'Green 30' employers see higher engagement: Survey

Delta Hotels, McDonald’s, Vancity among top employers

Delta Hotels and Resorts, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada and Vancity Credit Union are among the winners of Aon Hewitt’s Green 30 list. The employers are ranked based on employee feedback about their record on environmental stewardship.

"Employees really see the difference when their employer is focused on developing and implementing environmentally conscious policies and practices," said Neil Crawford, Aon Hewitt's leader of the Best Employers in Canada study

"Effective green programs and practices may persuade certain employees to join or stay with an organization. Certainly employee engagement scores at the Green 30 are higher than those at the 30 organizations that ranked lowest on the Employee Green Index — 67 per cent for the Green 30 versus 46 per cent at the 30 lowest ranked employers."

As part of the 2011 Best Employers in Canada and Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada studies, Aon Hewitt surveyed more than 130,000 employees at more than 250 organizations regarding their employers' commitment to environmental stewardship.

The Green 30 are more likely to implement practices and programs to support and reinforce their commitment to environmental stewardship, according to Aon Hewitt. When it comes to using environmentally preferred office equipment or supplies, 96 per cent of the Green 30 have such a practice, compared to 63 per cent of the lowest-ranked employers on the list. The same is true when it comes to events that facilitate participation in Earth Day or Earth Hour (89 per cent for the Green 30, 61 per cent for the lowest ranked) or programs to reduce green-house gas emissions from business operations (85 per cent for the Green 30, 43 per cent for the lowest ranked).

The list of the Green 30 of 2011 appears below in alphabetical order:

• Baxter

• BC Biomedical Laboratories

• Bentall Kennedy

• Brookefield LePage Johnson Controls

• Celestica

• Cisco Canada

• Co-operators Life Insurance Company

• Cruickshank

• Delta Hotels and Resorts

• Dillon Consulting

• DuPont Canada

• EllisDon

• First Calgary Financial

• Greater Edmonton Foundation: Housing for Seniors

• IHG Canada

• ISL Engineering and Land Services

• Ivanhoe Cambridge

• LoyaltyOne

• Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics

• Marriott Hotels of Canada

• McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada

• Minto Group

• Nexen

• PCL Constructors

• Scotiabank Group

• Stikeman Elliott

• TD Bank Financial Group

• The Co-operators

• Vancity Credit Union

• Whole Foods Market

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