Green Recruiting – the sustainable design of personnel management
The abandonment of plastic bags and the increase in electric cars show that sustainability has already arrived in various areas. Are you wondering what this has to do with recruiting? Actually quite a bit, as you will discover in the following blog post!
Awareness and interest in environmental and climate protection have been growing for years. At the latest since the “Friday for Future” demonstrations and the global movement founded by Greta Thunberg, the topics of sustainability and environmental protection have been on everyone’s lips. Understandably, the younger generation in particular is pleading that there is no Planet B. Sustainable work can also be done in human resource management and green measures and benefits can be established.
What is Green Recruiting?
Green Recruiting is a trend that first emerged in 2020 and aims to recruit sustainably and create a green corporate image that is attractive to potential applicants. Establishing this competitive advantage is significant as 67% of job seekers prefer companies that operate in a socially responsible and sustainable manner. (Source: Nielsen – Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2014)
We will show you measures that will help you to make your HR processes sustainable:
Refrain from using paper
Save paper by refraining from printing resumes, motivation letters, etc. for interviews or preparation. Use tools like “Drawboard PDF” to mark up and annotate PDF documents digitally as you would with pen and paper. This will also help you save extra work. Printed notes have to be manually scanned again and filed in the digital application management system. You think paper applications are old news anyway? Nevertheless, point out to applicants on your career site to send application documents by mail and not in paper form.
Get to know each other virtually through videoconferencing
Due to Corona, it has become a rarity that the first job interview is held face-to-face. Virtual meetings via ZOOM or Teams are already part of everyday life for many, so you should continue to use them after the crisis. Equipped with a webcam and a communication tool, nothing stands in the way of a first virtual meeting. This avoids long and expensive journeys for candidates and reduces the CO2 footprint.
Company mobility and business trips
When traveling on business, make greater use of climate-friendly rail travel and, if possible, avoid environmentally harmful trips by car or even air. In practice, many business trips are difficult to replace with environmentally friendly means of travel; here there is the option of using alternative drive systems such as e-vehicles. Government subsidies make the acquisition of an electric fleet more attractive, but the framework conditions (charging stations) must also be created in the company. Another tip, use the principle of car sharing pools to reduce the number of cars in your fleet.
Smart office and flexible working hours
Mobile work concepts and smart office options provide another contribution to climate protection. The Corona crisis has shown us that it is not always necessary to be at the company site or office to work effectively. Instead of being stuck in the typical morning commuter traffic jam, flextime models can help employees get to the office earlier or even later without traffic jams and obstructions.
Private mobility – climate-friendly travel to work
Motivate your employees to commute to work by public transport, if possible, by providing subsidies for travel tickets. Additional competitive promotions such as “Bike to Work” can incentivize environmentally friendly commuting to work.
Sustainable office
Do you offer coffee from coffee capsules to your clients and job applicants? Then you’re not exactly a pioneer in sustainability. Office supplies, packaging, office equipment and consumables can easily be recycled, upcycled or purchased from sustainable suppliers. It starts with coffee and promotional gifts like pens and ends with printers and PCs. You can also act sustainably when it comes to electricity and water. You can reduce your carbon footprint through green electricity and renewable energy.
As you can see, even small measures can make a contribution to sustainability in recruiting. But finally, the most important thing: Anchor these measures in your employer branding and marketing strategy. Make sure you communicate your environmental commitment via your social media platforms and homepage. Share your sustainability measures via social media to position yourself as an attractive and sustainable employer. However, do not engage in green-washing; your activities must remain authentic and credible!
Green recruiting offers the opportunity to stand out from the mass of companies in times of “war for talents” and to convince and win over young executives and specialists with your own sustainable responsibility and active measures for climate and environmental protection. Ideally, all these measures should be embedded in a green corporate strategy and in an overall sustainable orientation of the company.
All CFR-Partners wish you much success in implementing these measures!
Article written by Bianca Altendorfer, MSC, CFR Global Executive Search Austria
Photo source: Freepik