April 26, 2022

Although 90% of executives think sustainability is important, less than 50% of businesses have a sustainability strategy. As global citizens we all have to share the responsibility of helping mitigate climate change. On top of implementing sustainable business practices, we should be encouraging our teams to also contribute to reducing our business footprint. 

Here are 5 creative initiatives you can incorporate to create a greener workplace:

Cycle to work scheme

An oldie but a goodie, especially now cycling is the new golf! The cycle to work scheme is an employee benefit that saves you up to 39% on a bike and accessories. You pay nothing upfront and the payments are taken tax efficiently from your salary by your employer.

Got a cycle crazed team at work? Love to Ride is a website where you can set up an account for your workplace and have your L2R champions encourage people to sign up and ride. Out of the office activities such as this improves physical wellbeing, encourages team build and a better work/life balance.

Meat Free Monday

Many people don’t realise the associated effects on the planet that eating meat creates. An area of rainforest the size of a hundred football pitches is cut down every hour to create room for grazing cattle. Having just one meat free day per week for a year reduces the greenhouse gases one person is responsible for by 434.36 miles.

Creating a meat free (Mon)day in the office is not only a great way to impact the office’s carbon footprint, it also doubles as a great way to give the team a break away from their desks creating great relationships with colleagues.

Ideas on implement Meat Free (Mon)days:

1. Have the business buy plant based lunches for the team to encourage them to eat meat free. Click here to find some of the best vegan lunch deliveries London has to offer.
2. Host an in-house MasterChef competition in which people can volunteer to cook meat free dishes for the whole team to sample each week with a prize for the winning chef. Click here for recipe inspo.

CSR Efforts that are Environmentally Focused 

• If your company supports team members volunteering days, then why not offer them a chance to help by supporting the environment? Environmental volunteering fosters collaboration; working on a common goal is great for team building. It also offers your team some time out in the fresh air which is great for their physical and mental wellbeing!  
• There are many local volunteering groups and initiatives you can reach out to help organise a volunteering day for your team. For over 15 years, organisations and their employees have been working with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) successfully to transform local communities and green spaces. 
• As experts in outdoor volunteering activities, TCV have developed a range of corporate volunteering programmes that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your company, your employees and your stakeholders. 

Ban plastic water bottles and coffee cups from your office

Nowadays its common practice for businesses to offer office perks as a way to make their in-office employee experience great (I also expect this to increase as efforts to get people back to the office ramp up). So, why not tie office perks into your company CSR efforts?

Branded water bottles make for a great on-boarding gift for new starters. Not only does it fix the problem of people buying plastic water bottles, it also doubles as a company branded marketing tool. Eco-friendly water bottles can be as cost effective as the FJORD Glass bottle at £3.83 with branding, and ranging up to the Frank Green range at £23 +.

If companies offer their team an in-house coffee machine, people don’t need to go out and buy coffee in a disposable cup. Pact Coffee are a great office coffee supplier that are disrupting their industry. They pay 65% over the fair trade price to coffee farmers and 35% of the coffee they source comes from female led farms. Their coffee comes in recyclable packaging, they are moving to a carbon neutral roastery and they aligned with the UN sustainable development goals.

Office Clothes Swap

From 2009 to 2020 UK consumer spending on clothing increased by almost 17 billion pounds. Did you know that it takes 2,700 litres (plus a load of energy) to produce just one T-shirt? That’s 900 days of drinking water needed by one person. Our fast fashion habits have a massive impact on the environment.

Office Clothes Swaps are a great solution to encourage your team to recycle and reuse – And the best part? This quid pro quo initiative means that getting that new wardrobe just became more sustainable. Why buy something new when you can swap something you no longer wear for an item that needs a new home?

Make sure you set some ground rules to ensure the team is on the same page – #underpantsnotwelcome

Not sure what your CSR efforts your team would want to support and get the most out of? The Condor Collective can help you discover your teams greatest motivators supported by both analytical & anecdotal data insights. We can help you build out a CSR strategy that your team will engage with to ensure it is a success. Get in touch to find out more!