Via an article in Sustainability Magazine, a whitepaper by London studio PLAY shows 77% of workers want employers to be transparent about their environmental impact and hardly any feel they are.
With the climate emergency firmly in the public psyche, the study found that employees are skeptical about their employer’s sustainability initiatives. Overall, only 14% of those surveyed believed that companies’ sustainability initiatives were ‘always’ impactful or genuine. This fell to under one in 10 (9%) for general employees, compared with over a third (34%) of business leaders, suggesting business leaders may be overestimating the impact and value of their existing environmental initiatives for employees.
This takes us to the need for companies to turn to a valid globally-recognized 3rd party certification, like this one, that meets all company needs. If company leaders continue to simply say the company is sustainable, without following a recognized global standard, the employees (and customers) will continue to reject the effort as Greenwashing.
Marcus Thornley, CEO and founder of PLAY, says “our research shows the need for business leaders to take sustainability initiatives seriously. There’s a strong desire from employees to get involved in their company’s sustainability projects, but these initiatives currently lack transparency and credibility. Businesses need to support employees with valuable and measurable sustainability goals and approaches; if not they will continue to see these projects delivering little success.