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Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
Global - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
ANZ - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
France - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
Germany - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
Spain - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
Sweden - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
UK - Employees
Employees lack the agency, access, and resources to impact their organization's sustainability goals
Which of the following statements apply to you?
(% of employees selecting this option)
US - Employees
Frontline employees are at the vanguard of the sustainability movement. They’re in the trenches, overcoming barriers, and finding creative solutions. If you want to fast forward your sustainability agenda, look for ways to identify, empower, and incentivize these future leaders.
Clarke Murphy, Leadership Advisor and former CEO, Russell Reynolds Associates
Why the Mobilization Divide matters
Bringing employees along on your sustainability journey is a strategic opportunity for you to magnify the impact of your sustainability investments. By harnessing their collective sense of purpose, you’ll move much faster toward your sustainability vision.
Our research shows that organizations that score highly on employee engagement are much more likely to have made progress on sustainability.
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Employees who have the resources they need to effectively advance the sustainability objectives of their company are 1.9x more likely to report that sustainability progress has been made and will continue to be made. |
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Employees who feel empowered to create and test innovative sustainability solutions are 1.7x more likely to report that sustainability progress has been made and will continue to be made. |
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Employees who feel empowered to make processes, products, or services more sustainable are 1.7x more likely to report that sustainability progress has been made and will continue to be made. |
2023 Survey 2021 Research Report Download full report
How world-leading organizations are bringing employees along on sustainability
Best-in-class organizations are giving next-generation leaders the tools they need to turn their passion for sustainability into productive action. They hear them, give them access to training, tools, and resources, and then reward them with more responsibilities and larger roles.
Heineken
Heineken runs an annual sustainability contest that’s open to any employee in Mexico under the age of 30. Each person has five minutes to pitch an idea for renewables or circularity. The best five concepts are selected for the attention of senior management, who then chose a winner to fly to the Netherlands to participate in the Nudge Global Impact Challenge.
Dolf van der Brink, Heineken’s CEO and Chairman, sees it as a chance to not only identify the next generation of sustainable leaders, but also to gain insights on potential sustainability practices and innovations from executive and management-track employees with direct experience at all levels of the supply chain.
Year after year, “we were inundated,” Dolf told us. And not only were many of the ideas good, they were practicable, having been carefully mapped out in ways that could easily be implemented.
“I asked myself … How do you operationalize sustainability? How do you mobilize the whole organization around it?.”
Source: Sustainable Leadership, Russell Reynolds Associates, 2021
Divides and Dividends | 2023 Report
Deliver stand-out sustainability success.
Discover other risks that may stop you from reaching your sustainability goals
It’s not enough to just commit to sustainability. To make a positive impact, you need to deeply integrate sustainability across your entire organization—from strategy and operations to daily decisions. Our research shows four gaps that, unless addressed, will prevent this from happening.
Leaders are making the right noises around sustainability. Yet beneath the surface, they still see sustainability as a brand-building exercise, rather than a true lever for business performance.
CEOs often lack the vision and courage that’s needed to take risks, navigate complex trade-offs—and ultimately pivot their organizations toward a more sustainable future.
In the rush to make visible commitments to sustainability organizations are forgetting to ensure their executive team is incentivized to make change happen—and stick.