GREEN HRM

Green HRM is the use of HRM policies to sustainable use of resources

within business organizations and generally promotes the cause of
environmentalism.
Green HRM initiatives are increasing as a result of mounting concern
over global warming and the adverse effects of excess business
activity on the environment. They often form part of Corporate Social
Responsibility.
The kinds of action taken within Green HRM initiatives include
educating employees about climate change, other environmental
issues, training and use of methods that reduce the use of resources,
promoting more sustainable means of travel, car sharing, cycling,
public transport, and providing employee benefits to eliminate those
methods that are environmentally degrading. Some initiatives also
make use of employee volunteering to support environmental charities
and projects meant to develop green initiatives at work. Where trade
unions are present, Green HRM may involve consultation and joint
working with union. Union representatives who are trained to promote
green agenda at work to advance sustainable business practices.

There is a growing need for the integration of environmental

management into Human Resource Management (HRM) – Green HRM –
research practice. A review of the literature shows that a broad
process frame of reference for Green HRM has yet to emerge. A
concise categorisation is needed in this field to help academics,
researchers and practitioners, with enough studies in existence to
guide such modelling. This article takes a new and integrated view of
the literature in Green HRM, using it to classify the literature on the
basis of entry-to exit processes in HRM (from recruitment to exit),
revealing the role that HR processes play in translating Green HR
policy into practice. The contribution of this article lies in drawing
together the extant literature in this area, mapping the terrain in this
field, and in proposing a new process model and research agenda in
Green HRM.
Green HR involves reducing your carbon footprint via less printing of
paper, video conferencing and interviews, etc. Companies are quick to
layoff when times are tough before realizing the future implications of
losing that knowledge capital. Green HR initiatives help companies find
alternative ways to cut cost without losing their top talent; furloughs,
part time work, etc.
Following issues related to GREEN HRM are gaining importance
with the passage of time:
1. The influence of social, economic, market and other external
forces on the approaches to environmental management
adopted by firms
2. Workforce development needs created by increasing demand for
employees in the newly emerging green economy
3. Discussions of how and to what extent HR policies and practices
can improve the environmental performance of organizations
4. Specific HR philosophies, policies and/or practices that support or
inhibit change around environmental issues
5. International differences in Green HRM practices
6. The Role of the HR function in environmental management
7. The role played by trade unions and employee representatives in
environmental management
8. Changing attitudes and behaviors related to environmental
issues in the work-place
9. A critique addressing the pros and cons for research and/or
practice of focusing narrowly on environmental management
versus addressing environmental concerns as part of a more
 expansive approach (e.g., focusing on the Triple Bottom Line or
striving for “sustainability”)
10. Discussions of how current theoretical perspectives and
frameworks (e.g., those related to strategic competitiveness,
knowledge management, learning organization, communities of
practice) can be applied by reflective practitioners to create an
eco-friendly organizational culture, and
11. Any additional theoretical, empirical, review or model-building
contributions in Green HRM

GREEN HRM PROCESSES

RECRUITMENT:
1. Green/EM (Environmental Management) job descriptions for
employees
2. And green goals included into managerial job descriptions
3. Graduate perceptions of EM practises (use of Green criteria)
4. Green job candidates use Green criteria when applying for jobs
5. Recruitment of employees who are ‘Green aware’
6. becomes part of the interview schedule
7. Green employer branding (green employer of choice)
8. Green intro. to inductions (familiarisation) e.g. Health & Safety
9. Becoming a green employer may produce other HR benefits,
such as:
• increased staff motivation and/or engagement
• reductions in labour turnover and
• increasing workforce health

PERFORMANCE MAANGEMENT AND APPRAISAL

1. Green performance standards & indicators in PMA at all dept.
levels
 2. Communication of Green schemes for all via procedures/auditing
to all levels in PMA scheme, est. firm-wide dialogue on green
matters
3. Managers are set green targets, goals and responsibilities
4. Roles of managers in achieving Green outcomes included in
appraisals (e.g. familiarisation, & encourage EM learning)
5. Green standards for all dept’s in on-site use, waste
mgmt./reduction (e.g.’s EG&G, Kodak, BFI)
6. Mgmt. appraisals assess no. of green incidents, use of
environment responsibly, & successful communication of
environmental policy
7. Penalties for non-compliance on targets in EM
8. Link EM in PMA to Pay & Reward, stop EM as a ‘fad

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (T&D)

1. Train front-line teams to analyze their work areas in
Environmental Management (EM)
2. Integrating EM training, processes & material use, use TNA in EM
3. Integrating training on instruction and generation of eco-values
4. Development of employee skills, and competence building in EM
5. Socialisation in Green values/management, use of Green teams
in EM
6. Train staff to produce green analysis of workspace
7. Job rotation to train green managers of the future
8. Integrating training to increase staff knowledge in EM
9. Use discussion packs , suggestions, interactive media as tools for
EM training
10. Training in EM aspects of safety, energy efficiency, waste
management, & recycling / Safety representatives to give data
on green courses
11. Develop Green personal & tacit skills, & knowledge in EM
 12. Re-train staff losing jobs in pollution causing industries (union
role)
13. EM affects job skills, so union role here would be to help out
14. Union representatives should be given time to attend Green
training
15. Unions must include EM in training of union activists

Problems faced in T&D:

1. Lack of take-up in training/education in EM
2. Low level of management eco-literacy
3. time needed to Educate & train employees in EM business
practices
4. Needs employee development to increase tacit skills in EM,
which are difficult to be taught in classroom, just like most
qualitative skills
5. Need to broaden EM specialists into managers. A combination of
environmental management skills and business management
skills is rare.
6. EM problems are complex, so knowledge is important to
understand & utilise. Hence, knowledge management in this
sphere might turn oiut to be oth time consuming and difficult.
7. Challenge is to install eco-values as there are few models out
there to support eco-investment.
8. Few Green courses at Universities – poses recruitment issue for
some firms.
9. EM focus on developing personal skills/team-building in global
firms
10. Unions want sustainability included into apprenticeships
Training & Development: E.g. Kent County Council (KCC):
KCC faces barriers to increased ownership in EM:
• Lack of commitment/will by seniors
 • Cynicism of importance/relevance of issues
• Lack of resources/time
• Green fascism/policing
• New bureaucracy
• Cost constraints
• Communication/mentoring issues
• Lack of training
• Knowledge gaps
KCC faces problems such as:
• Few staff being trained effectively
• Green teams view other staff not resp. in EM
• Staff give token response/hostile rejection to EM
• Difficult to maintain EM due to other priorities
KCC is scoring some success, such as:
• Establishing EM onto dept agendas, plans & projects
• Embracing EM agenda (achieving culture change)
• Helping departments to gain access to funding
• Implementing programmes in EM (like water/energy efficiency,
green purchasing, < paper consumption, transport & waste,
promoting resource efficiency.

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS / INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

1. Employee Involvement & Participation (EI&P) in EM
suggestion schemes/problem-solving circles (encourages
concern/applies skills)
2. Staff independence to form & experiment with green ideas
3. Integrate EI&P to EM - productive maintenance (cleaning,
greasing)
4. Employee help-line for guidance in Green matters
5. Tailor Green EI scheme to industry/firm standards (esp.
SMEs)
 6. Increase line/supervisory support behaviours in EM
7. Unions EM agreements train union representatives
8. Green elements into Health & Safety, e.g. exposure to
fumes/chemicals
9. Encouraging employees to use green transport
10. Introduce EM whistle-blowing help-lines, EM grievance &
discipline procedure, dismissal for EM breaches
11. Use/develop social capital in EM, networks, resources

Barriers to EI in EM:
• Lack of management support for EM (e.g. Rover/KCC/Accenture)
• Unions may lack access to EM information, and education, &
training in EM – all of which undermine union bargaining power
• Workers may not see EM as an issue ‘for them’, unlike pay which
may be a more direct concern
Firms may use EI to generate revenue & reduce pollution:
• e.g. 3M, (2,500 solutions/waste release halved/saved $300m, &
later estimates of 4,750 projects globally/preventing £1.7bn of
pollution/ saved $850m pollution control/raw material costs)
• e.g. American Airlines flight attendants recycled 616,000 pounds
of aluminium cans (gain of $40,000)
• e.g. Dow Chemicals 173% ROI in 1st year.
• Other examples include schemes at Chrysler/Jeep, AT&T,
Wheeling-Pittsburgh
Firms may establish firm policies to support employee eco-initiatives, &
use supervisors to support employee EM actions:
• e.g. GE Plastics, Lucent Technologies.
Firms may use EI as it can motivate workers in EM, by:
• Allowing them to detect leaks in production processes
• Increase team knowledge of causes of waste, & how to reduce
these (as this is delegated to them). E.g’s:
 • Chrysler/Jeep (recycling)
• AT&T (waste disposal)
• 3M/Kodak/DuPont/Procter & Gamble (all waste reduction)
• See gains from EI in improvements in EM & workers H&S, & the
development of more knowledgeable employees/supervisors in
EM as a whole
• Est. & use worldwide Green forums to share info. Re. EM
processes, &/or offer help-line for staff - e.g. Cable & Wireless
Union Role :
• Unions may act as allies to Environmental Managers (EM’s) to
generate self-directed Green initiatives from workers, e.g.
• Campaign in EM to incl. co-operation with green groups, & focus
on H&S concerns re. Hazardous/damaging substances & refusal
to handle toxic waste
• Seek legal rights for workers to paid time-off to attend training in
EM, & be informed of outcomes on monitoring
discharges/emissions
• Employers may encourage union members to be involved in
Green programmes, e.g. Sony, who do this to < glass
defects/waste glass & < energy use
• Be reluctant to involve unions in EM as they see EM as a mgmt
issue (e.g. U.K. CBI oppose mandatory Green audits/union role in
them, & see them as tools for mgmt control/assessment)

PAY & REWARDS

1. Need for a Green pay/reward system to manage waste,
e.g. DuPont/3M, & gain knowledge (such as chemistry re.
emissions)
2. Tailor packages to reward green skills acquisition
3. Use of monetary-based EM rewards (bonuses, cash,
premiums)
 4. Use of non-monetary based EM rewards (sabbaticals,
leave, gifts) & recognition-based ones (awards, publicity,
external roles, daily praise)
5. Develop negative reinforcements (criticism, warnings,
suspensions for lapses)
6. Develop positive rewards in EM (e.g. feedback)
7. Link EM suggestion scheme to reward system &
participation in EM initiatives to career gains (mgrs.
advance by helping staff in EM)
8. Use green tax breaks to motivate employees in EM
• Difficult to assess staff efforts/results in EM, & to reward
it
Use monetary-based Green reward systems:
• E.g. BFI, imp. % of mgmt monthly pay bonuses dependent on
outcomes achieved in EM
• DuPont & Neste Oy use exec pay/bonuses for middle
mgrs/seniors partly based on stewardship practices/perf. goals in
EM - part of bonus system
• ICI set EM targets for senior mgmt PRP grading

Use recognition-based rewards for mgrs:

• E.g. Monsanto/Dow/ICI/Coors (present awards at public meetings)
• Duke Power (awards publicised via news articles)

Make recognition at different levels:

• E.g. at EG&G for individual/team/division contributions to waste
<
• Xerox company-wide team excellence awards
• Body Shop pay staff to complete Green community
service/events
• FedEx give 3 months paid leave to work on EM projects
Organisations may provide EM incentives. E.g.’s:
• Car mileage for company cars can be extended to cover bike
journeys/loans.
• Staff can be offered financial substitutes for car allowances
encouraging car pooling/sharing.
• Company cars can be limited to journeys beyond public
transport.
• Tax incentives/exemptions can be used to loan bikes/safety
equipment to staff.
• Organisations can use a less polluting car fleet.
• E.g. Rover, used suggestion scheme where if savings made by
staff were over a certain level, reward for them was a new car!
Hence…

EMPLOYEE EXIT
• Dismissal/exit de-briefings could include an EM dimension, as
managers need to know why staff leave
• Employers formulate & use whistle-blowing codes, & provide
legal protection for users of them
• Employers avoid stereotyping of whistle-blowers & use of
‘reverse’ whistle-blowing practices
• Managers to ask if Green issues are reasons for resignations (too
little EM? moving to a more Green employer?)
• Exit interviews & whistle-blower accounts to gauge firm Green-
ness
• Employers may need policy in EM & to respond to ‘Green belief’
requests by employees
• (e.g. for less travel, more recycling facilities, more flexible
working), to avoid claims that EM beliefs are ignored
 Green HR Roles

HR Environmental Generalists
HR Generalists (Today?)
(Tomorrow?)
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Green

HR Non-Environ. Specialists HR Environmental Specialists

(Yesterday?) (Tomorrow?)
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