Understanding employee’s response to company's sustainability initiatives

Abstract

Corporate investments in environmental sustainability have increased greatly in recent years due to increased pressure from regulators, consumers, and investors. As a key stakeholder of business, the employees’ attitude towards sustainability needs to be studied for organizational performance. The project intends to understand the employees’ perception of their employers’ sustainability initiatives and how they feel about them. The study involved secondary and primary research to analyse employees’ attitudes towards sustainability programs. The secondary research showed that majority of employees prefer their companies to actively participate in environmental sustainability initiatives. This phenomenon has accelerated recently due to increased awareness of people about climate change and government mandates. The research also clearly emphasized on the communication gap in the corporate environment which is a major impediment in employee awareness. The primary research consisted of two in-depth interviews and an online survey. The results from both interviews and surveys strengthened the secondary research findings as most of the survey respondents believe it is necessary for their companies to take sustainability initiatives. Most respondents also believe that these sustainability programs positively impact their work culture and job satisfaction. It is also found that most people feel that such initiatives improve the company’s reputation and also gives a sense of pride to work for the company.