The CSR team consists of 8 committee members and 13 CSR champions and is made up of consultants, managers and senior managers from around the business. Each member of the team has volunteered and devotes a little time and energy to making the CSR projects successful. It is testament to the enthusiasm of employees at Badenoch & Clark that each part of the business is represented as well as all of our 15 offices across the UK.

The CSR team is of course only the face of Badenoch & Clark’s CSR projects. The team would be powerless without the support and energy of everyone at Badenoch & Clark in the contribution of their energy, support and finances for the projects and initiatives that the team organizes.

Our CSR focus is split into three areas: People, Charities and Environment.

People:

Our goals are to increase employee engagement using our varied volunteering projects and to work in partnership with organisations to improve the community in which we live.

 Charities:

We donate to charities close to our employees’ hearts both locally and nationwide usually through fun activities and sponsorship.

 Environment:

We actively promote a reduce – reuse – recycle ethos and aim for a large scale reduction in our carbon footprint and in the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

We aim to be recognised as being a leader in our field for our corporate social responsibility programme.

“One day to make a difference”

In order to support our CSR initiatives, we encourage staff to take one day out of the office per year to “make a difference” This “one day to make a difference” can be used by attending the many community based initiatives we have throughout the year covering our three focus areas.

Recent achievements:

The team has achieved a lot throughout the last year. Some of these initiatives are ongoing and others were new for 2008:

• Developed regional partnerships with Manchester Settlement, Burley Lodge Centre in Leeds and St Basils in Birmingham to provide CV writing and career coaching surgeries.
• Sponsorship of the Employment Café in Brixton providing mentoring, CV and interview support for job seekers.
• Transformed part of our London Head office into a fun zone for both Comic Relief and Sport Relief charities raising over £2000 each year
• Sponsorship of Green Routes at Finsbury Park and helping with ground clearing and planting in a communal garden.
• Planting 131 trees in woodlands to offset our carbon usage on paper production through our very own ‘Treebate’ initiative.
• Using 100% recycled office papers with our promotional print being 50% recycled and 50% from FSC sources.
• Continuing our support for the dragon boat racing raising funds for Habitat for Humanity
• We have increased the amount of waste we recycle by over 300% throughout the year.

Mentoring at Badenoch & Clark

We haven’t done what we’ve done without support and guidance.
We have forged a successful relationship with Heart of the City (www.theheartofthecity.com ) This free service offers tons of advice and guidance on all things CSR. They found us a terrific mentor in the shape of HSBC who spent time with us on developing our CSR approach and strategies. HSBC gave us ideas to help raise our profile in the company and they continue to offer help and advice when required. Following a busy and successful period for our CSR team we have now been asked to mentor another local company, Oriel Securities. We initially met with Oriel to discuss what they wanted to achieve for CSR and share ideas on how to gain interest and momentum. We continue to actively share ideas in developing their own CSR team and goals, each gaining from the experience and ideas generated by both businesses. It’s all good, and it’s all FREE.

Quick tips and hints to make a difference

Many of the things we do here are quick and easy to introduce, and cost nothing. Here is a sample of quick wins you too might be able to influence your company in carrying out at very little or no cost:

• Weekly flower raffle – every Friday, we raffle off the week’s flower display from our reception to staff. This helps us support our chosen charities by an additional £300+ per annum – at no cost to the company!
• Toner recycling – Get your suppliers to collect empty and obsolete toner cartridges for recycling. Saves resources, energy and carbon emissions with donations made to several charities on our behalf every year.
• Where we can’t get our drinking water mains fed, our bottled water supplier donates 40p per bottle to Christian Aid helping bring much needed water supplies to the third world. Get your suppliers involved and be surprised at some of the possibilities!
• “Bog press” – We use the backs of toilet doors in cubicles to promote and communicate CSR issues and initiatives – it’s a captive audience which gets lots of great feedback by staff, visitors and customers.
• We donate excess office furniture and equipment no longer needed to local charities, schools and small businesses helping us promote our reduce, reuse, recycle ethos.
• Through our eye-catching quarterly posters in our kitchen areas we draw attention to energy usage, recycling schemes, carbon reduction ideas and other environmental messages, so whilst getting your drinks you can learn how to save our planet.
• We positively discriminate towards recycled and recyclable products; these no longer have to cost more. Get your stationery buyer to talk to your office supplier now.
• We have banished all individual bins from desks in our head office and encourage staff to get some exercise and use the various recycling and rubbish bins located around the floors.

Feedback from you

If you feel passionate about what you can do or are doing, or would like to know more about our CSR activities, we would love to hear from you.

Wayne Visser, Founder and CEO of CSR International writes extensively on the role of business in society. His view is that the underlying concept of CSR won’t be changed by the economic downturn, but that its practise – and some of its philanthropic edges – may change.

“Those organisations which have embedded CSR into their business strategies and operational practises won’t be changing the way they view CSR,” he told Connections. “Chances are, they’ll step up their activity. However, we may well see the end of CSR as corporate philanthropy. It’s an outdated model anyway, but still exists in many organisations.”

Asked where British business sits on the ‘philanthropy – embedded’ spectrum, Wayne was supportive of most endeavours. “Britain is one of the more advanced countries in terms of CSR – certainly when it comes to looking at larger organisations. Most have moved on down the road from philanthropy, and the last 10 years has seen significant codification and standardisation of ‘responsibility’.

“Organisations are now measured far more on their efforts in sustainability, energy use and the like and the new governance structures emerging in the wake of WorldCom and Enron have changed the face of corporate responsibility from this idea of giving to good causes to being a valuable and responsible member of the business community. Just as importantly, organisations are waking up to the economic value corporate responsibility can deliver.

“However, the changes to date have been incremental, and the progress remains slow. It’s a maturation process, and most organisations are now still at the stage of being consciously aware of their ‘responsibility’ efforts. Moving forward, the emphasis in CSR is around partnerships, with technologies such as web 2.0 enabling many more stakeholders to be involved in creating and driving sustainable businesses.

“I believe this will change the traditional shareholder value model of capitalism. Perhaps the downturn will prompt a more radical reappraisal of businesses driven solely by the profit motive in an unsustainable way.

“We are seeing change, and that can be helped both by peer pressure and by policy. In terms of peer pressure, indices such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index enable corporations to rate themselves against peers in their industries. It’s not likely to lead to truly breakthrough changes in the way they do business, but can speed the pace of incremental change – and perhaps create tipping points.

“Governments too can advance the CSR agenda and President Obama’s election should lead to stronger policies, especially around climate change, that will offer far stronger incentives for western businesses to change their practises. For me, the key to the CSR agenda is not thinking in terms of ‘social’ responsibility, but ‘sustainable’ responsibility. We have to focus on creating corporate sustainability that will be delivered by responsible practice throughout the organisation.”

Bucking expectations

While many might have expected CSR to be in for a rough ride as corporate budgets tightened, the City of London’s Corporate Responsibility Manager, Carolyn Housman, who leads the Corporation’s City Action volunteering programme has noted quite the opposite since the credit crunch bit last September.

“We’ve seen a 500 per cent increase in new client activity, and 130 per cent increase in volunteering activity. CSR is so embedded in the City, that it’s here to stay, and businesses have definitely stepped up to the plate to cover gaps and shortfalls that have inevitably surfaced as some firms have gone out of business.

“I believe the economic downturn has really brought into focus how the City needs to be more active in supporting its communities. It has been gratifying to see those firms acquiring others both maintaining their own CSR initiatives and taking on those of the acquired, and we’ve also noted significantly increased CSR activity from law firms with many taking on the less PR-friendly initiatives.

“At individual and firm level, people are taking their responsibility seriously. Maybe there’s a bit of ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ at the moment, and I doubt we’ll see the level of growth sustained through 2009. But CSR is now so ingrained in the DNA of corporate culture that it’s now far-removed from the bolt-on of 10-15 years ago when it was easy to run off the funding if times got tough.”

As Carolyn continued, one of the keys for CSR’s sustainability is that the business case is now easier to sell. “CSR professionals have evolved and are now just as conscious of the economic benefits of CSR as of the traditional pillars of social and environmental responsibility. The best CSR professionals understand the economic drivers of business and can shape policies and activities throughout the supply chain to cut costs and increase profits without damaging reputation or responsibility. So at times like this, CSR teams are really demonstrating their value. “

Looking forward, Carolyn anticipated that change will happen in CSR. “Areas like sponsorship are the low-hanging fruit and are closer to corporate philanthropy. When existing agreements come to an end, I suspect some arts and sports organisations may find it harder to replace them. Equally, I expect CSR teams to slim down over the next couple of years. But that won’t be to their detriment as I also expect them to become more senior and closer to the Board.”

It would seem that far from pulling the plug on CSR, the economic downturn is putting ‘responsibility’ at the forefront of the business agenda.

This article first appeared in Connections magazine, Winter 2009

Ask a colleague that question, and chances are you’d get a thoughtful expression followed by a reflective “Hmmm…”

Quite a few may say that they are “ill-qualified” to respond to such a question. Some would reply with a “no” in an expression of shock. Yet others, after having a bit of time to reflect, come back with a “maybe”.

My quick probe into the opinions of working executives in various sectors revealed that no one, apart from those who worked in religious-based organisations, actually said “yes”.

The disparate views are no surprise. In 2005-2006, Dr Jonathan Smith, Lorraine Flower and a small research team interviewed leaders in organisations with the intention of understanding how the leaders viewed their role and the place, if any, of the spiritual dimension of their leadership.

The nature of respondents’ responses to the question of ‘spirituality’ and ‘spiritual leadership’ showed wide disparate views. Some respondents were puzzled, while others were very clear about what these terms meant to them. The majority of respondents though, generally reacted negatively to those terms. 1

Similar to the pilot research, the individuals I spoke to often made links to religion, remarking on a subtle distinction between ‘spirituality’ and ‘religion’. For many, they seem to mean the same thing.

Perhaps the wide variance in responses is due to how people define ‘spirituality’?

It’s another dimension

Mobolaji Owoade, Training Advisor in a Compliance Solutions company believes that “there is no coherent definition for what spirituality really means. It means different things to different people, and people do not even agree on it! I think it could be divisive rather than an advantage because of diverse views.”

A Marketing Manager in Commerce agreed, but then equated spirituality at work with having to propagate belief-induced behaviours that will probably not go down well, and promote discord instead of collective vision.

Those who completely axed spirituality from the work place either are treading along the lines of caution, or simply had defined ‘spirituality’ along the lines of ‘being religious’. Some completely disproved of the “fluffy and mystical” word.

“It’s a touchy-feely area that does not quite belong to the corporate world. I don’t think it has a place in my company. Our brand is not really ‘spiritual’, strong as it is. We work for sales. The company wants us to generate sales, not brotherhood,” remarked a Business Manager in Retail.

“We don’t really talk much about spirituality where I work. To be honest, I don’t really know how and where it would fit in. I think people should be free at work to express spiritual beliefs, but I am not sure how that would tangibly work,” said Simon Gosney from the NHS.

On the other hand, May Lowe, an IT professional in Financial Services prefers to see it as personal growth, if one chooses, and that could potentially be a contribution to the organisation.

“A lot of people associate spirituality with making a difference in other lives, forming meaningful friendships and generally bringing compassion back into work. But it is not an easy task. Anyone embarking on this journey would be thoroughly tested, may become frustrated and disillusioned, and could give up. At the end of the day, it’s how you define success,” she said, implying that practicing spirituality at work is a personal goal.

The common theme is ‘contribution’

Semantics and negative connotation aside, there appear to be a few common themes. So instead of getting caught up in the word spirituality itself, why not find the bigger picture.

Respondents of the Smith & Flower pilot research highlighted a list of qualities related to spirituality: humility, empathy, resilience, trust, inspiration, passion, energy, connected, positive, authentic, courage, mindful of common aspects to humanity, working together, compassion, caring, tolerant, calmness in the face of difficulty, ethical, and raised consciousness, amongst others.

These words can be found in organisational values in one form or another. Organisational values form the basis for development of a unique culture that resonates across the organisation. It becomes, if you may, the spirit or the ‘religion’ of the organisation, which comes into existence through each individual. In this context, does spirituality not exist, however artificial it may seem to certain individuals?

We all face challenges at work at one time or another. Isn’t learning to understand different behaviours and motivation, and then having to cope with polarities, part of a practice for spiritual growth?

Why can’t demanding work environments prompt a spiritual experience?

True, the business needs to go on making money, non-profits and charities still need to have a surplus, and spiritual experiences are quite personal and differ from person to person… but can we actually say that spirituality has no place at work?

Personally, I believe that spirituality can have a place wherever one wants/needs it to be, because really, it exists within each individual, who then collectively make up a community. I wouldn’t even want to introduce the word ‘transcendence’, but hopefully, point made!

1. Smith & Flower, 2006 – Leadership: The Spiritual Dimension Research Project www.spiritualityatwork.org

Adele Lim can be reached via email, adeleaili@gmail.com .

You are already familiar with the idea of sorting. Really. You wouldn’t store your underwear with your cutlery, or your fresh and frozen foods together, or put your shoes in with your cleaning products. Well, probably not.

And recycling works in very much the same way: you sort your rubbish into three or four different categories and then pass them on to be used again. It couldn’t be simpler. Local authorities up and down the land – and all over the world – are doing their best to encourage us to recycle with kerbside collections, recycling centres and amenity sites where you can dispose of literally, anything.

It’s a great way to declutter your life.

In some countries, households are recycling as much as 60% of their waste so it is clearly possible.

If you’re not convinced try recycling for just one week. You’ll be amazed that a veritable mountain of newspapers, magazines, food packaging, vegetable peelings, garden cuttings, drinks cans, glass and plastic bottles can pile up and there’ll be virtually nothing left in your usual bin-bag at the end of the week.

The great thing about recycling is that the effects are immediate. Old CDs become drinks mats, wind chimes, scarecrows, funky wall art even…
Your old mobile phone can be reconditioned and donated to a charity. Plastic bottles can be made into garden furniture and even fleeces. So many good uses for our old junk.

The less we send to landfill and incineration the better. Recent – and startling – statistics claim that London will run out of landfill sites in just 7 years. And recycling an aluminium drinks can saves 95% of the energy used in making a new one.

Recycling is free. It’s a great way to declutter your life. It just a bit of getting used to. It’s about creating new or better habits.

Reduce

Try to only buy the right quantity of what you need, you’re not being tight, just eco savvy. Supermarkets are the worst with their BOGOF and 3 for 2 offers. It encourages us to think we’re getting a bargain but how often has the food gone out of date before you’ve eaten it? Oh, and did you compost it or recycle it?

• Choose products with less packaging and buy second hand where you can – the delights of Ebay.
• Buy fresh produce or grow your own.
• Reduce paper and ink wastage by printing only what you need, condensing text, reducing print quality and investing in a printer that will print both sides.
• Limit use of cling film and foil for wrapping and storing food – use resealable containers where possible.
• Get some rechargeable batteries – although more expensive they will save you money in the long run.
• Register with the Mailing Preference Service to stop getting junk mail.

Reuse

We’ve become a “throw away” society, with so many products easy to come by and relatively cheap. There’s disposable almost anything, from cameras to nappies, but of course, when we chuck it, it mostly ends up in landfill.

• Next time you go to throw away a jam jar, for example, even if it’s going to be recycled, just think to yourself: could that jar be used again for something else? Does someone you know make their own jam? Or do you need a jar to keep nails, paperclips, buttons, pens
• Lots and lots of items can be used again. Envelopes, jiffy bags, plastic food pots with lids, ice cream tubs, plastic bags, drinks bottles, the list is endless.
• And will you unwrap your birthday and Christmas presents carefully this year and consider reusing the paper? I used to tease my mother for doing this, but maybe the war generation had the right idea about “waste not, want not”.
• Find your creative streak and make your own cards and gift tags from used birthday and Christmas cards.

Recycle

As a nation, we are getting better at recycling. In 2006 14% of our rubbish was recycled. Now it is 33%.
But for recycling to work properly, people need to buy recycled products or all that recycling is a waste of time.
Recycling is all very well and important to do, but wouldn’t it be even better not to throw things away in the first place?

• Glass
  We are pretty good at recycling glass in the UK (we save enough energy each year to launch 10 space shuttle missions!), but we could do better. Only 50-60% of the UK glass waste is recycled at the moment.
  At the moment 14 million glass bottles and jars end up in landfill in the UK every year. Glass bottles and jars are often melted down and made into new bottles. But sometimes the glass isn’t suitable to be made into another bottle so it is crushed down and used as ‘glassphalt’ for road surfaces or the reflective surfaces of road signs.

• Plastic
  When plastic is recycled, it can be made into all sorts of new things, from ‘fleece’ jackets (one jacket can be made from 25 plastic bottles!) to picnic benches and car park bollards.
  As well as reusing plastic bags, invest in non plastic reuseable bags and get into the habit of using them for your shopping. Check out www.onyabags.co.uk Unwanted toys? Donate to charity or look into your local “freecycle” scheme – an internet community of people who trade goods for free – just to keep them out of landfill.
  Learn which plastics you can recycle – most plastic bottles can be recycled, but many other plastics used in the food packaging industry can’t be yet.

• Metal
  From drinks cans, food tins and foil packaging to cars, fridges, cookers, bikes….. most metals can be recycled. Aluminium is one of the easiest and best metals to recycle and it can be recycled over and over again. 20 aluminium cans can be made out of recycled materials with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new can.
  The scrap metal business is an industry in itself, and enjoying a resurgence spurred on by the rapid growth in the emerging markets of China and India.

Perhaps there should be 4 R’s – Repair! Many items are thrown out simply because they have broken and need a simple repair. Find the glue or get out a needle and thread and extend the life of items that can be mended. Sadly these days it can be cheaper and easier to buy some items but if something is broken, before you throw it out, just think whether its life can be extended by repairing it.

Just about a year ago exactly the heavens opened, dumping two month’s rain in just a few hours, leading to the worst flooding in years.

Whether last summer’s floods had anything to do with global warming is far from certain, but as the torrents rained down on that day last July, what did we all do? We went back to our desks and carried on working. The lights were already on, the air conditioning was on, and after a few moments’ distraction, we simply ignored it.

It was then that I realised that, unless some dramatic change of attitude takes place, this is how we are likely to deal with climate change. Business must go on. We all have a job to do and our remit doesn’t involve saving the planet.

While at home we may compost, recycle and insulate our roofs; at work it’s just not our responsibility.

Or is it? If you are an eco-warrior at heart and really want to make a difference, then in many ways the workplace is actually your best chance. Rather than turning off a few lights in your house, at work you can turn off thousands.

And if your bosses have got any sense, they’ll be more than keen to listen your big green ideas. Businesses everywhere are facing up to the reality that they are expected to be green. Even companies that don’t deal directly with the public need to clean up their act if they want to successfully recruit and retain staff – recent research by BT found that more than a third of young professionals valued working for a caring and responsible employer over earning a higher salary.

The list of things you can do is almost limitless – there is a green version of literally everything – but here are a few suggestions of some genuinely effective changes you could attempt to implement at your workplace.

Green machines

Computers and related technologies account for 3-4% of the world’s carbon emissions, according to a recent report by Global Action Plan – that’s more than the much-vilified aviation industry. So changing the type of computers your company uses can make a difference. If your company is purchasing new machines, make sure you check out the ethical and environmental records of the various manufacturers on the Gooshing UK website, a venture run by the Ethical Company Organisation.

Also, choose hardware that uses less toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process. Greenpeace has helpfully drawn up a guide listing the worst offenders.

If you work for a large company, your main environmental culprit is likely to be your data centre, the place where large companies keep their most powerful servers. According to a report by analyst firm BroadGroup, the average British data centre, filled with vast racks of machines that need to be constantly and simultaneously powered and cooled, uses more energy in a year than the entire resident population of the city of Leicester.

So, what’s in your data centre? Find out whether it uses the most energy efficient hardware or has an eco cooling system of some sort. And if it doesn’t, suggest that it makes some changes.

Spread your love of cycling

Cycling is one of the greenest ways to travel to work and there is lots you can do to propagate its many benefits. Firstly, get your company to join Cyclescheme, which is a government-subsidised initiative giving workers the chance to buy a bike tax-free. You can also set up a bike users group (commonly known as Bugs) to spread the word, offer advice to new cyclists, arrange for bike doctors – people who can fix bikes – to regularly visit the workplace, set up a cycling newsletter, campaign for showers at work – whatever is needed.

Group hug

The eco message has a tendency sometimes to come across as a bit worthy and unfortunately this can put many people off being green, particularly at work. Getting involved in an eco-promotion is a more light-hearted and inclusive way to approach being green and can get people doing things they may never otherwise have done. There are lots of initiatives out there to take your pick from, such as National Liftshare Day, National Bike to Work Week, or Earth Day on April 22.

Matters of policy

Once you have got a few worthwhile schemes off the ground, draw up an environmental policy that can be presented to the public, clients and staff that gives clear details of all the initiatives and targets your company has undertaken. Making your environmental aims transparent in this way will enhance customer and business relations and will hopefully help you achieve your targets. Make sure you keep the policy updated with reports on which targets have been met and how effective your green policies have been.

Get accredited

A green accreditation not only makes your company’s green commitment official to the world, it also provides you with a useful framework for improving your firm’s environmental practices. Schemes such as the Green Mark award, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assesment’s (IEMA) Acorn scheme and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), are for those just setting out on the path to eco salvation. For those looking for full enlightenment, the snappily named ISO 14001 is the holy grail – first thought up at the 1992 Rio earth summit, it is an internationally recognised stamp of approval which covers every aspect of how a company is run.

Switch to green electricity

Whatever business you are in, you can switch your electricity supply from carbon fuels to clean energy such as wind or solar power. To do this you don’t have to climb on your roof and install some expensive device. Simply call a green energy provider such as Ecotricity and it will arrange for all those resource-hungry computers to run on renewable energy.

Going green on top

It may sound like a wacky idea, but growing a garden on your office roof is simple to do and has many environmental benefits. A green roof will insulate a building from heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. It will also help absorb pollution in urban areas. Green roofs can also reduce rainwater run-off by at least 50%, which helps prevent flooding. They can also attract wildlife, particularly birds. The type of vegetation you grow on your roof needs to be carefully thought out, of course, and it is probably best to consult experts such as Living Roofs rather than getting out a ladder and some gardening gloves and attempting to do it yourself.

All aboard

With road freight accounting for around 8% of the UK’s carbon emissions, any responsible business should consider finding a more environmentally friendly alternative. According to Network Rail and the rail freight operator EWS, an average freight train can remove 50 HGVs from the road, producing between five and ten times less emissions.

If your deliveries are of a smaller nature, you can still be green. You could invest in a Modec electric van. About the size of a typical “white van”, it produces no emissions when driving and can carry two tonnes up to 100 miles at 50mph on a single charge.

This article first appeared in The Guardian in January 2008

You may be right, but every office can do their bit to make a difference.

The focus for most offices needs to be on energy efficiency and recycling, so, as this is something which is close to our hearts at Badenoch & Clark, we thought we’d share with you what we do.

If you get just one idea and make it happen where you work, you’ll be doing the right thing. And if you’ve got ideas to share with us, we’d love to hear from you.

Here you go…

But at last there seems to be positive change. Whether it is for the altruistic good of the planet, or to reinforce CSR credentials, it seems no business can afford to ignore the importance of being ‘green’.

This is especially the case now that green credentials have become one of the most popular criteria that determine an employee’s perception of their employer. This topic was discussed in some detail in November’s HR magazine which picked up on the results of our recent study which showed that more than half of UK office workers believe their employer does not take environmental issues seriously enough.

According to a Ceridian survey, 14% of UK workers would even go so far as to change jobs for greener benefits. This increases to a third when looking specifically at 16-24 year-olds.
Benefit providers have not been the fastest off the blocks to respond to this, although more worryingly perhaps, is the fact that many employers are not seriously looking into this slowly growing area either.
According to Lisa Fortune, business development director at benefits provider P&MM, eco-friendly perks are still not on everybody’s radar. But she believes their heyday could be around the corner. ‘Reaction so far to some of the green initiatives we have launched has been positive, so I think they will pick up momentum.’

More than half of UK office workers believe their employer does not take environmental issues seriously enough

Their latest initiative – GreenTravel2Work – offers cheap public transport to commuting employees, thus reducing the number of cars on the road and consequently reducing CO2 emissions. Employees pay for a monthly bus pass through their gross wage, as part of a salary-sacrifice scheme. This means that employees save up to 41% on their travel costs while employers save 12.8% on National Insurance contributions. ‘The take-up numbers will far exceed that of any childcare voucher or Cycle2Work scheme because, statistically, more people will travel to work on a bus than will ever get on a bike,’ predicts Fortune. Nottingham City Council has already taken up the scheme, with more than 10% of its employees signing up in the opening few weeks.

Another organisation taking a lead in this growing area is BSkyB. Its Choose the Bigger Picture barrage of benefits are designed to educate staff to becoming more environmentally-aware. It has devised the Carbon Credit Card, where workers can register online and accrue points for all the eco-friendly exercises they perform, such as commuting via public transport instead of using a car. Their website has a personalised reef that reflects the green ‘health’ of the employee. When the reef has a plentiful supply of fish, it shows the employee is eco-aware. Employees with the most points win prizes, such as the chance to become involved in an environmental project. But it doesn’t confine itself to the workplace. Sky offers discounts on environmentally-friendly nappies, hybrid cars, online gifts at an eco-friendly shop, Fairtrade clothing and recycling bins.

Bring on the green agenda

Employee benefits provider Grass Roots supplies Sky with all its green salary-sacrifice benefits. It is seeing a change in the market. ‘Companies are having to have a CSR message about environmental issues. One way for them to do this is to ensure their benefits package has green items in it,’ says Paul Bartlett, business development director at Grass Roots. ‘A year ago companies were only talking about bike schemes. Now, in every meeting they are discussing their green agenda and the employee benefits relating to it.’ And Grass Roots itself is no exception. It is offering its employees incentives to car-share on their way to work. If an employee car-shares for 15 days, they are given a cash allowance. Grass Roots benefits because it lowers the company’s carbon footprint, and employees save on petrol and parking costs.”

But who is really driving this interest – employer or employee? Fortune has noticed that with many of P&MM’s clients, there is an impetus from both sides. ‘There is a genuine desire to offer green benefits. Some firms bring along ethically-aware staff to their meetings and get them involved in the selection process,’ says Fortune. Sky particularly pays heed to its employees. ‘Good ideas are generated from our employee forums,’ says its group head of reward, Dev Raval. ‘They help prompt us and act as a good check on what we do.’

Good ideas are generated from our employee forums

Cynics may wonder just how much of an impact green benefits have on the environment, regardless of whether companies are in it for the long-term or not. ‘We strongly recommend that businesses think about climate change. But cycling and carbon-offsetting are probably not going to be that big in reducing overall emissions,’ says Harry Morrison, senior strategy manager at the Carbon Trust.

The knock-on effect is valuable

While Morrison commends employers that offer green perks, he believes firms should do so in a wider context, ensuring they first concentrate on the bigger issues at hand. These might include schemes to make large carbon- emitting pieces of equipment eco-friendly. But he does believe employee benefits have a part to play. ‘Done correctly, they can have a catalytic affect on what employees do as a whole. If engaged employees take things seriously, it can have a knock-on affect in the workplace and the home.’

Although there are potential minefields when it comes to implementing green benefits, they are finally growing in popularity, and will play an increasingly important role in employment offerings. ‘There is a definite upside for companies positioning themselves as a conscientious organisation in the recruitment market,’ says Morrison. ‘Greener benefits will become more and more common.’ And what is more, the topic of climate change itself is showing no signs of running out of steam. As Bartlett says, ‘Green benefits will be a discussion point as long as global warming is a consideration. And that is one consideration that certainly looks here to stay.’

If your place of work is doing anything exciting in this area, we’d love to hear about it.