This month we talk to Marcus Jamieson Pond, CSR Manager at Addleshaw Goddard. Marcus tells us about the role of HR in engaging people in the green agenda as well as how an angry monkey was used to promote environmental awareness within the workplace...
12/03/2008
 | Tell me a bit about your role as CSR Manager - how does the environment fit into your agenda? |
|---|---|
 | Addleshaw Goddard has identified four strands of corporate responsibility. These are the responsibility we have to our own people, which is embodied through our culture and values programme; to the marketplace where we operate, i.e. how we treat our suppliers and want to work with our clients; to helping people in our local communities who do not have the same advantages as ourselves and also to the wider environment. As such, the environment is very much a major consideration in the way that we want to do business. |
| What role does HR play within the organisation`s environmental strategy? |
| Having been in HR for 18 years before moving into CSR, I can see the importance of encouraging people to fully participate in their workplaces. It`s often been said that the best person to design a car is the person assembling it and it`s a bit like that with the environment. People have good ideas about environmental issues and the HR team encourages them to get involved and bring those ideas forward - we have an environment committee and a set of champions who develop best practice. Nobody has a monopoly on wisdom - not even Al Gore! |
| What would be your advice to companies wanting to drive forward the greening process? |
| Get a lot of grass seed? Actually that`s not so far off the mark. Grass seed needs warmth and water to germinate. Companies need to provide the right conditions for people to feel that their ideas will be listened to. Don`t forget that any business is invariably just a collection of people working together. If they do things like recycling at home, they will expect to be able to do the same at work. So get a senior member of the team to set an example, provide the tools that are needed to assist in making changes to working practices (don`t forget that much of the set up costs can be recovered at a later stage through more efficient ways of working)...and watch the green grass grow. |
| How do you measure the benefits of your efforts - both inside and outside the company? |
| We obviously monitor things like power bills, travel and the amount of recycled waste leaving the building - like any other business probably does and are looking at external benchmarking exercises at the moment. Sometimes though it pays to think beyond the obvious and our external contacts seem to like that approach. How many of your businesses have a zero carbon emission rickshaw bike delivering boxes between your offices? |
| What has been your favourite green initiative for staff so far? |
| I think it’s a toss-up between introducing Vivreau water - which saves 150,000 bottles from going to recycling each year - and the Manchester Monkey. One of our lawyers took it upon himself to switch off all the PCs in the Manchester office one night, leaving a picture of an angry looking gorilla as a calling card. The next day the IT Helpdesk was bombarded with calls from people who claimed their PCs didn't work. Of course they still did, it was just that the users had never switched them off...so didn't know how to switch them back on! A lesson was learned that day - and the monkey escaped without being hung. |
| If you weren`t working as a CSR Manager, what would you be? |
| Unemployed? CSR is possibly the best job in the world - I spent 18 years inflicting pain on people and now have a chance to book my place in heaven. My 5 year old asked me what I do at work the other day, I told her "I save the world". She pointed out that I`m not really a superhero and she`s right - I`m really just helping others to do the saving. Marcus Jamieson-Pond is the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Addleshaw Goddard. Before taking up this challenge in 2006, he spent 18 years working in various HR roles, up and including Director. Marcus has been instrumental in building his firm`s CSR profile from scratch, including the setting of strategy and delivery of initiatives designed to engage people within the firm, the local communities and beyond. He is also the founder of the firm`s Environment Committee and Community Involvement teams. Marcus will be speaking at JSB’s `Green HR` Conference in May later this year. |
Why not consider one of JSB's forthcoming events...
- Green HR NEW
