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Carbon Reductions Survey

Monday, June 1st, 2009

8466_may-day-carbon-uk-report-final-no-uu-1

Author

Business in the Community

Date

June 2009

Region/Country

Description

Two thirds of Britain’s bosses are unaware that the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will soon compel them to account for their companies’ carbon emissions, according to a survey recently released by the charity Business in the Community.
1,695 employees of UK businesses were surveyed on the subject of their company’s readiness for the Carbon Reduction Commitment. 266 of these participants were senior decision makers.
Non-UK based firms seem to have made more effort to inform staff of the impact of CRC: 27% of workers at firms whose head office is outside of the UK know their organisation is affected by CRC, compared with 14% of workers at UK-based firms.

Key findings

Awareness is better, but still low, among people working at manufacturing, engineering and utilities firms: 28% of people in these industries know the business will be affected by CRC.
According to the survey, most (54%) of the UK’s bosses have not yet considered whether their organisation should modify its processes to prepare for climate change.
74% of bosses of small organisations (with fewer than 50 employees), say they haven’t considered this yet.
One in three (30%) decision makers say their organisation does not do anything on climate change.
One in five (21%) frankly admits that climate change is not even on the agenda.
One in three (32%) bosses say their organisation needs advice and support to meet CRC requirements. The need is greatest among large organisations: 43% with turnover of £5m+ and 46% with 250+ employees say they need to know more and access support on CRC.
Only 36% of UK bosses say their organisation has audited their annual energy consumption. Only 30% say their organisation has measured its carbon emissions, while 35% have set targets to reduce them. This implies that some organisations have set targets for change without knowing their current level.
But the results mostly remain behind closed doors: 71% of the UK’s directors and board members say they don’t externally report their organisations’ carbon emissions.
Manufacturing, engineering and utilities firms are more likely to have measured their carbon emissions and set targets for reducing them, but even here only half (54%) of bosses say they have done so.
These firms are especially likely to have audited their annual energy consumption: 68% of bosses have done so, possibly because energy consumption has a very visible impact on profit.
Larger firms are also more likely to have taken first steps. Among firms with 250+ employees 57% of bosses say they have measured carbon emissions, 60% have set targets to reduce them, 64% have audited energy consumption.
Among firms with £10m+ turnover 54% of bosses have measured emissions, 62% have set targets to reduce them and 61% have audited energy consumption.
Organisations run by young blood are more likely to be up to speed on energy and emissions issues: 46% of decisions makers aged under 35 say they have audited energy consumption and measured carbon emissions, and 51% have set targets to reduce emissions.
Even at large organisations (£10m+ turnover), only 42% of bosses are willing to invest in new technology.
Similarly, only 40% of manufacturing, engineering and utilities bosses are willing to invest in new technology to reduce emissions.
One in five (22%) workers says their organisation has assigned the responsibility for implementation to a particular group of people.
A similar proportion (20%) says ‘there’s more of a feeling that we’re all jointly responsible for contributing’.
Fewer than one in ten (8%) workers say it’s down to the board to implement green policies.
15% say that, in reality, it’s down to passionate individuals taking the initiative.
Even at larger organisations (£10m+ turnover), where there is more likely to be a formal corporate hierarchy, only 38% of workers say anyone has been put in charge of implementing green policies.
Part of the reluctance for UK plc to engage with the climate change agenda may be because it does not bring obvious commercial benefits. Only a minority of bosses say that engaging with climate change has reduced their cost base (28%), enhanced their market reputation (23%) or increased revenues (18%).
The absence of visible commercial benefit may explain why 17% of bosses are scaling down their focus on carbon reduction in the current economic situation.

More information

May Day Carbon UK report

Tags: awareness, bosses, carbon reduction, climate change, commercial benefit, Community, Company, decision-maker, emissions, employee, energy consumption, green policy, organisation
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Is Corporate Responsibility Converging?

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Author

S.Chen, P.Bouvain.

Date

May 2009

Region/Country

US/UK/ Australia/Germany

Description

This study aims to move beyond the superficiality of previous analyses of CSR reports by using textual analysis software and a more robust statistical method to more objectively and reliably compare the CSR reports of firms in different industries and countries.
The sample comprises leading companies (based on national stock market indices) from the US, UK, Australia and Germany. The analysis examines whether or not membership of the Global Compact makes a difference to CSR reporting and is overcoming industry and country specific factors that limit standardization.
Businesses from different countries differ significantly in the extent to which they promote CSR and the CSR issues they choose to emphasise in their reports.

Key findings

In US company reports, a relatively high importance is placed on community and employee-related issues.
In UK company reports employee and community-related issues remain significant, but are related to health and safety issues.
The UK, which has a strong consumer awareness of ethical sourcing issues, displays much greater emphasis on customer and supplier-related issues in their CSR reports.
In Australian company reports communities are discussed in connection with customers.
German company reports are shown to be quite clearly distinct from US, UK, and Australian company reports. While employees remain central, there is a much clearer emphasis on social and environmental issues.
In an examination of the relative importance (as measured by frequency of mention in the CSR reports) of each of the six areas of CSR (workers, customers, suppliers, community, environment, and society), countries showed significant differences in the mention of society, community, and customer issues.
There was some overlap in the use of the terms ‘social’ and ‘community’ with German companies preferring the use of the word ‘social’ while US, UK, and Australian companies preferring the use of the word ‘community’ to describe similar activities.
However, the differences appear to be more than semantic. For instance, one issue that was discussed at length by several German companies, but rarely by companies in the other countries was political dialogue and actively participating in the political process in their home country to bring about social change.
Another significant difference between countries was in the use of third-party assurance of CSR reports. Here the UK stood out clearly as the country where third-party assurance was most frequently used and the US as the country where third-party assurance was least frequently used.
There were few significant differences among industries. Industry made a significant difference only to frequency of mention of the environment.
Multinationality of the company also had a significant effect on mention of the environment.
Global Compact membership was shown to make a significant difference in mention of environmental and worker-related issues but not for mention of society, community, suppliers, and customer issues.
Global Compact membership was also shown to have a significant effect on the inclusion of measured CSR performance statistics in the report.

More information

Journal of Business Ethics (2009), 87, 299-317

Tags: Community, csr, employee, environment, Ethical, global compact, industry, multinationals, political, social change, society, software, suppliers
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Ethical Issues Relating To The Health Effects of Long Working Hours

Monday, April 20th, 2009

journalethics

Author

A.E. Dembe

Date

April 2009

Region/Country

USA

Description

This article reviews the ethical implications of long and unconventional working hours, particularly from the points of view of employee health and wellbeing, and the risk of errors arising from fatigue.
The paper uses the context of proposed changes to US legislation as a framework for the discussion.
There is now abundant evidence that working in jobs requiring especially long hours or nonstandard shifts raises workers’ risks for injury and disease.

Key findings

Working overtime increases the likelihood for on-the-job injuries by 61%, evening shifts carry a 38% greater chance of job injury and night shifts a 31% increased risk of job injury compared with working in a conventional day shift.
Other studies have confirmed that long working hours and shift work raises the odds for workers to be injured, to be fatigued, stressed, and to suffer from a range of serious medical ailments.
Health problems created by excessive working hours can have spillover effects for employees such as diminished performance, mistakes in judgment, and errors in performing work activities.
These spillover effects are perhaps most worrisome when the affected worker is employed in a position that is critical to public safety and welfare, such as health care, law enforcement, air traffic control, nuclear power generation, firefighting, and other emergency services.
The perils associated with schedules that endanger workers might also end up jeopardizing others in the society.
The ethical considerations inherent in demanding work schedules are further complicated by the distinctive employment context in which the risks arise. In most employment contexts, employees are only partially in control of their work activities and their working environment.
A number of areas of special ethical concern are raised in the paper. These include: Mandatory overtime and the possibility of coercion – In the US It has been estimated that 27.7% of full-time workers are in jobs that potentially require mandatory overtime, and that over 76% of those (21.1% of full-time workers) end up actually working mandatory overtime schedules in any particular month.
Possible deception in overtime arrangements – A related concern arises from the potential to devise schedules designed specifically to circumvent overtime pay requirements or mandatory overtime regulations.
Limits to voluntary assumptions of risk – To the extent it exists, hazard pay generally does not adequately compensate for the additional risks incurred by the affected workers.
Effects on the welfare of others – A number of professions, including health care and public safety, involve working patterns which, when the cause of illness or fatigue, can have severe consequences for others. This has included catastrophic accidents such as oil spills and major transportation accidents.
Inequitable distribution of employment opportunities – Generally speaking, it is cheaper for an organisation to hire fewer workers to work longer hours. This has significant implications for gender and age balance in the workplace, as well as employee wellbeing.

More information

Journal of Business Ethics (2009), 84, 195-208.

Tags: coercion, employee, Ethical, health, overtime, public safety, welfare, wellbeing, working hours
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Sustainability Leadership Survey

Monday, April 20th, 2009

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Author

Buck Consultants

Date

April 2009

Region/Country

Global

Description

A new survey of HR executives, conducted by human resource firm Buck Consultants, finds that employee involvement in green programs dramatically increases when organizations appoint an individual to lead the efforts. Almost 100 US HR professionals took part in the survey in 2008.
Companies that put a single person in charge of sustainability programs are much more likely to inspire employees to support the effort.

Key findings

Over half of the companies surveyed have incorporated environmental management into business operations and have a formal green program in place or plan to implement one in the next 12 months.
More than 60% of companies surveyed have made environmental responsibility a part of their organization’s mission statement and view the promotion of social responsibility as the most critical objective of their green programs.
In nearly 50% of companies, only five percent or less of their employees are actively involved in green programs.
For companies with at least three-quarters of their employees actively involved in green programs, 71% have appointed individual leaders whereas only 29% have not.
Incentives programs help too, the survey finds. Among companies that provide rewards to encourage green behaviors, 77% provide special employee recognition, 36% give prize incentives, and 14% offer a monetary reward.
Four out of five companies use web- or videoconferencing to reduce business travel – making remote conferencing the top sustainability strategy cited by survey respondents.
Other popular strategies include setting policies to conserve paper (76%) and implementing employee wellness programs (68%).
The departments generally given responsibility for the implementation of green programmes are operations (47%) and HR (38%).
The primary business objective for green initiatives was most frequently cited as the promotion of social responsibility (cited by 42% as very important and a further 33% as important).
An important secondary objective was the attraction and retention of top talent, cited by a total of 47% of respondents as either important or very important.

More information

The greening of HR, Survey Results, January 2009

Tags: consultants, employee, environmental management, green program, HR executives, organizations, responsability, Sustainability, US, videoconferencing
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CSR as Support for Employee Volunteers

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Author

F. MacPhail, P.Bowles

Date

March 2009

Region/Country

Canada

Description

This article examines an under-researched form of corporate social responsibility, namely, employer support for employee voluntary activity.
The study examines the impacts of employer support on the total number of hours volunteered and on the voluntary activities which are undertaken. Second, we examine how employer support is distributed between male and female employees.
Statistical data on employer support for volunteering from Statistics Canada is comple-mented by empirical findings from 123 large Canadian companies.
Employer support is associated with a greater amount of volunteer activity by both men and women employees and in a wide range of voluntary activities.

Key findings

Over 50% of the 123 employers surveyed indicated that they actively encouraged volunteer activity among their employees.
85% of employers agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that employees’ volunteer activities improved the organizations’ reputation.
Employers indicated that CSR and pressures from shareholders for ‘‘triple bottom line’’ reporting had led them to seek more ways of increasing and supporting voluntary activities by their employees.
Women in all population groups have higher volunteer rates than men; for employed women, the volunteer rate is 31.2% compared to 25.7% for men.
Although employed women are more likely to volunteer than employed men, they do provide fewer hours of volunteer work on an annual basis (121.7 and 155.5 h annually, for women and men, respectively).
Among employed people who volunteer, 50.8% of employed male volunteers and 47.1% of employed female volunteers receive support from their employers.
Volunteers with employer support do provide a greater number of volunteer work hours on average. Male volunteers with employer support provide an additional 6.7 h (or 4.3% more) per year of volunteer work, compared to male volunteers without employer support. The comparable increase in hours for women with employer support is 11.7 h (or 9.6% more) per year.
Employed volunteers 35 years and older have lower odds of receiving employer support compared to employed volunteers aged 25–34 years.
Employed workers with at least a high school diploma have higher odds of receiving employer support compared to employed volunteers without a high school diploma.
Married workers have lower odds of receiving employer support, compared to other marital status groups.
Organisations provide support for voluntary activities in a range of forms of support, including: donating financially to the organization (69%); giving approval to take time off or to use work time for volunteer activities (67%); giving approval for use of facilities or equipment (66%);
giving approval of change of work hours (63%); donating prizes etc. (62%).
Decisions relating to employee volunteering took place at a number of different levels within organizations: Decisions made at the local level (50%), Follow company-wide policies but with considerable local discretion (22%), Referred to head office (20%); Follow detailed company-wide policy manual (7%).
Approximately one third of the respondents indicated that their company has a formal policy regarding staff volunteering.

More information

Journal of Business Ethics (2009), 84, 405-416

Tags: Canada, employed volunteers, employed workers, employee, employer, organization, shareholders, social responsability, volunteer, Women
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The State of Green Business Report

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

stateofgreenbiz Author

Greenbiz

Date

March 2009

Region/Country

USA

Description

Greenbiz has released its annual look at global green business trends, The State of Green Business 2009. The 2009 report includes a number of new indicators.

The report also provides a review of the top green business trends of the previous twelve months, which for 2008 includes ‘Water Becomes The New Carbon’ and ‘Carbon Becomes A Business Imperative.’

Key findings

Topics	Process measured	Findings
Building energy efficiency	Average energy use per square foot of office space	Steady, if slow, improvement
Carbon intensity	Emissions of greenhouse gases per unit of GDP	Slowest improvement rate since 2002
Carbon transparency	Companies responding to CDP	Slow growth but not keeping up with the rest of the world.
Cleantech investments	Venture capital investments in clean technology	Strong, steady growth, more than double a year ago
Clean energy patents	Patents issued by US Patent Office	Continued strong growth
Corporate Reporting	Number of reports from S&P 500 companies	Improvement, but pales compared to other regions
Employee commuting	Number of workers driving solo, carpooling or using mass transit	Americans slow to give up cars, mass transit inches up
Employee telecommuting	Number of US telecommuter households	Creeping along with little change
Energy efficiency	Energy use per unit of GDP	Steadily getting more efficient
E-waste	Percentage of recovered equipment	Still buried under growing mountains of waste
Financial impacts	Environmental damage costs as a percentage of economic output	Gradual improvement though tapering off
Fleet impacts	Estimated annual greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle	Uneven improvement
Green jobs	Number of existing green jobs	Measured growth despite overall employment trends
Green office space	LEED – certified commercial building space	Fewer finished projects but lots of new commitments
Packaging intensity	Materials used per unit of GDP	Slight improvement from previous year
Paper use and recycling	Paper use and recycling per unit of GDP	Paper use continues down while recycling rate keeps climbing

More information

State of Green Business 2009

Tags: Business, employee, energy efficiency, global green, green business, new carbon
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