When it comes to sustainability targets, many businesses don’t actually follow through. They set them and move forward, but the realization of them falls by the wayside. Because a lot of the time, it doesn’t translate to effective operations, or the ball gets dropped, and it creates more issues than it was supposed to solve.
But the thing is, employee benefits are a great way to make meaningful progress on environmental goals while simultaneously strengthening the benefits packages they offer.
For enterprise-level business, this isn’t ideal; it’s pragmatic. Large organisations are under growing pressure from all sides, including investors, regulators, and prospective employees, to show that their environmental commitments translate to real operational decisions. Let’s look at what benefit packages fit into this picture.
Electric Vehicle Schemes
Transportation is one of the largest contributors to an organization’s employee-related emissions. It’s also one of the most directly addressable through benefits. Structured electric vehicle programs give employees a practical, financially viable route into EV ownership without the upfront cost that puts most people off.
It’s a significant part of the reason why enterprise-level companies choose The Electric Car Scheme and similar programs. At scale, even sifting a portion of the workforce into electric vehicles reduces emissions, with predictions that are measurable and reportable.
Cycle to Work Programs
For employees who are commuting shorter distances, cycle to work schemes remove the financial barrier of getting to work each day and help reduce emissions too. It’s a win-win here. These programs have a strong uptake in many communities for those within a reasonable cycling distance, as the financial benefit is immediate, but you can also drive behavioural change here, too.
Public Transport Subsidies
Subsidizing employees’ public transport costs is one of the most straightforward benefits you can offer. It’s also one of the most underused, too.
You can cover employees’ monthly pass, or offer pre-tax transit benefits, which reduces the cost gap between driving and taking public transportation. For many employees, the cost is primarily why they drive when the commute is just as easy.
You need small adjustments in their calculations that entice them away from behind the wheel and into a different seat to get to work each day.
Remote and Hybrid Working
Commuting is optional if employees are not required to be in the office each day. Remote and hybrid working arrangements are increasingly offered as formal, structured benefits rather than internal accommodations, but the environmental impact of employees not traveling to a place of work each day is huge. Fewer days commuting across a large workforce translates directly to lower transport emissions, regardless of how they actually travel to work. And you don’t need much in the way of additional investment or infrastructure to get moving with this.
Sustainable Food and Catering Options
For organizations with on-site catering, the environmental footprint of what employees eat during the working day is larger than most people realize. A good idea is to transition catering contracts towards suppliers that have strong sustainability credentials, reducing meat-heavy menus and focusing on supplying locally sourced produce. They’re small, simple swaps you can accommodate without compromising your catering policy.
Add Comment