Keeping employees engaged on your sustainability track

Employees will keep your sustainability agenda alive and relevant, and not just a set of corporate speak principles far removed from operationsSean O'NeillChief corporate relations officerHeineken NVOVER the last decade, sustainability has become an important part of the corporate agenda.儲存倉 Discussions around license to operate and access to increasingly scarce resources are now commonplace. Executive teams have come to appreciate not only the commercial and financial benefits of a sustainable operation, but also that government, investor, customer and employee expectations mean that addressing social and environmental issues is critical to future success.However, when "profit" and "growth" remain key boardroom priorities it can be a challenge to demonstrate that growth and sustainability are partners rather than competitors. Commitment from senior leaders, clear goals and plans, incentives, investment all help; but without the buy-in of employees, none of these things alone will make the difference.In 2010, Heineken introduced a new holistic approach to sustainability called "Brewing a Better Future" that aims to improve our environmental, community and societal sustainability. With approximately 85,000 employees in more than 70 countries, implementing such an approach across the breadth and depth of such a global organisation has been a major challenge. In the last three years, we have learned a lot about what to do - and what not to do - when it comes to engaging employees in our ambition to become a more successful and sustainable company.Make it relevant; make it localEmployees bring sustainability to life. However, far removed from Head Office, it is easy for employees to feel disengaged from "global" sustainability initiatives and disinterested in "global" objectives.By de-centralising the sustainability agenda and integrating global objectives into local teams, employees better understand, identify and engage with the actions they need to take and quickly turn a global approach into a real source of local pride and achievement.Within Heineken, every market has its own three-year plan for sustainability and its own sustainability committee to co-ordinate the topic at management level. Operating companies are responsible for establishing a regular dialogue with key local stakeholders, so that companies can ensure that our local actions remain rooted in reality and address local need.One small example of how this local approach is working well for us can be seen in Nigeria, where urban waste management is a key area of concern, particularly in the country's commercial capital, Lagos. Nigerian Breweries, Heineken's joint venture operation, was granted full control of what happens to its spent grains, which were previously being disposed of in ecologically unfriendly dump sites. To address this issue, Nigerian Breweries were responsible for establishing a partnership with EarthCare Nigeria Ltd, which operates a composting facility in Lagos. This partnership ensures that 100 per cent of spent grains produced in the Lagos plant are now recycled, neutralising the negative environmental impact.Simplicity not complexityComplex plans with multiple priorities and targets are not a recipe for easy engagement. For the first three years of our plan, Heineken had 23 work streams and more than 50 targets. It is difficult to build strong and consistent momentum across such a wide agenda. Following discussions with local and international stakeholders, we have addressed this by identifying four distinct priorities around which we will build our core approach: Water (reducing water consumption and balancing water demand), CO2 reduction, more sustainable sourcing and advocating responsible c迷你倉沙田nsumption.Communication has become simpler, targets easier to translate locally, and there has been clear recognition of global and local relevance. Alignment is therefore stronger and levels of engagement from our employees have evidently improved.Communicate, educate, celebrateThese three elements are the fuel for engagement. Constant re-enforcement of agreed plans, performance and progress is critical, but tone of voice, content and form of communication is equally important to engage the heart as well as the head. This is achieved through dedicated sustainability meetings, both locally and at a group level.These meetings are supported by a combination of video messaging, senior management updates and dedicated communication channels help to maintain momentum and share success.We also recognise that even though we have simplified our commitments, the subject matter can still be complex. So via our e-learning "Sustainability Academy" we help to build an understanding of the issues and challenges associated with our commitment areas. This is re-enforced via functional webcasts on specific topics using internal subject matter experts. As the overall education of our people increases so does their ability to think creatively about solutions and doing things differently."Enjoyment" is one of Heineken's three core values, so celebrating success feels right for our teams. Our local approach means that increasingly, our operating companies are the recipients of local awards. In recent months, The UK, Bulgaria, Croatia have all received leading awards which we communicate internationally. Celebrating these and other achievements is a strong motivational tool that inspires imitation.Be credibleTo achieve real engagement it is important that employees view our commitment to sustainability as credible, as we have often found employees to be the stakeholders most dismissive of "corporate speak". We have tried to increase credibility in two ways: Firstly we have made sustainability one of our six key business priorities, giving it visibility and endorsing the idea that the work our people do around sustainability is a key driver of Heineken's growth. This move has been CEO-led, another important component in the mix.Secondly, on the basis that "what gets measured gets managed" we have introduced "Green Gauge", a system that records progress on all of our key commitments and indicators. For the first time, we can now report on progress quarterly on a local, regional and global level. To keep things simple, the figures are complemented by a simple traffic light format that allows at a glance to know if a company, region or Heineken as a whole is on track.Reporting progress to all internal and external stakeholders is a necessary next step. We have chosen to have our progress verified by an independent external auditor (KPMG) to reinforce our credibility and provide a useful check on our own assumptions. While we naturally produce a global sustainability report that covers the whole organization, we have also started to produce reports at a local level. Thirty three of our operating companies now publish their own sustainability reports, and all will do so by the end of 2015. We have found that these reports increase our public accountability and demonstrate our commitment to transparency. Additionally, it creates a strong platform for local stakeholder dialogue.Progress relies ultimately on our people. Without them, nothing happens. Engaging, motivating and supporting them on the journey is therefore essential and something in which we invest a lot of time, energy and resource. We also know that we don't always get it right, so it remains an area on which we are still listening and learning.迷你倉價錢