To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Tuesday 15th September 2020 saw The Future Economy Network run an interactive webinar on “Creating a Sustainable Work Environment”. The event was due to take place in the flexible and agile workspace of Future Leap hub in Bristol, but due to covid restrictions the event was instead run online with a virtual tour of the Hub.
Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, and you can check out the video here.
Daniel Foster, Talent Acquisition Manager at Triodos Bank, started off the seminars by looking at diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace. After mentioning the nine protected characteristics, Dan asked “why does diversity and inclusion matter?” and reflected on how this topic was catapulted to the forefront of most business’ agenda since 2020’s Black Lives Matters movement. Dan believes that diversity is central to innovation, and inclusion is the key to unlocking this potential. With D&I properly engrained, companies will benefit from better retention, behaviour, understanding and working efficiency. He spoke of the common resistance to change in starting D&I plans in companies, with staff members critiquing the process as “just a HR tick box exercise”. Dan then went on to advise how a company can start the D&I process with three steps. Firstly, ensure the company knows which areas they want to focus their efforts on. Secondly, analyse their internal and external communities (he suggested the local consensus and the Government’s employment by sector report). Finally, learn what initiatives will have the greatest impact both internally and externally. Dan spoke about social inclusion, and gave simple tips such as:
- Where do you advertise your job opportunities?
- Add pronouns to your email signatures
- Change your external language to become more accessible
- Focus on nurturing future talent, rather than fighting other companies for experienced employers.
Finally, Dan looked at the 5 ways to wellbeing (some aren’t comfortable with the term “mental health”). With 1 in 4 people suffering from mental illness at some stage in their lives, it is essential mental health is a priority in the workplace. He gave examples of how Triodos Bank focus on mental health, such as training mental health first aiders in the workplace, partnering with local charities and running volunteer days, and available activities such as yoga.
Next up, Toni Riddiford, Senior Associate Architect at Stride Treglown, delivered a presentation titled “what is the point of the office in a post-covid world?”. After introducing Stride Treglown, Toni showed a photo of her busy office in 2019, and how it looks now; our workplace behaviour has undergone the biggest immediate change in history. When lockdown first started, the headlines deemed working from home as a positive experience – less cars on the road, longer lie ins, and more family time were some examples. Toni explained that in 2019, the Office of National Statistics showed that only 30% of people worked from home; so when lockdown happened, the experience was new to almost everyone. Late in 2020, working from home has become more negative in the media – employees are now “living at work”, with more loneliness. Homes are not designed for working; Toni questioned the covid19 quote “we are all in this together”. She showed a series of photos of Stride Treglown employees in their home working environments, showing the difference in some people’s abilities to set up a healthy temporary office space. Problems such as low internet speeds, shared spaces and no desks were common, and often those without a proper working space were those not in positions of decision making within a company. Toni then reflected on the “new normal”; the balance between working from home and working in an office. Therefore, the physical office now has a new purpose and needs to evolve to be both flexible and agile. Of many offers, Toni mentioned community, “water cooler moments”, a shared sense of purpose, learning and development, and the ability to spot if someone is struggling. Additionally, a healthy workspace not only attracts employees, but says a lot about your company from an external perspective. Therefore, Toni highlighted the important components to a successful office space; with flexibility and choice, connectivity, quiet areas, social spaces, and wellness at the forefront. In summary, she showed that our covid working experience is nothing new; it has just given us time to reflect and accept what works for us.
Finally, we welcomed Emma Kemp, Campaigns Manager at Possible, who spoke about Climate Perks – an employer focused climate action initiative around sustainable travel. She explained Possible’s background, and their focus on consumption, energy, travel, nature and communication. Emma gave many sobering facts on climate change and flying, and showed how cutting down on flying has a greater impact for an individual than almost any other. In the UK, per person we fly more than any other nation – with 1 in 12 international passengers being British. Government data shows that within the UK, 70% of all flights are taken by just 15% of people. Emma ran over frequent questions she often comes across, concerning carbon offsetting, electric planes and biofuels – none of which have nearly as much impact as reducing flights. Therefore, Possible work with employers that reward staff by choosing to travel by land or sea. It does this by advocating “paid journey days”, empowering staff to live their values and choose low carbon holiday travel. Emma gave Berlin as an example, where a 4 hour journey by plane would take 12 hours by train. With a difference of 8 hours each way, the employee is granted 16 hours of journey days. This carbon impact is huge; one return flight to Berlin is equal to 13 return train journeys! Emma then showed who has signed up to Climate Perks so far, including Network members Bates Wells, City To Sea, Bristol Credit Union, Oggadoon and Thrive Renewables. She finished her presentation by quoting her organisation's strapline; travel slower, have fun and feel great…even on the way home”.
We continued with mini Q&A’s after every speaker, which created a continuous buzz throughout the event. Everyone was very keen to understand more; the topic was very relevant to anyone working and there were many group reflections on how to create a better working environment for all.
Finally, Network members Future Leap and University of Bath gave a 60 second pitch. Everyone was then able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished. A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees of this event, without which our events calendar would not be possible.
