BT claims it has identified a direct link between involving employees in climate change and improving staff engagement and retention.
Director of corporate responsibility (CSR) Adrian Hosford said nearly one-third of BT’s employees attended at least one activity in an internally-run CSR week earlier this month.
Fairs, roadshows and guest speakers on green issues were used to involve staff in “something they care about”, according to Hosford, who claimed this had a positive impact on employee engagement.
“Two-thirds of staff polled recently said activities like CSR week help to engage them with the company. It does help to improve attraction, retention, motivation and engagement. It makes good business sense,” he said.
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Hosford worked closely with the HR department to launch CSR week, now in its second year. He said it was important to convince senior managers of the benefits to the bottom line of running such projects.
Hosford said: “Often management are against anything that takes up time and space. There must be a demonstrable link to business benefits. HR must prove things like climate change reduction is not just an ‘ego trip’ from their department, but actually affect bottom-line results.”
