Is a “Green” Employer More Important than a Profitable One to You?

Going “green” offers more than environmentally-friendly results. Research indicates that green employers are becoming more important to employees than highly profitable companies.

Green Companies and Employee Morale
Courtney Rubin examined this new employee attitude in her article, “Why It’s Better to Be Green Than to Be Profitable” (Inc. Magazine, February 2011). As most observers understand, accurately measuring employee job satisfaction has been a “moving target” over the past few decades.

The newest popular consideration is working for a company that appears to be friendly to our environment. While this preference is still open to some debate, recent studies indicate that working for a green employer does affect your job satisfaction.

For example, a recent study by the Charlton College of Business (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth), published in the ponderously-named Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, found that an employer’s profitability and documented financial success had little influence on job satisfaction beliefs.
However, toiling for an employer that is considered to be an environmentally-friendly organization did positively improve workplace happiness and job satisfaction. The study indicates that these employers, and their green focus, often formed important bonds with their employees, regardless of the company’s financial statements and performance.

Researchers Cassandra Walsh and Adam Sulkowski report that “The results of our study confirm . . . there is a significant positive relationship between perceived environmental performance and employee satisfaction.” The researchers indicated that they believed that this could be true, but wanted to confirm their hypothesis. Their study seems to validate their belief.

Definitions (Perceptions) of Green Companies

You might ask about the criteria for perceiving an employer as green. Fair question. There is no one-rule-fits-all answer. In most cases, companies become known as environmentally-friendly through a mixture of facts and perceptions.
With so many different definitions, it is difficult to arrive at a general consensus. The researchers used Vanno.com, a company that tracks and ranks organizations based on their popular reputations. They have a ranking category involving "environmental performance." Using this benchmark, the researchers constructed their study.

Employee Responses

Interestingly, even the most basic employer efforts, i.e., recycling, often trigger employee morale increases. This is the fact quotient. The perception ranking depends on how diligently the employer circulates and/or publicizes their efforts.
The study indicates that employees react much more positively when their employers use both components. Simply taking green actions, without effectively “spreading the word,” is positive, but has a lesser effect on employee job satisfaction.

Walsh and Sulkowski found no correlation or linkage to the employer’s financial success and this source of employee job contentment. Apparently, employees were equally motivated and satisfied working for green employers, regardless of the company’s fiscal results.

In the wake of the recent recession, where most employees feared layoff or termination, this lack of correlation is somewhat surprising. It does seem to indicate that job satisfaction, pride, and motivation, driven by environmentally-friendly employer policies, generates strong support for the company. Is this a definitive reflection of the growing concern for our environment? Possibly.
Regardless, of the underlying basis for this reaction, employees enjoy heightened job satisfaction working for green employers. The researchers state that their results have a “99.9 percent confidence” level.

It remains unclear if the study results would differ if a new variable, green companies in financial difficulty, entered the mix. Staff may enjoy their jobs, while also seeking new employment opportunities, because of fear of their employer’s future. But, this hypothetical is for another study.

You should, however, think about the study results to learn how you feel about this subject. If you work for an employer known for environmentally-friendly policies, are you happy with your job and corporate culture? Should you work for a company that has yet to implement a green policy, do you think you’d be happier working for an employer, publicly recognized as an environmentally-conscious organization?

Think about your feelings, while assuming that you would have the same job with identical compensation for a green or anti-green employer. Job satisfaction does influence performance, whether consciously or sub-consciously. If you work for a green company, are you content and performing well? Should you work for a non-green employer, are you happy with your job? Do you feel that you might be happier working for an environmentally-conscious employer?

The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study indicates that your peers enjoy higher job satisfaction when working for green companies. As more employers adopt procedures that are friendlier to our environment, more green company openings should be available. If your job satisfaction could use a boost, you might consider perusing job boards and top employment firms, like Kelly Services, to learn of opportunities with green employers. You may be happier at the workplace.

Source:
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2011/02/go-green-for-happy-employees.html