Adopting Sustainability for Better Workplace Performance

A couple years ago I met an interesting individual by the name of John Bernardo, the owner of Sustainable Innovations based in Boise, ID. After learning more about John’s work experience and his business, I started to think about how sustainability in business can improve workplace performance.  Below is a brief interview I did with John to learn more about sustainability and how it relates back to business.

1. When speaking to the business community, how do you explain sustainability?
   Sustainability is operating so your business can thrive today without impairing other business opportunities to operate and thrive in the future.  If current standard operating procedures include use of petroleum-based feedstock or non-renewable resources, you are not operating in a sustainable manner.  Sustainable operations promote reduced operating costs, enhanced social standing and improved regard for the environment.
2. In what ways can sustainability practices improve workplace performance - in other words, improve the productivity of an organization's workforce?
   Sustainable operations involve:
   • Improving your regard for the environment (use of resources, generation of wastes, etc.) which can reduce your operating costs through more reliable sourcing and reduced regulatory agency oversight.
   • Improving your bottom line by reducing costs and enhancing revenues through recycling or re-sale of obsolete resources once considered wastes.
   • Enhancing your social standing by promoting your efforts to stakeholders, shareholders, employees and customers.
3. What are some things an organization can do today to adopt sustainability practices and hopefully see results in a short timeframe? 
   • Initiate dialogues with their suppliers to ensure responsible sourcing of materials and future availability.
   • Consider what their customers do with their product once it becomes obsolete.  Making it easier for a downstream user to return or recycle a product and its packaging can lead to loyalty and favorable customer reviews.
   • Asses their current operations and look for opportunities to save energy, reduce waste generation, enhance efficiencies and reduce their impact on the neighborhoods in which they operate.  For instance, generating less waste means fewer diesel-powered truck trips to their facility to haul wastes to the landfill which can promote fuel savings, reduced GHG emissions, and longer lifespan of landfill cells.

The insight I gained from my brief interview with John is that sustainability has two objectives.  First, reduce the environmental impact of a business by eliminating wastes and second, by adopting sustainability practices improve the bottom line and profits.  Much of this accomplished through the management and use of resources.  In workplace performance improvement, we analyze among many things an organization’s resources to identify needs or opportunities.  Through a gap analysis of the current business state versus the desired business state, if it is determined that resources (too much, too little or not the right kind) are the cause behind the need for change, perhaps adopting sustainability practices may be the correct intervention to improve workplace performance.

I appreciate John taking the time to answer my questions and I’m sure more exploration of the linkages between workplace performance improvement and sustainability will be a worthy venture.

If you are interested in learning more about sustainability, visit John at Sustainable Innovations.  Also, if you are a reader of this blog in the Boise area, John will be presenting a workshop on sustainability on Friday, April 3rd at 9:00 a.m.  The workshop, entitled Sustainable Operations - It's About More than the Environment; It's About the Bottom Line, will be presented as part of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce training series.  To join, visit the Chamber website to register.