A significant number of employees at small businesses are undermining their company’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly, research undertaken by energy company E.ON has revealed.
The poll revealed almost 40% of workers admit to not adapting their behaviour in order to improve their energy efficiency at work, despite being aware of their employers’ efforts to go green.
Unsurprisingly, almost 60% of employees said they could be encouraged to change their behaviour through financial incentives, almost twice the proportion whose conduct could be altered by mandatory or legal changes.
The survey also revealed the need for increased awareness and education around energy efficiency and climate change. According to the poll, 82% of small business owners believe energy efficiency is the joint responsibility of the company and employees, but, despite this only 14% currently invest in the training of staff to achieve this.
Speaking at the Institute of Directors Dame Elllen MacArthur said that inciting cultural change and team work should be at the heart of corporate green schemes. “A business must be sustainable in every way and keeping and motivating employees is a key element of that.”
“Employers and employees must work together as a team to share the dream of the future of the business so that everyone is an integral part of it,” she continued.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
