Employees will not change how they work just because your organisation has a sustainability target; they need to see where they fit, why it matters, and what ‘good’ looks like in practice.
On top of your ESG goals, the IoIC’s January Trends Report reminds internal communicators about the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, launching in 2027, which will impose tariffs on high-carbon imports, directly affecting workplace furniture procurement or sourcing other brand collateral. Plus, the EU’s revised Energy Performance for Buildings Directive will require all new buildings over 2,000 square metres to be zero emissions by 2027.
How you respond and communicate about this is critical in changing employee behaviours and attitudes towards achieving your ESG objectives.
Blue Goose is supporting communications teams to improve engagement with sustainability initiatives and below, we share some of our guidance:
Turn complex data into human stories
- Translate the big numbers into something relatable and tangible (eg water use and the equivalent of leaving your shower running for X weeks, or energy consumption and charging your smartphone constantly for X weeks)
- Pair metrics with real colleague stories: ‘because this team chose refurbished furniture, we avoided the carbon of manufacturing X new chairs.’
- Use simple visuals and before/after examples rather than dense reports to show progress.
Make sustainability business-critical, not ‘nice to have’
- Link sustainability clearly to the business strategy and your values so it feels like a core business issue, not CSR side‑work.
- Ask every function to define two or three sustainability‑critical behaviours and communicate those consistently.
Be specific and make it possible: from targets to ‘my behaviours’
- Break net‑zero goals down into clear, role‑based actions so employees can see exactly what changes are expected of them.
- Create short “if you only do three things” guides for different audiences: frontline, managers, tech teams, facilities, procurement.
- Build these behaviours into performance conversations, project kick‑offs and ways‑of‑working playbooks so they are reinforced beyond campaigns.
Design workspace stories employees can influence
- For offices, highlight the hidden footprint of furniture and fit‑out, and promote reuse, refurbishment and repair as a visible way colleagues can cut carbon without sacrificing experience.
- Celebrate practical wins – reconfigured spaces, refurbished kit, optimised AI workflows – to show that small changes add up.
Show progress and make it participatory
- Choose a small set of indicators that employees can understand and influence (for example refurbished items purchased, waste diverted from landfill).
- Share regular, honest updates that show both progress and gaps, and invite ideas for improvement rather than declaring victory.
- Run experiments with teams (for example ‘low‑carbon project sprint’, or a ‘circular office pilot’) and share what worked, what didn’t and what will scale.
Build credibility through honesty and dialogue
- Be transparent about trade‑offs, costs and constraints instead of over‑claiming; trust is the foundation of any behaviour change.
- Equip leaders and managers with straightforward narratives and FAQs so they can handle tricky questions on AI, offsets, procurement choices and timelines.
- Create spaces for conversation – listening sessions, Q&As, internal social threads – where employees can discuss, suggest and co‑create solutions without being shut down.
By treating sustainability as a lived narrative about how work gets done, not just a poster on the wall, you can help your employees see their role, feel proud of their impact and actively contribute to hitting environmental targets.
Talk to the Blue Goose team to see how we can improve your employee engagement
Graphical illustration by RosZie
