Key Benefits of Sustainability Practices in the Workplace

Listen to a run-down of podcasts or look at the top articles on Google and it is easy to spot something on sustainability. People want sustainable homes, organizations want to create sustainable workplaces, governments want sustainable public spaces. It’s an excellent idea to create more sustainability in our work, life and play spaces, but in order to do so, we must first determine what sustainability means to us. 

If we consider workplaces and what sustainability can mean, someone who has taken environmental science courses may be focused on reducing the impact the organization has on various bodies of water. Alternatively, an individual with ISO certification is going to be more interested in processes and may have an increased interest in reducing volumes of packaging from a sustainability and space-saving mindset. A person who has gone through the LEED Green Associate exam prep is going to be centred on how a building is created or modified to create sustainability. 

No matter what the purpose or background is behind bringing more sustainability to the workplace, the first task is to get everyone who is involved in the project on the same page in terms of priorities and what they hope to accomplish. This leads directly to the first of these five benefits that come from creating more sustainability in a workplace. 

Benefits of Workplace Sustainability 

• By bringing people together to discuss sustainability in and around the workplace, a fabulous benefit is automatically generated: teamwork. Creating a team of people who are interested, engaged and working towards a shared goal brings increased motivation and moral to the organization. 

Someone will need to take a leadership role to define ground rules and get everyone in agreement about the tasks and plans ahead. Once this basis for working together exists, the team can set out to do great things and share their enthusiasm with others. Be sure that a communication strategy is part of the project to ensure the good things that are happening will be shared.


• Pride of the workplace and improved appreciation of the organization is another benefit of creating sustainable workplaces. It does not require someone who has taken environmental courses to find ways to reduce paper, plastic or other materials. Recycling programs, incorporating energy-efficient lightbulbs and finding water reduction tools are quick and easy ways to decrease resource use in an organization that employees can feel good about.

•  While employee appreciation of an organization’s sustainable actions will create higher moral and an improved in-organization brand image, when word gets out about what is happening, it’s common to also see an improved brand image perception from the public as well. This can result in a competitive advantage, overall great vibes for the organization and the possibility of increased sales. 

• As smaller sustainability activities are put into place and grow in effectiveness, it becomes easier for everyone to embrace larger activities that have a significant impact. An organization may not have the funds to change over the water system to make use of captured rainwater for toilet flushing, but cost savings from other activities can be accumulated towards this goal. When benefits are seen and appreciated, it becomes easier to try other new activities that work towards the bigger sustainability goals. 

•  Cost-savings are a natural by-product of sustainable activities. Large or small, businesses will see an improvement to the bottom line when they undertake more sustainability actions. This can come in the form of a reduction in shipping costs because fewer materials are needed, lower energy bills due to increased efficiency and less expense from employee turnover when moral is improved and employees are passionate about what their workplace believes in.         

Creating a sustainable workplace is not going to happen overnight, but with a commitment from employees, management and other stakeholders, small gradual changes can lead to larger ones that ultimately help change the world.