Engaging Employees in the CSR Function - podcast available

Blog by Julie Urlaub, Founder and Managing Partner at Taiga Company
Jul 7, 2010 10:19 AM ET
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Taiga Company Blog

Are you familiar with Gary Larson's The Far Side comic titled, "When imprinting studies go awry?"   It's a personal favorite as it illustrates a mother duck followed by her baby ducks and then, the scientist following all of them.  As a reminder, you may recall from your science days that imprinting is the behavior of a young animal learning the characteristics of its parent. 

As it is, today’s companies face greater pressure than ever before from shareholders, customers, and employees to become more sustainable.  But how do you engage workers within your business to personally integrate sustainability into their everyday actions and decisions?  Perhaps it starts with business as the mother duck and not the scientist. 
 
Frequently, business leaders want their employees to exhibit behavior or take initiative only to be disappointed in a negative result.  However, as we share in our business sustainability consulting, if you want to engage people in your company to be personally involved in taking eco actions and becoming more sustainable in their personal lives, then it seems only natural that the organization itself would lead those sustainability efforts by demonstrating value for the sustainability concepts they are asking their employees to embrace.  On the corporate level, this takes the form as a formal sustainability plan or business sustainable strategies.  Perhaps integrating alternative commuting programs , waste and recycling programs, or as Wal-Mart has done personal sustainability programs. 
 
To extend sustainability concepts beyond the workplace and into employees living more sustainable lifestyle, we offer the following suggestions in our professional consulting with businesses: click here to continue reading. 
 


Home to one third of the earth's trees, the Taiga is the largest land-based biosphere and encircles the globe. Its immense oxygen production literally changes the atmosphere and refreshes the planet. It is this continuous renewal that has shaped Taiga Company's vision to drive similar change in the business world. Taiga Company seeks to be the "oxygen for your business".

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