Amazon
Strive to be Earth’s best employer
Leaders work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment. They lead with empathy, have fun at work, and make it easy for others to have fun. Leaders ask themselves: Are my fellow employees growing? Are they empowered? Are they ready for what’s next? Leaders have a vision for and commitment to their employees’ personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere.
Implications
Here are some suggested approaches in creating an earth centric environment:
1) Offering choices to employees to increase their productivity
Not every employee is the same, and this is why companies need to avoid looking at their workers as a whole but rather see them as individuals that they are – humans with their own needs and preferences. Employees should be able to determine how to navigate their work days in a way that’s the most productive and motivating.
2) Ergonomic and sustainable
This is why more companies are moving away from the traditional settings and adopting more informal ones. The emphasis is put on comfort, so more companies are investing in ergonomic and sustainable furniture, creating separate areas for employees to relax during their break, as well as providing both collaboration spaces and private spaces for team and individual work. Furthermore, companies are encouraging better employee health by offering nutritious, sustainable options such as organic fruits and vegetables and getting their coffee from a local, organic, fair-trade provider. All this results in a human-centric environment that promotes health, comfort, and productivity.
3) Eco-friendly lighting promotes wellness and a positive working environment
Sometimes, making the workplace more human-centric is a matter of making the switch to eco-friendly lighting. Energy-efficient alternatives to CFLs and fluorescent light bulbs, LED lighting systems have been growing in popularity over the past couple of years due to their ability to operate for longer and consume less power to run. Their ability to mimic natural light in terms of hue and intensity has been shown to promote employee wellness. Furthermore, LED lights are eye-friendly and provide an optimal level of illumination which helps create a productive and human-centric working environment.
To ensure you get the most of this environmentally-conscious upgrade, your safest bet would be to find a reliable brand for professional LED lighting to boost the efficiency of your working environment, whether we’re talking about offices, warehouses, hangars, or manufacturing halls. Depending on the size of the operation, retrofitting of lights can either be an inexpensive or a costly upgrade. Nevertheless, looking past the somewhat high initial costs is easy once you consider the numerous health benefits as well as the significant energy savings.
4) Biophilic design as a human-centric interior design solution
A great workplace that focuses on the needs of its employees often makes use of biophilic design. It involves designing spaces in a way that supports human health and wellness while also promoting environmental well-being. This helps foster human connection with nature, and it’s usually done by incorporating natural elements into design.
These involve everything from air-purifying, stress-reducing plants and organic, eco-friendly materials to nature-inspired art and energy-efficient lighting that mimics daylight, all of which have a positive effect on the emotional state of the employees. Some companies are taking things a step further and designing outdoor office spaces to boost employee productivity and keep them happy and relaxed, applying the same biophilic design principles that work for interior spaces.
5) Encouraging environmental awareness through eco-friendly practices
While environmentally conscious upgrades are essential to creating a healthy and productive workplace, adopting a green mindset and being more conscious of your everyday practices is just as important. There are a number of ways companies can promote eco-friendliness in their business practices and encourage environmental awareness among employees, and it all starts with making environmentally-friendly practices a part of their company policies. Some of the best eco-friendly practices businesses can (and should) adopt include:
6) Switching to green, sustainable, and reusable alternatives (utensils, water bottles, mugs, plates, office supplies, etc.)
Investing in energy-efficient electronics, lighting, and appliances
Supporting green and eco-friendly companies and brands
Starting recycling programs and sustainability teams
Incentivizing employees for fulfilling green monthly challenges
Going paperless and using digital alternatives whenever possible
Implementing the three R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle)
