A recent article in Personnel Today questions whether HR departments are ready to take up the green challenge. They should be! HR has experience in change-management and is most likely to succeed in convincing senior-level management to introduce green initiatives. And yet a survey carried out by KPMG last year showed that only 45% of HR departments had ‘some responsibility’ for environmental policies.
We all know that we need to do more to reduce carbon emissions but how can we implement a strategy in the workplace that will be adhered to? Simple things that we do automatically at home, like turning off a light when leaving a room, seem to get forgotten about as soon as people enter the workplace.
HR must take the lead to devise processes that achieve pre-determined green objectives, and put these at the heart of company culture.