Eco Friendly Workplace Handouts

The Emerald Office: Eco-Friendly Workforce Strategies

Kendall CollegeMay 18, 2009

Kyra Cavanaugh President, Life Meets Work--a consultancy and online

community that helps organizations drive bottom line results by implementing and optimizing flexible workforce strategies.

Flexible worker for last 10 years (telecommuting, part-time, contract, compressed work weeks).

Currently manages a virtual team. Career in consumer packaged goods for nearly 20 years:

Quaker, Keebler, Dominick’s Finer Foods, Willard Bishop Consulting

Member of Workplace Excellence Committee, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and spearheading flexible workforce project with the Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor.

Speaker at upcoming 2009 Illinois State SHRM Conference and recently honored as a finalist in the AWLP Work-Life Rising Star awards.

©Life Meets Work, 2009

Goals for this workshopMy goal: To demonstrate how flexible workforce strategies support

green and corporate sustainability goals

To discuss practical ways to implement and optimize flex work programs

What is your goal for today?


Going Green & Corporate Sustainability

Green: Reduce consumption Reduce environmental footprint Make better choices

Corporate Sustainability: Goes beyond environmental to social and governance policies Short term earnings gains aren’t enough, must act in ways

that benefit the community, shareholders, employees and the environment for long term survival

Outperformed the stock market average by 25% from 2005-2007.*

72% outperformed their peers during the same period.*


*Goldman Sachs, 2007

Alternative Workforce StrategiesAlternative Workforce Strategies (AWS) = Flexible

Work Part-time Condensed workweeks Teleworking Alternative Shift Scheduling Flex start and end times Summer hours Job sharing


Impact of alternative workforce strategies

AWS significantly impacts the environment: Telecommuting reduces:

CO2 emissions Reduction of 2 metric tons/worker/yr* 50 million teleworkers could save 100M metric tons**

Fossil fuel consumption Reduction in daily vehicle traffic by 53-77%*** Avg teleworker saves $870/yr on gas* 50 million teleworkers could save 587M barrels of oil**

Use of commercial real estate


*Sun Microsystems, 2008 **Study by Undress4success.com***ITIF, 2009


AWS significantly impacts the environment: Telecommuting reduces:

Automobile replacement cycle Avg teleworker saves $906/yr in car wear and tear*

Traffic congestion Enables more efficient trucking system which lowers

emissions and delivery costs “Reduced travel” policies:

Virtual Meetings-teleconferencing/webconferencing Worldwide reduction of more than 3B tons of CO2

emissions could be result of virtual meetings and telework alone by 2050***


*Sun Microsystems, 2008***WWF, 2009

AWS significantly impacts the environment: Less commercial real estate reduces:

Raw materials (lumber, metals, etc) Energy consumption:

Savings of 5400 kwh/year for someone working 2.1 days from home

Water consumption CO2 emissions Waste



Case StudiesState of Utah Implemented a four-day workweek in Summer, 2008 Cut energy use by 13% across 900 govt office buildings Now energy specialists are looking for inefficiencies to save

more Challenge: how to turn massive HVAC systems off on

Fridays

Fairfax, Virginia Increased to 20% of Fairfax public employees using AWS

and reduced traffic in the county by 6%

Microsoft Reduced business travel by 10% per employee in 2008 Saved $92M and 17,000 metric tons of CO2


Sun Microsystems’ Open Work program 14 year old program Over 56% of workforce works away at least 2 days/wk Reduced real estate holdings 15% in 2007 Saves over $70M/yr in real estate costs, Reduced 31,000 tons of greenhouse gases (23%) between

2002-2007 Wants to reduce another 20% by 2015 60% of time spent commuting is now given back in the form

of work Telecommuters score higher on performance ratings than

onsite peers 85% of employees would recommend Sun as an employer


Case Studies

AWS sustains corporate performance

Ten ways: Increased productivity Increased customer satisfaction/retention and service levels Increased employee retention/engagement Reduced absenteeism rates “Employer of Choice” recruitment and retention strategy Employees closer to customer locations Disability accommodation Supports work/life initiatives Business continuity/disaster planning Supports community by offering flexibility for working

caregivers


AWS sustains corporate performance 60% of teleworkers are less likely to look for another job.

--2008 Clean Air Campaign study

87% of employees and managers agreed telecommuters’

productivity improved or stayed the same. --2008 Study by National Science

Foundation

Teleworkers were more engaged and had more favorable opinions of senior management.

--2008 study of 10,000 workers by Kenexa Research Institute


Challenges Getting management buy-in

Both C-suite and middle management Training managers

Skills are the same for flex or onsite teams, but requires training to improve

Changing tradition Managers learned to manage this way and resist change

Adapting to performance management It’s about “what” work gets done, not “how” it gets done

Investing in technology and training Not all employees are tech-savvy Systems and infrastructure may require investment


Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with

their results.George S. Patton


Setting up a flexible work teamTwo ways to do it:

Approach A:

1) Create a proposal and offers flexible work options to eligible team members.

2) Offer a pilot program for 3 to 6 months with an evaluation, and option for ongoing arrangement.

Approach B:

1) Allow entire organization, department, team to work flexibly.

2) Team establishes and agrees to rules and

3) signs a Virtual Work Agreement that is reviewed and renewed every six months.


Managing a flexible work teamKey Components: Execute a Virtual Teams Agreement Realize management style influences outcome Create a sense of place Communicate deliberately Set goals and track performance Choose the right people


Offer for today’s attendeesFlexible work consultation Drop your card with Kyra after the event today. Schedule free one-hour phone consultation with Kyra

Cavanaugh, Flexible Workplace Expert and President of Life Meets Work by June 1, 2009

We'll discuss your workforce challenges and opportunities, the current state of your flex work program, or your interest in starting one.

At the end, you'll walk away with at least three pieces of actionable advice and no further obligation.

Just call 888-462-5691 or email [email protected]


Research From Workplace to Anyplace, WWF with a grant from

Microsoft Corporation, 2009 http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2009/WWFBinaryitem11939.pdf

Improving Quality of Life Through Telecommuting, ITIF, 2009

http://www.itif.org/files/Telecommuting.pdf A New Mindset for Corporate Sustainability, 2007

http://www.biggerthinking.com/docs/en/a_new_mindset_white_paper.pdf


Additional Resources Co-working sites:

See list at blog.coworking.info Regus-individual and corporate subscriptions

For more information about virtual teams: lifemeetswork.com telework.gov teleworkexchange.com

Resources from Sun Microsystems www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/ http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/managing_virtual

_world.pdf


http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/

http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/managing_virtual_world.pdf

http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/managing_virtual_world.pdf

Contact Us

Kyra CavanaughPresident, Life Meets Work

lifemeetswork.com888-462-5691

[email protected]
