7 Ways Millennials Want Their Employers to Celebrate Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Are you planning to celebrate? Chances are, your millennial employees will — and they want you to join them.

Millennials are a socially conscious generation. And according to the Cone Millennial Cause Study, that social awareness is a part of their work life as well. 79% of these young employees want to work for a company that cares about its impact on society. And nearly two-thirds say their company’s contributions to society make them loyal.

So aside from being the right thing to do, helping the environment is also what millennials want from your company. Here are seven ways you can participate this Earth Day.

1. Get out and volunteer: Set aside a workday to get your employees together for a volunteer experience. Help plant trees, pick up litter at the park, pitch in with cleaning and feeding at an animal shelter ... The sky’s the limit.

2. Make a donation: Whether it’s money or supplies, give resources to a worthy environmental cause. Even better, ask your employees to give and offer to have the company provide a matching donation.

3. Clean up your act: Reduce waste around your office. Invest in dishes for the office kitchen instead of disposable plates. Set up recycling and compost systems, if you don’t already have them. And make the receptacles plentiful and easy to find — you’ll get a lot more participation that way.

4. Walk the walk: Help your company reduce traffic and pollution by pledging to drive less to work. Encourage people to walk or bike if they can. For those who have farther to travel, offer a subsidy for carpool parking or bus fare.

5. Go digital: Paper printouts are so twentieth century. Get rid of paper waste by distributing documents like meeting agendas by email only. Store company policies on the intranet rather than printing them out.

6. Power down: Get the company to reduce energy usage. Make a pledge to turn out the lights when you’re the last one out of the office. Replace light bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs. Use energy-saving features on equipment like printers and photocopiers. And watch heating and cooling — don’t open windows when you’ve got the air conditioning on!

7. Go green: Literally. Plant trees or shrubs around your building — especially native species. They’ll bring life to your view, but more importantly, they’ll help support the local ecosystem.

Take action — big or small — this Earth Day. Not only will it help the world around you, but it will also improve your company’s environment for millennial employees.

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