Eco office: greening the American workplace
Environmentally friendly practices win broad employee buy-in – but many workers save their real diligence for home.
from the March 10, 2008 edition
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Denise Moorehead, communications director of Third Sector New England in Boston, finds that working in a green building, the NonProfit Center, has made her more diligent about recycling at home. She took note when the company switched from paper plates and plastic ware to porcelain plates and silverware. "When we have a large event we use environmentally friendly paper plates. The 'plastic' ware is made of cornstarch."
Bicycle racks and showers encourage workers to leave their cars at home. "The executive director rarely gets in a taxi," Ms. Moorehead says. "He uses public transportation. That makes me feel slightly guilty. If he can do it, I can do it."
A green cafe in the building serves locally produced and organic food as well as fair-trade coffee. "It does make a difference for all of us," Moorehead says.
Linda Mason Hunter, a longtime advocate of green practices, finds generational differences in the workplace.
"It is easier to 'sell' participation to younger employees, who are more aware and enthusiastic about conservation and greening, without a lot of effort," she says.
Ms. Hunter also finds that people are more likely to conserve energy at home than at work. "It comes down to … money and self-interest. By nature, people take better care of their homes because they have a stake in them."
Educating workers is the goal of Gregg Steiner, president of Energy Star Certified, an environmental-service company in Los Angeles that helps small and mid-size businesses go green. When a major real estate firm hired him recently to analyze its environmental practices, he found room for improvement.
"They weren't recycling," he says. He tested the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system, as well as the air quality and the water filter in the lunch room.
"It's so easy to make these changes," Mr. Steiner says. "People like to see the change and be part of the solution."
Some changes require almost no outlay of money. When Steiner goes to the gym, he notices that nearly everyone working out has a bottle of water. "But there's no recycling bin," he says, a note of incredulity in his voice.
Carbon competition
Sometimes change comes through competition. Carbonrally.com, a new website, challenges workers to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by drinking tap water, walking or bicycling, and avoiding paper coffee cups. Recently Google's office in Pittsburgh squared off for a month-long challenge against the firm's Cambridge, Mass., office. Pittsburgh, the smaller office, won.
"We enable employees to commit to small changes in behavior," says Carbonrally founder Jason Karas.
Those small changes can produce big results. In Portland, Ore., businesses once threw out 40 tons of recyclable paper every working hour, or 83,000 tons a year. Now nearly 200 businesses are taking part in a program called Recycle at Work.
Whatever incentives businesses devise, Moorehead says, "[u]ltimately it really does make a difference, one person at a time, one group of people at a time."
Acting green at work
87% of employees say it's at least "somewhat important" that their employer offer green-friendly programs.
42% of those in the Northeast called it "extremely or very important," compared with 29% of those in the South.
93% of employed respondents turn off electrical devices at home to conserve energy.
50% do so at work.
77% of employees practice recycling at home.
49% do so at work.
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