Being environmentally conscious is a game changer for HR
About half of Australian employees have made it clear they wouldn’t work for a company that isn’t taking action against climate change, a new study has revealed. The latest Climate at Work Report from ELMO Software revealed that inaction of employers on climate change can be seen poorly by applicants. From the 48% who said they refuse to work for companies not doing anything against climate change, 71% are Gen Z and 52% are Millennials.
Around 64% of the respondents also said that their support for a business is influenced by their environmental credentials - and seven out of eight of the respondents believe that companies need to do more against climate change. Despite this, however, Australians still think that community groups and businesses are doing a much better job on addressing climate change than Federal and State governments. Forty-four percent of Australians rated the federal government's efforts as "poor" in addressing climate change – with 82% adding they should do more in addressing the pressing issue.
"While still achieving a higher average score than governments, businesses have largely scraped by with a medium pass mark according to 55% of Australians," the study said.
Read more: Environment amongst top employee concerns
Jobs, salaries
The respondents of the study also believe that taking action against climate change will result in positive outcomes in terms employment, salary, and job security. Three quarters (75%) of the respondents believe that acting on climate change could generate jobs and opportunities, while 65% agree that not taking action on climate change will likely impact the economy. Meanwhile, some 58% of Aussies said the creation of new jobs would be positively impacted if globally agreed emissions targets are reached. Fifty-two per cent also believe that the economy will reap rewards once globally agreed emissions targets are met, and another 35% agree that salaries of workers will also benefit from this.
Job security could also be positively impacted if the emissions targets are accomplished, according 42% of Australians. Despite this, nearly half of surveyed Australians (47%) said emissions targets will "make it hard for businesses to operate."
