When less is more - Building a better working world - EY - · PDF file · 2015-07-29Hospitality and Workplace Services Manager “Leadership discussed its options. ... business...

When less is more Seven steps to a greener office and a blacker bottom line

Why recycling? Why now?Every company needs to meet the demands of its community, its clients and its employees and develop ways to reduce environmental impact. Ernst & Young LLP’s Atlanta office is no different. A longtime major employer in Atlanta, Ernst & Young LLP moved to a larger space there (138,000 sq ft) in 2007.

Although the Atlanta office was already participating in several sustainability initiatives across the firm, terms of the new building lease stipulated that Ernst & Young LLP — like all tenants — needed to participate fully in the building’s recycling program. By deploying a comprehensive recycling solution and meeting all the program guidelines, the Atlanta office was able to avoid fines and positively affect the bottom line.

Faced with an urgent, business-driven need to address recycling and the desire to go all in, office leadership sought to:

• Better the bottom line

• Engage clients, the community and employees

• Help create a greener Atlanta

What we did: streamlining recyclingOn Earth Day, 22 April 2011, the Atlanta office of Ernst & Young LLP launched Sustainable Success, our single stream recycling program. More than 1,000 black recycling cans were removed from workspaces, conference rooms and common spaces in the Atlanta office. The cans were donated to the Atlanta Public School System and KIPP Charter Schools. In their place, the office provided strategically positioned, uniformly labeled Landfill and Recycle bins. During the rollout, EcoCare, Ernst & Young LLP’s grassroots volunteer network, coordinated and provided assistance for the Atlanta office, drawing on the experiences of other successful recycling initiatives both in the US and overseas.

“The Sustainable Success program is important for many reasons: it’s good for our firm, our people and our community. It also brings credibility to our Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice. It shows we are talking the talk and walking the walk.”

— Susan Bell Ernst & Young LLP Atlanta Office Managing Partner

“We continually explained that while Sustainable Success enhances our bottom line, it is so much more. By helping our employees be conscious of their decisions — each and every time — we affect not only our office but also have the potential to influence all the people who walk through our doors.”

— Joe Pearson Ernst & Young LLP Hospitality and Workplace Services Manager

“Leadership discussed its options. It became clear: we needed to go all in with our recycling program — complying with our building contract, improving our bottom line and increasing our recycling. As a leader of the business community in Atlanta, we knew the right decision was a commitment to make sustainability a cornerstone of our business.”

— Katherine Fritts Ernst & Young LLP Southeast Tax Managing Partner

“We knew in communicating that message and implementing the Sustainable Success program, we needed it to do more than just ‘be green.’ We had to make it fiscally relevant, reflective of our values and an added value to our clients, employees and the community where we live and do business.”

— Beth Schiavo Ernst & Young LLP Assurance partner

The bottom line and beyondThe Sustainable Success program met the cost-saving objectives that prompted its creation, but the program accomplished more than simply bettering the bottom line:

• Avoided potential penalties and fines

• Improved recycling rates from 50% to more than 80% in just two months

• Created a sustainability relationship with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office and provided a foundation for ongoing collaboration with local businesses and other entities

• Earned us recognition in local media and various business publications

• Improved employee engagement by creating a common goal of creating a greener Atlanta, firm, organization and office

• Provided a forum to discuss best practices — from conception to integration — among EY’s EcoCare teams at the local, regional, national and Americas levels

• Evoked interest from current and prospective clients, prompting requests to visit the Atlanta office and learn about our best-in-class recycling program — this provided a relationship-building opportunity for account teams and Climate Change and Sustainability Services professionals

• Helped shape the design of future waste stations in member firms across the Americas

Carbon footprint management receives a lot of attention from the C-suite, but reducing the waste stream must also be incorporated into a sustainability strategy. In addition to having bottom-line impact, recycling gives companies a way to engage its employees to “green” their behaviors, to influence actions in the larger community and to set the stage for discussions with clients about the business impact of sustainability.

To get the entire office on board with the new recycling program, the leadership team in Atlanta set clear goals, invested in communications and made sure they were modeling the right behaviors. They also took the time to share accomplishments and communicate “wins.” Some of the key learnings from the recycling program are listed below:

1. Research, customize, align — Customize the program to meet local needs. In Atlanta, program conception to full rollout spanned eight months. Leaders also made sure they were aligned with Ernst & Young’s global environmental and sustainability strategies.

2. Gain executive and service line support — Gain full support of company leadership and empower program ambassadors across every service line to be the voices to the program.

3. Communicate, communicate, communicate — Circulate key program messages (e.g., Sustainable Success is important to our bottom line, our values, our clients and our community) before, during and after launch.

4. Use simple signage — Make signage on all bins clear and consistent: for the Atlanta office, black bins for Landfill and green bins for Recycle.

5. Walk before you run — Expect a learning curve and feedback. In the Atlanta office, eco-friendly “temporary bags” placed at each desk bridged the gap between launch and employee compliance while retrofitted storage cabinets near printers added recycling capacity to high-traffic areas.

6. Market the change — Align program successes with other initiatives. The Atlanta office broadcasted the program alongside Atlanta’s annual Support the Arts Campaign and hosted several organizations that expressed interest in seeing the program in action.

7. Perform regular program audits — Collect data. It’s crucial to maintaining program benefits. The Hospitality and Workplace Services team completes weekly compliance reviews with property and recycling company managers.

Conventional wisdom is that company sustainability initiatives are driven principally by customers or investors and shareholders, and sometimes by non-governmental organization (NGO) activist groups or regulatory agencies. But Six growing trends in corporate sustainability, a recent report issued by EY and the GreenBiz Group, found that employees are, in fact, a key stakeholder for sustainability in a significant number of companies.

The seven steps toSustainable Success

How “going green” improved the Atlanta office’sbottom line

Our point of view

Contact usAt EY, we believe we are responsible to our people, our clients and our communities for reducing our impact on the environment. We are implementing measurable actions to reduce our waste, increase energy efficiency in our offices, reduce the impact of business travel and work within our communities to promote responsible treatment of the environment.

Leisha JohnAmericas Director Environmental SustainabilityMiami, Florida

Tel: +1 305 415 1480Email: [email protected]

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Six growing trends in corporate sustainability

An EY survey in cooperation with GreenBiz Group

How sustainability has expanded the CFO’s role

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About EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services

Governments and organizations around the world are increasingly focusing on the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change and the drive for sustainability.

Your business may face new regulatory requirements and rising stakeholder concerns. There may be opportunities for cost reduction and revenue generation. Embedding a sustainable approach into core business activities could be a complex transformation to create long-term shareholder value.

The industry and countries in which you operate as well as your extended business relationships introduce specific challenges, responsibilities and opportunities.

Our global, multidisciplinary team combines our experience in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory with climate change and sustainability skills and experience in your industry. You’ll receive a tailored service supported by global methodologies to address issues relating to your specific needs. Wherever you are in the world, EY can provide the right professionals to support you in reaching your sustainability goals.

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