How to engage employees on your net zero journey
Getting the whole team fully behind eliminating carbon from your business makes a whole lot of sense. Whether you want to get your company to cut down on travel, or turn off unnecessary electrical appliances, it’s much easier to become a sustainable business if you have the support of your employees. Thankfully, you’ll find that many of them will actually want to get involved. Net zero is a hot topic and some of your employees will already feel strongly about it. So, involving and helping employees take ownership of what you’re trying to achieve can be effective in helping your company reduce carbon. Plus, it can be an empowering and motivating thing for your employees to do.
A great place to start is understanding how much carbon your company is currently using. We have created a carbon footprint calculator for businesses which you can download for free.
Helping employees understand net zero
Don’t assume that everyone understands ‘net zero’. There’s a great deal of jargon that you may need to demystify. You can help everyone get the basics by simply showing them this video or checking out our net zero hub.
It’s also important to think about how you can involve and encourage your team to start coming up with ideas and suggestions that will work for your business.
Host an employee workshop to promote net zero
We’ve created a free, step-by-step net zero workshop session plan. All you need is some paper and pens, a place to meet, and…your employees. You’ll find that a workshop can be a really engaging way to involve people and your employees should be more committed to net zero as a result.
Our net zero workshop plan is yours to use. It involves getting the team to explore and brainstorm the challenge or problem you set them. You’ll find they are more forthcoming than you expect because the format encourages people to think outside the box.
What you’ll achieve with a net zero workshop
Before you start planning your employee workshop, it’s important to be clear about your objectives and outcomes. Your workshop objectives may simply involve gaining the support of employees so they’ll help you implement your business’s carbon reduction strategy. Or you might want to go further and use your net zero strategy to support the business strategy, which may require you to evidence net zero credentials to would-be customers .
Think carefully about what you want to achieve. The workshop session plan aims to get employees to come up with ideas and actions that they and you will implement in the business.
Here are four workshop objectives we recommend you consider:
- Define the behaviours that the business needs to exhibit to achieve net zero.
- Appoint net zero champions among employees, who will take ownership of certain carbon reduction activities and reporting.
- Generate more ideas that the business can implement to decarbonise.
- Define a roadmap to net zero, with key dates, objectives, times, and measures.
If you found this page useful, check out our net zero hub for more free tools, tips and expert advice.
Please note, SSE Energy Solutions has written this blog for information purposes only. We recommend speaking to your own business and financial advisors before taking any direct action that will impact your business.
