Workplace Sustainability Policy Development

Legislation and Explanation

Outline of the legislation that relates to sustainability and provides an explanation

Question 2

Identification and explanation of internal and external sources of information that can be used to plan and develop an organization’s sustainability policy.

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Question 3

Typical processes that could be used in an organization to develop policy and procedures

The four main processes that the organizations follow to develop the procedures and policy of the company are:

• The requirement- Organizations work out to understand what policies are required, what the other competitor organizations have, what can be the uniqueness of the organization (Markey, McIvor and Wright 2016). This process includes a gathering of consultations and suggestions from people across the organization.
• The Drafting, refining and writing up the policies that are to be implemented.
• Approval and endorsement of the policies by the management committee.
• Promoting the policies in the workplace and collection of feedback and suggestions for the areas of improvement.

Question 4

Outline typical barriers to implementing policies and procedures, and provide strategies to address them

Task 1: Develop Workplace Sustainability Policy

• Gather information

Both internal and external sources of information are utilized by the company to make correct business decisions and strategies. Both primary data sources and secondary data are used while making the policy framework for the workplace development. The three important sources of information are Databases and Research, Manufacturing information and Trade groupings (Markey, McIvor and Wright 2016).

Companies tend to engage in activities that impact or affect the environment by the use of different resources. Hence the creation of the sustainability management policy is important since it allows the organization to monitor and control the impacts and attaining the environmental objectives (Rogge and Reichardt 2016). This will result in making the concept of sustainability an integral portion of the business activity. Achievement of the effective implementation of the policy includes development of sustainability policies and procedures, effective communication with the stakeholders, implementation of the policy and conducting revise on daily basis to promote continuous improvement (Salvioni and Astori 2015).

The sustainable development project of the company includes certain factors that promote sustainability among the environment of the organization. It includes recycling of the usable products like papers, minimum use of resources and reduction in the use of toxic and hazardous substances (Norton, Zacher and Ashkanasy 2014). Environmentally sustainable work practices are those reduce the harm on the environment and reduce the wastage of resources used. Some of the general guidelines for the sustainable environment at work are:

• Reduction in the use of goods or products which bans the generation of wastes products.
• Reduction of waste by availing products that have minimal packaging and the products which can be utilized productively and recycled later on.
• Reusing of containers and packaging of products (Yun et al. 2015).
• Recycling of waste materials in to usable materials of production.
• Practicing disposal of waste safely to make it less harmful.

• Develop policies and procedures

The procedures for each policy statements for developing the work place sustainability plan includes Fair Trade Policy and Workplace Comfort Guidelines (Kim et al. 2017). The organization targets to minimize the impact of threats to the environment through some of the general policy factors. It includes, providing a safe and healthful workplace, having a culture that is environmentally sustainable, conserving natural resources by recycling and reusing resources, enhancing awareness among the employees of the organization to motivate them for maintaining a sustainable environment in the workplace.

Internal and External Sources of Information for Policy Development

Procedures:

• Reduction of pollution and waste and greenhouse gas emission at workplace.
• Reduction of the resource consumption by improved structures and design, efficient use and sustainable procurement (Hák, Janoušková and Moldan 2016).
• Protection and improvement of the natural environment by reduction in resource consumption (Markey, McIvor and Wright 2016).
• Improvement in social and environmental outcomes from contradicting and procurement activities.
• Increased tendency of the adaptability rate in the workplace environment.

Procedures:

• Improving the energy efficiency and reduction in the use of overall energy.
• Increased use of sustainable transportation.
• Increased recovery of resources and reduction of waste materials.
• Improvement of the health outcomes and the environment (Eales and Sheate 2016).
• Improvement of biodiversity outcomes.
  • Develop implementation plan for policies and procedures

The three major procedures to develop an implementation plan for the sustainability at workplace includes:

Activities:

• Recording all lengths of business travel by mode and record the emissions.
• Developing a target for reducing carbon emissions (Salvioni and Astori 2015)
• Encouraging the use of earth friendly products for reducing traffic congestion
• Provide sustainable training to the employees of the organization
• Maintaining an environment friendly and healthy working environment (Carayon et al. 2015).
• Maintenance of well ventilated and chemical free indoor air spaces

Activities:

• Increasing the efficiency of the energy
• Utilizing renewable energy alternatives for becoming climate neutral
• Developing targets for electricity proportion from renewable sources
• Investment in new ecofriendly schemes (Ammendolia et al. 2016).
• Developing energy saving standards of the building
• Influencing attitudes to ensure that unused tools and equipment at workplace are fully turned off

Actions:

• Recycle of all waste office paper and cartridges of the toner
• Recycle of all plastic bottles, glass and cans
• Selling or donation of all redundant office equipment for reuse
• Investigating onsite solid waste gathering services (Rogge and Reichardt 2016).
• Encouragement of citywide encouragement programs
• Increasing onsite recycling.

• Seek approval with policy and procedures plan

The e-mail to the manager with the recommendation of the plan that links the goals of the sustainability includes the following.

Besides these, there are lot many plans and strategies will help in effective implementation of sustainability policies in the company. These are cost effective (Ghosh 2015). The idea of recycle and reuse of waste products will reduce the cost to the company. While the company may have to invest in some ecofriendly products, the return for the investment will be fruitful.

Task 2: Communicate Workplace Sustainability Policy

Promote policies and procedures to users

It is essential that all the employees and workers in the organization know and understand the policies and where to find the procedures. Translation into other languages may be required for an easy access for everyone. Policies can be officially endorsed and launched at staff meetings. Some of the notable ways to promote policies are:

• Publishing the policies and the procedures on the website
• Producing brochures for employees and customers (Yun et al. 2015).
• Attaching copies to pay slips or mailing them to the employees of the organization
• Displaying them on the notice boards inside the organization
• Including the policies and the procedures in the business plans, company manuals and performance appraisals (Raineri and Paillé 2016).
• Giving them to new employees and getting an acknowledgment signature.
• Updating and circulating the policies regularly through the organization.

Task 3: Implement Workplace Sustainability Policy

Record results with implementation of policies and procedures

Task 4: Review Workplace Sustainability Policy Implementation

Identify any variance and provide feedback to stakeholders

One of the most important parts of the improvement cycle is documenting the outcomes of sustainability initiatives. Outcomes can be recorded in sustainability reports, annual reports and financial reports. Some of the types of reports are formal compliance reports, regular target achievement reports and general compliance reports (Hák, Janoušková and Moldan 2016). Though the senior managers and shareholders receive regular formal reports, it is important for the other stakeholders as well to know the progress of the organization towards its achievement of environmental targets. Some of the common ways to provide feedback are:

E-mails and letters: Tailor correspondence to a specific group of key personnel focusing the progress and giving targeted feedbacks.

Website and internet -Using internet website for giving feedbacks and information relating to the implementation of workplace sustainability policy and procedures (Carayon et al. 2015). It can further be used to highlight achievements.

Identify and analyze issues with the implementation

Factors or the issues while implementation of the policy:

Action- Active participation in the phase of consultation of key legislation

The language of sustainability

Action- Development of shared sustainability vision and understandings

The Research and development challenges

Action- Subscribing to networks of sustainability that allows transfer of knowledge and approaches (Barak 2016).

Typical Processes for Developing Policy and Procedures

The Lack of internal and external funding

Action- Identification and implementation of low cost initiatives.

The Competing priorities

Action- Using concerns and community expectations to focus the importance of sustainability problem (Raineri and Paillé 2016).

Some of the basic modifications that are required for the policies and procedures are:

• The building needs to be appropriate for the purpose of the services provided. It needs to be clean and surrounded with a little greenery (Ahmad 2015).
• The organization should include functional heating, electrical and cooling equipment inside the office (Rogge and Reichardt 2016).
• The employees should not be forced to take sustainable training in the workplace.

Modification of policies depends mostly on the circumstances. Changes in the procedures and policies have a great impact on the employees of the organization. Thus, it is important for the organization to work within the legal and ethical framework.

References

Ammendolia, C., Côté, P., Cancelliere, C., Cassidy, J.D., Hartvigsen, J., Boyle, E., Soklaridis, S., Stern, P. and Amick, B., 2016. Healthy and productive workers: using intervention mapping to design a workplace health promotion and wellness program to improve presenteeism. BMC public health, 16(1), p.1190.

Norton, T.A., Zacher, H. and Ashkanasy, N.M., 2014. Organisational sustainability policies and employee green behaviour: The mediating role of work climate perceptions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 38, pp.49-54.

Markey, R., McIvor, J. and Wright, C.F., 2016. Employee participation and carbon emissions reduction in Australian workplaces. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(2), pp.173-191.

Raineri, N. and Paillé, P., 2016. Linking corporate policy and supervisory support with environmental citizenship behaviors: The role of employee environmental beliefs and commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(1), pp.129-148.

Carayon, P., Hancock, P., Leveson, N., Noy, I., Sznelwar, L. and Van Hootegem, G., 2015. Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety–developing the conceptual framework. Ergonomics, 58(4), pp.548-564.

Salvioni, D. and Astori, R., 2015. Sustainable development and global responsibility in corporate governance.

Hák, T., Janoušková, S. and Moldan, B., 2016. Sustainable Development Goals: A need for relevant indicators. Ecological Indicators, 60, pp.565-573.

Nilsen, P., 2015. Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation Science, 10(1), p.53.

Ghosh, K., 2015. Developing organizational creativity and innovation: toward a model of self-leadership, employee creativity, creativity climate and workplace innovative orientation. Management Research Review, 38(11), pp.1126-1148.

Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.

Rogge, K.S. and Reichardt, K., 2016. Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: An extended concept and framework for analysis. Research Policy, 45(8), pp.1620-1635.

Eales, R.P. and Sheate, W.R., 2016. Effectiveness of policy level environmental and sustainability assessment: Challenges and lessons from recent practice. In Progress in Environmental Assessment Policy, and Management Theory and Practice (pp. 67-93).

Yun, R., Aziz, A., Scupelli, P., Lasternas, B., Zhang, C. and Loftness, V., 2015, April. Beyond eco-feedback: adding online manual and automated controls to promote workplace sustainability. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1989-1992). ACM.

Rezapouraghdam, H., Alipour, H. and Arasli, H., 2018. Workplace spirituality and organization sustainability: a theoretical perspective on hospitality employees’ sustainable behavior. Environment, Development and Sustainability, pp.1-19.

Kim, A., Kim, Y., Han, K., Jackson, S.E. and Ployhart, R.E., 2017. Multilevel influences on voluntary workplace green behavior: Individual differences, leader behavior, and coworker advocacy. Journal of Management, 43(5), pp.1335-1358.

Piercy, N. and Rich, N., 2015. The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 35(2), pp.282-315.

Ahmad, S., 2015. Green human resource management: Policies and practices. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), p.1030817.

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