The Green Office

The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "Going Green Draws Talent". The article talks about how the a green office attracts young talent, increases productivity and reduces costs. They site several supporting sources including MonsterTRAK.com data and recruiters for Merrill Lynch and other large corporations. Companies are including their green practices in their literature and websites to help advertise their efforts.

At first glance, I thought the article was going to be another one that discusses what green practices are and what the USGBC says etc. But I was pleasantly surprised because the article talked about the employee experience. Natural daylight, filtered air, energy efficiency, things that are specific to the person and how they experience their work environment. It felt like there was a link between vision, philosophy and walking the talk. It reminds me of unaligned behaviors like serving organic, free trade coffee in your office but putting the coffee into paper cups or Styrofoam cups. It takes a lot of effort to marry up the vision with the day to day - that is an organizational shift. Yes it can be top down or bottom up but it requires both and all - and every individual counts.

Not to get too out there but sometimes the world feels so big and you feel so small and insignificant. Or maybe you feel out of control and you are desperately trying to get control of something. Well, the power of one is incredible. If you change your mind or change your habit, that impacts everything. Think of one thing in your office that could be changed to better the environment. Do that one thing and see what happens. It does not matter if you change someone else's mind or behavior. Do it for you - you have the impact - the world is just a huge amount of individuals, yous, that are making choices every day. Change your decisions and you will change the momentum.

When someone walks into your offices they have an experience. You cannot tell that person what it is supposed to be. Sight, sound, smell, design and energy make up that experience. When that someone leaves your office and calls a friend or family member and talks about their interview, I would bet that there is a comment on the feeling they had during their interview. "Wow, you should see the offices, they are a dump" "Wow, it just felt like a really great place and everyone was smiling". I can go on and on. I find it fascinating that the young talent is looking for stewardship in green from employers and are making their personal decisions using their power as an individual to "not be part of the problem" as one person in the WSJ article was quoted as saying.