With the climate crisis in full swing and environmental sustainability at the forefront of everyone’s minds, more and more teams are thinking about how they can do more to help the planet.
Many companies have committed to reducing their carbon emissions, yours may be one of them! But have you thought about how you could use employee benefits to align with green policies and help achieve sustainability goals?
Green employee benefits present a great opportunity to communicate company values and empower your people to make meaningful changes.
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at why you should consider greener employee benefits and 5 examples of sustainable employee benefits.
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Why green employee benefits matter
Reduce the collective carbon footprint
Considering green employee benefits is a great way to support your wider sustainable business model. If you want your sustainable values to shine through all aspects of your business, then offering environmentally friendly benefits is a great way to demonstrate this.
Plus, green employee benefits will encourage your whole team to be more environmentally conscious!
Gen Z and Millennials are the workforce of the future
71% of Millenials and Gen Z see climate change as the biggest challenge facing their generation. Similarly, a Deloitte study found that 49% of Gen Z said their values influence what type of work they do.
Young people want their employer to make a positive and meaningful environmental impact. If you want to attract fresh and dynamic talent, you should think about how sustainable your benefits are!
Improve your employer brand
In a lot of ways, your benefits reflect your priorities and can really help signal your company values. It’s easy to say “we value this”, but can you put your money where your mouth is?
The rise of the ‘ethical employee’ has meant that the companies who attract and retain the best talent are those who offer meaningful sustainable employee benefits. Read more about employer branding here.
5 employee benefits that benefit the planet
So, what are some ways that your employee benefits can help the planet? We’ve chosen 5 great employee benefits that are environmentally friendly:
1. Remote working 🏠
Flexible working supports the work-life balance of your team. But it also supports the environment, too!
Cutting down on the number of days your team travels into the office means that you reduce your collective carbon emissions. Win!
2. Salary sacrifice schemes 🔒
With salary sacrifices, the employee agrees to give up some of their salary over time to put towards a benefit.
The amount is taken from their gross salary (before tax), meaning the employee will pay less National Insurance and Income Tax. The employer’s National Insurance Contributions are reduced too - so it’s a win for all!!
A classic example of a sustainable salary sacrifice benefit is the cycle to work scheme. This scheme also promotes health, wellbeing & greener travel! Some other green options include charity salary sacrifice e.g., planting trees and EV (electric vehicle) schemes.
For more info on the tax implications of salary sacrifice, check out our guide.
3. Carpooling 🚗
As with the cycle to work schemes, promoting greener travel through employee benefits can be really effective at tackling the climate crisis.
Encouraging your team to car share when commuting by offering incentives is a fun way to reduce their carbon footprint. It reduces traffic pollution and can save them money on parking costs, too!
4. Volunteering days 🌳
You can help support the environment through offering your employees a paid volunteering day each year. This could be a day where they volunteer for an environmental charity of their choice. Their contribution can be really impactful!
5. Green budgets 💚
Dave’s idea of sustainability is reducing single use plastics. This might mean he has to purchase more expensive groceries and reusable bags.
Sarah has a nice big garden. Her idea of sustainability is to grow her own vegetables and plant more trees.
Both require time and money. Offering flexible sustainability budgets lets your team invest in the things that will have the most impact for them - without the financial strain.
Feeling inspired?
If you want to find out how to go about offering these environmentally friendly benefits to your team, we’d be happy to help! Email us at hello@thanksben.com.
P.S. Ben is a paperless employee benefits platform…