Chris Riso | November 21, 2013
The Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency just released a new report titled “Driving Behavior Change: Engaging Employees in Environmental Sustainability.” EDF was privileged to serve as an advisor on this report, which presents a broad overview of practices companies are using to involve employees in efforts to improve environmental performance.
The report includes a useful 5-step framework for establishing or reinvigorating an engagement program, rooted in successful examples from leading companies such as Wells Fargo and Caesars Entertainment. The five steps include:
- Assessing and prioritizing engagement methods and employee actions
- Creating an implementation roadmap
- Establishing metrics, goal setting and benchmarking
- Implementation and tracking
- Ongoing review and analysis of implementation plans and goals
Influencing the behavior of people to improve organizational energy management is a topic of growing interest for EDF Climate Corps network organizations. In recent years, we’ve witnessed how employee engagement programs have transitioned from a rare anomaly to a widely recognized feature of successful energy management and environmental programs. Each summer more organizations tap the talents of EDF fellows to understand and develop engagement strategies and use this tool to help achieve sustainability goals.
The work can take many forms. This summer at DirecTV, Dan Chow helped create guidelines around the environmental impacts at company owned and operated call centers, where he provided training to green teams. The projects Chow worked on represent significant steps forward for DirecTV in regards to its environmental, economic and cultural goals, and the sustainability guidelines will touch more than 5,500 DirecTV employees.
The research from Johnson Controls is a welcome addition to the literature on the topic of employee engagement, and will provide helpful guidance to the many organizations interested in using this tool to improve environmental performance. If your organization is looking to drive behavior change through employee engagement, let us know. We would be happy to explore ways an EDF Climate Corps fellow can help make it happen. We are accepting applications now for EDF Climate Corps 2014. Interested organizations can sign up here.
About EDF Climate Corps
EDF Climate Corps (edfclimatecorps.org) taps the talents of tomorrow’s leaders to save energy, money and the environment by placing specially-trained EDF fellows in companies, cities and universities as dedicated energy problem solvers. Working with hundreds of leading organizations, EDF Climate Corps has uncovered nearly $1.3 billion in energy savings. For more information, visit edfclimatecorps.org. Read our blog at edfclimatecorps.org/blog. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/edfbiz and on Facebook at facebook.com/EDFClimateCorps.