Employees would SWITCH jobs for ‘greener’ roles

As the competition for talent continues to heat up, employees have shared that they are now considering changing their job if they were to find a ‘greener’ role.

In fact, 58% of UK adults revealed they would be swayed by this; however, this attitude seems to be more prevalent in some sectors than others.

According to Aviva’s latest How We Live report, workers in finance and engineering/building are among those most likely to hold this view at 70% in both cases.

This is followed by employees in IT (69%), legal (64%), manufacturing and utilities (63%), healthcare (58%), education (58%), retail, catering and leisure (57%) and travel and transport (54%).

When it comes to greener roles, 15% of workers would be prepared to take a wage cut if the company had strong environmental values.

This view tends to be higher among under-25s, with a quarter of people in this age group revealing they would consider taking a lower salary for this reason among others.

Greener companies

While many employees would consider a job change to work for a greener business, evidence is now emerging that employers are becoming more environmentally friendly.

For example, three quarters of respondents said that their employer has made changes to improve its environmental impact in the last five years – although 75% of people within this group believe there is still more that could be done.

21% of workers added that they are already taking part in initiatives to make their employer more environmentally friendly, while a further 50% of employees explained that they would like to get involved in this area.

Many businesses are also embracing ‘green’ schemes, with the majority of respondents sharing that their organisation offers some initiatives aimed at reducing their impact on the planet, such as cycle-to-work programmes, introducing vegan/vegetarian options, electric vehicle leasing schemes and going paperless.

Jon Marsh, MD of partnerships at Aviva General Insurance, shared that the study shows signs of positivity regards the amount of “green thinking” among UK people.

“The latest How We Live data shows that a great many employees are already involved in environmental initiatives in their workplace – from simply re-using cups, to limiting unnecessary travel, to making use of electric vehicle leasing schemes,” he said.

“Three quarters of workers acknowledge that their employer has made environmental progress in the past five years – but they want to do more to make a difference. This could mean actions taken in a current role or switching to a position with a more environmental focus – but the emphasis on green career ambitions is clear.”

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