Sustainability in the Workplace

April 9, 2008

Sustainability in the Workplace

• While 46% of survey respondents said that sustainability programs help improve brand value, only 20% felt they improve profitability;
• 33% said their companies only make sustainability efforts in markets where it is perceived to have an impact on customers' perceptions of the business;
• In 40% of responding organizations, the person responsible for sustainability issues did not report directly to the board, while 23% had no person responsible for such matters;
• 31% said their company's sustainability efforts center mostly on communication rather than action;
• 32% of responding organizations have their sustainability practices most firmly embedded in investor/public relations activities, and 29% have it within the human resources function;
• 37% of respondents said they have been given specific sustainability goals to achieve as part of their responsibilities; and,
• 24% agreed that their organization's sustainability efforts are primarily driven by staff at the grassroots level rather than by senior management.