No manager or owner with even the best of intentions can successfully green a business without the cooperation and participation of their employees. Given that employees have a host of other things to deal with while at work, motivating them to work towards environmental sustainability can sometimes be a task. Because of this, I have come up with a few techniques to help any business get their employees excited about going green.

Education is Key

It is difficult to get people to rally behind something they are not fully informed about. Unless your employees understand the reason why your company wants to go green, they will never put the full effort into achieving that goal. Currently, there are a whole host of resources for employee education.

A good one for the restaurant industry is a book called "A Guide to Creating Environmentally Sustainable Restaurants and Kitchens." Made available by the ingenious people from The Green restaurant Association, this publication serves as an excellent guidebook to the major environmental problems and solutions for the restaurant industry.

Another comprehensive resource that can span many industries is the Personal Sustainability Project. The Personal Sustainability Project is a program offered by Act Now, a green consulting firm out of San Francisco, that was developed for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Taking an alternative approach to employee education, The PSP works to integrate sustainable practices into every facet of the employee’s life. Accords to the Act Now website,

The Personal Sustainability Project (PSP) .., has touched more than 1 million people, guiding them to easily incorporate sustainability into their daily lives. By making small, yet meaningful changes at the personal level, a person can also attain a higher sense of purpose and connectedness to their community and planet.., PSP enables an organization to instill within its employees a lasting congruence of personal and professional life. The result is a healthy and happy workforce that strives to create a more sustainable and profitable organization.

Basically, PSP is an attempt to change the employees’ habits from the inside out, incorporating more eco-friendly ideals into every aspect of life.

If you have a smaller company, employees can dramatically benefit from some recreational, yet educational, reading. Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development is a book brimming with good ways a company can go green. Further, the book includes detailed case studies of how other companies have achieved their sustainability goals. Providing employees with informative reading material is not only a good way to bring them up to speed on the changes occurring within the company, but an excellent way to do something nice for the people who work for you.

Regardless of the resource you choose, it is very important to make sure your employees get the full gist of the environmental harms of your industry, as well as the necessity to compensate for them.

Listen Up!

Often times, employees have a valuable view into the environmental problems within a business. After all, they are the ones who experience the day-to-day operations of the company and thus can have very important points to make when it comes to the topic of sustainability.

Instead of simply telling your employees about the changes that are being made and what they have to do to comply, ask them about what areas of the business they see problems in. This will not only ensure that your sustainability program is as comprehensive as possible, but it will allow the employees a hand in drafting the direction of the company. In doing this, you are allowing your employees to take ownership of the sustainability program and, in turn, making them feel more connected to, and responsible for, its outcomes.

A Little Reward Can Go a Long Way

A creative way to get employees involved in greening a business is offer incentives to those who help actualize sustainable practices. Now, I am not advocating eco-bribes, but instead ‘eco-challenges’ with exciting pay-offs. Whether you want to see a reduction in food waste, or an increase in recycling, setting achievable goals is a good way to motivate people into action.

As an employer, you can institute fun contests to see which employee, or group within the company, can be the first to reach their target objective. Also, incentives are a key component to this method of motivation- it never hurts to offer small bonus to those employees going the extra mile. You can offer rewards like the right to wear jeans to work, or an extra day off at the end of the month. Whatever type of reward you chose, make sure your employees understand that you appreciate their effort.

Employee participation in any type of sustainability program will greatly increase its chance for success. While managers and owners may their heads wrapped around a sustainability program, without the support of the employees, efforts to go green may very well be all for naught. Plus, uniting all employees under a common goal is a great way to build cohesive unity among all levels of staff.