🔒How to attract young talent — and save the planet

Younger generations care about the climate.

In 2017, 33% of the workforce was Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980), 35% of the workforce were millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), and only 5% of the workforce was Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012). The oldest members of Gen Z are now 25. By 2025, Gen Z is expected to make up 27% of the global workforce, making them an important demographic to pay attention to now.

These three generations share the belief that climate change is real and a primary threat to their future. This age group is also more tech savvy than any preceding them. There is no doubt that a greater percentage of the workforce will be spending some time working remotely. A recent study shows that only 3% of the white-collar workforce wants to return to the office full time.

The impact of working on climate change

Commercial buildings, through their operational and embodied carbon, contribute 39% to carbon emissions. Operational carbon is the collective CO2 emissions generated through running the building. Embodied carbon represents the total greenhouse gas emissions created to produce a built asset. Transport is responsible for another 22% contribution to carbon emissions on an annual basis.

Before the pandemic, office spaces were empty 40% to 60% of the time. This statistic was established well before remote working was as widely accepted as it is now. That adds up to a lot of empty workspaces requiring heating, cooling, and power during a work week.

Hybrid workplaces and work

Creating a healthy holistic hybrid working experience requires thinking differently about the role of the office. Over the past two years we have learned that when people imagine coming back into an office, they want to socialize and connect. The physical space people need to meet and collaborate can be 75% to 50% less than the space needed to conduct individual focused work.

Employees want choice and flexibility about how, when and where they work. Research shows that choice and flexibility can result in higher employee engagement and greater productivity.

An organization can create a healthy hybrid workplace by providing connection to purpose and inviting people to consider what best fits their way of working. This is not done in isolation; it is accomplished through facilitated conversations, inquiry and listening.

Here are three ways to foster a healthy, holistic hybrid workplace (and save the planet):

• Clarify your organizational purpose. Purpose is an intrinsic human motivator, builds community and is one of the six factors of high performing teams. Find ways to make it visible every day.
• Create a Working Together Agreement. A WTA is an agreed upon set of norms, behaviors, and etiquette for how people want to “be” with each other wherever they are working (remotely or in an office). Best written by the employees themselves, the WTA is their code of conduct or compact.
• Rethink the role of the office. Once you know what allows your people to be productive and how they want to work together, reimagine the purpose of the office. You may choose to reduce or even abandon your office presence. Money saved on overhead and operations can be invested in meaningful off-site experiences, learning and development training, and improved technology.

A healthy hybrid workplace is based on a culture of trust, autonomy, flexibility, and choice, with a clearly articulated organizational purpose. It looks like engaged employees doing work that inspires and lifts them up, while contributing to a company’s bottom line. Done thoughtfully, rethinking work can help you attract and retain emerging talent, and help all of us reach net zero.

Lisa Whited is a member of ACE and serves on the executive board of Workplace Evolutionaries. She can be reached at lisa@workplacetf.com.