corporate energy bills, transport costs and carbon taxes.

Of course, this needs to make sense from a business perspective. But working in tandem with nature and running a successful business aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re the same because all business exists within the wider context of the enivornment and the human systems it supports.

A key aim of most businesses is negotiating good deals and reducing waste. Crucially, though, it’s about applying a long-term view.

For example, upgrading your insulation or installing a heat pump might come with costs upfront but will save you money in the long run.

It’s the same principle when engaging employees with energy efficiency. By encouraging employees to have a long-term mindset around energy savings, you can expect to see a direct impact on capital expenditure down the line.

Having a sustainable business strategy requires buy-in from every member of staff, from the top to the bottom.

The good news is you can bring staff on board with your energy efficiency strategy by giving them a sense of ownership. Promote your strategy internally and invite your employees to give feedback. You can then use this information to iterate and improve your plan.

If employees feel empowered by their knowledge and ability to shape the world around them, they’re more likely to make changes which support your business’s goals.

By fostering a sense of innovation, you can build a reputation as a modern and progressive organisation that people want to be a part of.

You can create a real sense of pride among staff by engaging them with your energy saving interventions. That’s essentially the goal – not to see these interventions as prescriptive, but rather something people want to engage in. It’s about the company identity and how those values fit with your employees’ sense of doing the right thing.

Staff with high levels of morale have better mental and physical health, take fewer sick days and experience fewer stress-related issues. You can‘t put a price on health, and you certainly can’t put one on happiness and wellbeing.

Engaging employees with energy efficiency can play a big part in boosting their morale. By highlighting the positive impact they can make, you can help your employees to find a sense of purpose and meaning in their work.

Workplaces with high levels of employee engagement act as magnets, keeping top talent and reducing the need for frequent, costly recruitments.

By engaging colleagues on a topic like the climate emergency, you’ll speak to their values and give them a way to channel those values into action. Through this, you can expect an increase in your retention rates.

You’ll be aware of the concept of greenwashing and your customers are too. Increasingly, businesses and their customers are recognising the importance of being genuine when it comes to their sustainability commitments.

This starts with how your employees embed these ideas into their work and, by extension, their personal lives. If your employees act in a way that is compatible with your business’s sustainability goals, this automatically feeds into the company’s image.

So, if you’re looking to be seen as a sustainable business outside of your boardroom, begin by engaging your staff.

Engaged employees act as ambassadors, increasing customer loyalty and retention.

Giving people a reason to behave in a way that aligns with their values is a big part of this. In the context of the climate emergency, promoting sustainable behaviours is already important and will become increasingly so in the future.

That said, you can’t have brand ambassadors and loyalty if there isn’t a vision and tangible actions to get behind.

If you think about a company that you feel loyal to, it’s likely they have something that speaks to your values. How well made are their products? What’s their approach to sustainability? All these aspects will be embedded at an employee level. To achieve the same effect, it’s important to consider how to apply these ideas within your own organisation.

In the competitive talent marketplace, organisations engaged with addressing the climate emergency attract the brightest minds who are drawn to purpose-driven careers.

Increasingly, a company’s sustainability credentials are a key consideration for applicants, just as they consider aspects such as diversity and inclusion, personal development opportunities and benefits structures.

Prioritising employee engagement around energy efficiency speaks volumes about your wider business culture. People want to work for organisations with values that match their own and will base their career choices on this.

Our wide range of services provide strategic consultancy. We train energy champions, helping your employees increase energy efficiency at work and home. Check out some of our employee engagement resources to help you communicate with your employees on the topic of sustainable behaviours at home and at work.

If you’re looking for further support to engage your employees on your net zero journey, please contact our team to discover how we can help you.

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