Doing it sustainably

Working sustainably

Advises on ways of practicing and promoting sustainable development in the workplace and through all jobs.
Introduces the concepts of corporate social responsibility and competencies for sustainability.
Provides information and links to resources for forming a Social Enterprise.

Why do all jobs need people to work more sustainably?

• All careers and jobs now recognise certain features in the modern workplace such as fairness, safety, welfare, quality and efficiency.
• Looking at fairness, safety and welfare of the earth as well as of people.
• Looking after the resources that are used, produced and wasted by an employer, and helping to make this use of resources more efficient. Efficiency helps make and save money.

These features are all characteristics of a sustainable workplace in an organisation that is both environmentally and socially responsible.

Case Study - There’s more than one way to crack a nut

Andrew really wanted to do something environmental but unfortunately he did not have the right qualifications. A degree in politics was not what the local authority had in mind when he applied for the job of ranger at a local country park. Not to be deterred he bought an old van and set up his own recycling round, collecting people’s bottles and paper for £1.00 a week and taking them to the local recycling centre. That was doing quite well until all in the same week someone smashed into his vehicle and the Council launched its kerbside collection for recycling paper, plastics and cans.

With financial hardship at the doorstep, he became a postman, “just until the right environmental job comes along”. That was five years ago. Andrew is still with the Post Office, but is now manager of a direct sales team and has no plans to go for that environmental job, at least for the time being.

“I really enjoy the job.” says Andrew, “I know it is not what I set out to do, but I think I am probably doing as much for the environment as a ranger. I started greening my job straight away; I did my postal round by bike. When I got the office job, I put a box by the photocopier to collect all the wasted copies and turned them into memo pads. We were soon disappearing under a sea of memo pads, so we started using the paper to print draft and file copies of letters and documents. From there it has escalated. I am seen as a bit of a ‘greenie’ in our office and asked for all kinds of information and advice. Who knows, I could end up as the environmental supremo for the Post Office. I would like that.”

So what is the purpose of telling you Andrew’s story? Only to show that if you are committed to the environment, you will be able to find ways of making your job environmental.

All Work Can be Sustainable
The way staff approach any job can help the planet. As environmental awareness increases, more and more people want to work “ in the environment”. Although the opportunities are greater than ever, competition is still fierce for jobs. However there are lots of opportunities for equally valuable work. All jobs affect the environment. You can bring values of resource efficiency to any workplace. Many employers in the public, private and voluntary sectors are looking at their environmental performance and aiming to be more resource efficient.
 

How can all staff practice and promote resource efficiency?

All staff can:

• Produce less waste and use less water
• Re-use resources and reduce packaging
• Share facilities and resources
• Control energy more efficiently and power with renewables
• Travel more efficiently and use more public transport
• Purchase more green goods and services
• Purchase locally produced goods
• Make others aware and put pressure on local leaders
• Work towards a management standard

Staff in all workplaces can practice and promote some of these actions. There are many careers and job profiles that require particular understanding, skills and values for sustainable development albeit without obvious environmental roles. Here are just a few:-
 

Education

All teachers can use environmental topics and issues in their teaching.
Schools are being encouraged to develop environmental education policies and appoint a co-ordinator. At further or higher education institutions students will normally be studying for a vocational or academic qualification that provide opportunities to include an environmental dimension. Many institutions also arrange recreational courses for adults. Anyone can offer run a course by writing to the extra-mural department or the local authority. Those responsible for running universities are coming under increasing pressure from all directions to improve their environmental performance so there is plenty of scope to take the lead in ‘greening’ the institution.

Finance

Increasingly financial institutions are recognising that it is unsustainable as well as morally unacceptable to treat the environment as a limitless free resource. Managing money and promoting sustainable development are not necessarily contradictory terms. Some banks guarantee not to invest your money in activities that harm people or the environment. Insurance companies are becoming very interested in the environment because damage caused by unforeseen (by them) environmental changes. Therefore, a good understanding of the environment, and skills for thinking holistically in the long-term are essential for the banking and insurance sector.

Industry

Some industry has acquired a poor environmental reputation. Some companies justly deserve their poor reputation, but many are well aware of their environmental responsibilities and are making major efforts to improve their environmental performance. They need more committed environmentalists to turn environmental policy statements into better ways of thinking and working - from the highest paid board member to the lowliest of assistants.

Politics

Political careers are rarely found in careers literature, yet it is one of the few jobs where you can really act upon what you believe. National politicians are actually paid to change the world for the better, or at least that is what they say they are doing.

For a more complete description of the sectors and types of employers that need environmentally responsible employees go to the section - What are employers like ?

This PDF lists web-links which provide information and advice on making a workplace more sustainable.

Working Sustainably

Competencies

StudentForce for Sustainability has been developing a set of competencies which describe the crucial higher thinking and functioning skills that allow an individual to work in a way that is considerate of long-term environmental, social and economic stability. This is in keeping with the goals set out in the government’s strategy for sustainable development which aims to make sure that “sustainability literacy becomes a core competency for professional graduates”. Several organisations mirror this intention in their efforts to bring responsible learning and skills to the forefront of peoples minds in the workplace:-

Forum for the Future is recognised as one of the leading sustainable development charity in the UK. FFF have produced a number of documents aimed at promoting the integration of sustainability literacy into the curriculum of higher education institutions.
CSR Academy aims to promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) learning through the first dedicated CSR Competency Framework. CSRA’s Competency Framework aims to help companies integrate CSR in their organisation.
The Center for Ecoliteracy is a public foundation that supports a grantmaking program for educational organisations and school communities in the US. CFE aims to cultivate competencies of head, heart, hands, and spirit to enable young people to develop as citizens capable of designing and maintaining sustainable societies.

Competencies for sustainability may aid The Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE), Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in their attempts to raise awareness of the employability skills developed during the study of specific degree subjects by creating a set of Student Employability Profiles (SEPs). SEPs are intended to be of use to (a) academics, in order to help them articulate employability skills to prospective students and (b) employers, in order to help them recruit from a wider range of academic backgrounds.
The profiles are created by mapping 28 competencies to Benchmark Statements for a particular subject. StudentForce’s interpretation of these competencies could allow the incorporation of sustainability into broad range of subject centres.

This PDF lists the Competencies for sustainability that StudentForce have developed.

Competencies

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an expression used to describe a company’s obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all of its stakeholders (both locally and globally) whilst ensuring that its business operations are sustainable. The introduction of a CSR policy by a company is often accompanied by CSR reporting which declares not only financial results but also the social and environmental impact of the business. Comprehensive CSR reports are readily available from many of the FTSE 100 companies and can be used to gauge a company’s performance with respect to sustainability.
However, critics complain that very few are making any real effort to engage people in what they are trying to achieve. Nevertheless, there are some notable exceptions.

CSR survey has published a league-table in conjunction with the Financial Times which ranks FTSE 100 companies according to the effectiveness of their CSR communications on the web. CSRS identifies a clear gap between the 'Top 5' and the rest. BT was ranked in first place, followed by BP and Rio Tinto.
Business in the Environment inspires companies to work towards environmentally sustainable development as a strategic, mainstream business issue. BIEs index provides a benchmark of responsible business practice with close to 150 participants from the FTSE 100 and FTSE250, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Sector leaders and larger Business in the Community Members.

CSR Case Study – Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce operates in four global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy. RR state their dedication “to the pursuit of excellence as a responsible corporate citizen in its operations throughout the world and to develop its approach to Corporate Social Responsibility”. Their policies on issues such as safety and the environment, charitable donations, community involvement, employee learning and development are backed up by real examples of action in all of these areas.
Nigel Marsh, the company head of Environmental Management, explained in a presentation on Climate Change in Nottinghamshire how all employees are asked to consider how their job contributes or influences the surrounding environmental impacts. The company targets for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have been exceeded and their local offices purchase green energy. Also, simple personal practical actions for awareness raising activities for staff such as “bike to work days” and Energy Education Programmes have been introduced. Employees are encouraged to play their own role in the community on projects which support education, the environment, the arts and social regeneration. Examples include:-

• A partnership with The Prince’s Trust, supporting it’s team and business start-up programmes.
• Education and business partnerships, running mentoring and literacy programmes in schools.
• Developing an environmental education project with the National Forest Company.
• Supporting local initiatives including the donation of surplus equipment and furniture and offering the free use of meeting rooms.
• Working on local community projects forms a key part of development programmes for trainees and managers at Rolls Royce.
• Offering free places on internal programmes for local community members are offered.

Follow the links below for more information on CSR:-
Government gateway to Corporate Social Responsibility provides an ambitious vision for UK businesses to consider the economic, social and environmental impacts of their activities, wherever they operate in the world. GGCSR website links to information on how the government is helping make the vision a reality.

Corporate Critic is a research database that indexes and rates the Corporate Social Responsibility records of over 15,000 company groups, ranging from large multinationals to small independents including publicly listed and private companies. CC categorises research by five broad ethical areas and rates it using Ethical Consumer's unique ethiscore rating system.

Taking the Initiative

Formal paid employment is only one way of working in the environment. The environmental movement has a long tradition of providing alternatives such as volunteering, self-sufficiency or being part of a Local Environmental Trading Scheme (LETS). Keen to meet demands from people for more sustainable goods and services, others are starting up local environmental businesses such as reusable nappy services and delivering organic produce to people’s homes.

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises tackle a wide range of social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the economy. In doing so they offer an opportunity to practice and promote sustainability in a work setting. The Government believes that social enterprises have a distinct and valuable role to play in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy. Three common characteristics of social enterprises are defined by Social Enterprise London.

• Enterprise orientation: They are directly involved in producing goods or providing services to a market. They seek to be viable trading organisations, with an operating surplus.
• Social Aims: They have explicit social aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services. They have ethical values including a commitment to local capacity building, and they are accountable to their members and the wider community for their social environmental and economic impact.
• Social ownership: They are autonomous organisations with governance and ownership structures based on participation by stakeholder groups (users or clients, local community groups etc.) or by trustees. Profits are distributed as profit sharing to stakeholders or used for the benefit of the community.

For more information see:- Wikipedia - Social enterprise

Crocus Cafe is a an example of a sustainable enterprise, originally set-up as a Fairtrade Café in an old Church Hall by two Nottingham University students. CC was taken over by a group of students in its second year, and is now a full-time venture led by People and Planet. As a not-for-profit organization all money made is used to enhance the local community.

This PDF provides web-links to organisations supporting social enterprises and in information on sources of funding.

Social Enterprises