Sustainability is no longer a buzzword. It’s a tree rich in foliage, with every branch as diverse and essential as the next. One of these branches is Green HR. For a company working toward sustainability goals, Green HR is critical to achieving these goals.

Whether you’re a CEO, an HR manager or a student enrolled in business degree, understanding Green HR is vital for developing and implementing sustainability initiatives that deliver on their promise. Let’s unpack this approach to human resource management in more detail.

Green HR: What Is It?

Green HR is when human resources management encourages employees to engage in sustainability-friendly behaviour in the workplace. HR delivers this encouragement through greener policies, systems and practices.

Compared with traditional HR management, Green HR is a more holistic, bigger-picture approach to human resources. If you’re an HR manager, this means treating sustainability as more than a reduced impact on the physical environment. Green HR considers the emotional environment a company fosters for its employees and whether that environment aligns with its sustainability goals. For students pursuing a Masters in Human Resources, Green HR offers a forward-thinking approach that integrates environmental and social responsibility into workforce management.

Why Green HR Matters

Let’s stay with the bigger picture. Sustainability is about meeting today’s needs without compromising tomorrow’s needs. It demands a complete approach. A company that focuses on making a single area of its operations greener at the expense of every other area risks doing more harm than good. For maximum positive impact, you need investment throughout the company.

Employees will always be a company’s greatest asset. The agile spine, the beating heart, and the rousing soul, all rolled into one. They are central to meaningful change, no matter how many they number. When you recognise their value, they recognise it in themselves. Green HR is getting them to invest in your company’s sustainability goals. The more they invest, the smoother your company’s path toward better ways becomes.

Benefits of Green HR

Better Communication and Engagement

Initiatives thrive when a company’s internal communications remain simple, clear and transparent. It’s about striking the balance between nurturing a sustainable workplace and achieving broader sustainability goals.

Include your employees in sustainability decisions. These decisions aren’t closed-circuit discussions between HR and senior management. They affect everyone in the business, so give everyone a say. Effective HR is built upon positive, constructive employee engagement.

Reduced Long-Term Costs

Most sustainability initiatives focus on carbon footprint reduction. The crux of this is less consumption. Less energy use, less water, less reliance on vehicles - the list can stretch as far as you need. Over time, this reduction in consumption translates to reduced operating costs.

Green HR enters this picture through policies and practices that promote these reductions. It’s about education and setting the best example. Develop these policies with sincerity and conviction and your team will get on board.

The Drawback of Green HR

If there’s a tangible drawback to Green HR, it’s that reduced long-term costs sometimes demand increased short-term costs. Whether they do will hinge on the scope of your sustainability goals. Again, it’s about making your intentions transparent.

If increased short-term costs cause little or no disruption to the daily rhythm of your workplace, employees will need little convincing on the matter. Convincing key stakeholders is a different story. For many, success comes before progress, and tangible success is often the profit line and nothing more. Your case for increased costs need not change. Just make sure it’s watertight before you step inside that boardroom.

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Implementing Green HR: The How

Before you implement any Green HR policies, make sure your company has clearly defined sustainability goals and a strategy to achieve those goals. Like anything in business, success is built upon understanding your mission. Retroactively adjusting goals to align with initiatives is a messy, time-wasting exercise. Implementing Green HR is your chance to use your creative problem-solving skills. Here are a few ways you can start the ball rolling.

Hire Green-Minded Folk

We’ve already sung the praise of employees; consider this the encore. While there’s much to gain from educating your existing team, nothing beats hiring people who already know why sustainability matters. These people hit the ground running, in the best possible way.

The trick is making your company’s stance on sustainability shine externally. Job postings, trade shows, the interview process; any opportunity to showcase your company’s green values must be taken. The more you do this, the more the outside world connects the dots between your brand and sustainability. And when this happens, your company will attract green-minded talent.

Think Beyond the Office

While the debate around hybrid working arrangements rages without respite, there’s little argument that it benefits sustainability. Having your team in the office less reduces onsite consumption, there’s no other way you can spin it. Less commuting reduces each employee’s carbon footprint.

The winner here is well-being. Let your team decide what works best for them. A sustainable and positive workplace culture depends on flexibility and compromise. And celebrate the wins, when they happen. If one of your Green HR initiatives was to encourage employee exercise and you arrive at work to find the bike rack full, spread your joy across the workplace. It won’t go unnoticed.

Remember, Transparency is Key

As an HR manager, you’re the key channel for much of your company’s internal communication. Especially when the communication concerns departments that rarely talk with each other. The less your company feels like a silo collection the better.

Communicate your Green HR initiatives with every department, regardless of what effect these initiatives have on their daily operations. Employees love to be in the know; if you’re direct and transparent, it gives them a stronger sense of the contribution they make.

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When you look past the hype and hyperbole, you see Green HR for what it is: a critical piece in a company’s sustainability puzzle. On its own, it doesn’t provide a singular solution. Instead, it gains momentum by linking other initiatives throughout a company’s operations. When Green HR is done right, this momentum is contagious.

Sustainability is all about the long game. Green HR is no different. Short-term wins are there for your team to enjoy, and you should enjoy them, as long as they accumulate toward long-term, lasting benefits. Get the balance right and your company—from your team to your office to your products and services—can look forward to a greener, healthier future.

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