As people in all professions, across all industries, experience a growing ecological awareness, they can be at risk of feeling a mismatch between workplace practises and personal values.
Increasingly people are seeing clearly and becoming concerned about the underlying causes of climate change on their families, livelihoods, and work. Things like hyper-consumption, singular use items, high emissions travel, unethical investments, separation from nature, use of unsustainable products, unethical practises, and so on, all contribute to a sense of unease and knowing that the systems we are embedded in need change (and of course, many systems are already changing).
And our workplaces are not immune to this distress - it’s showing up in all sorts of ways as people work and engage in their roles, products, practises, and spaces.
Think of the health practitioner who needs to use single use items every day and dreads the waste,
or the corporate who regularly travels by plane trying not to think about the carbon emissions skyrocketing our emissions to the tipping point,
or the retailer who sells fast fashion and worries about the ethics of labour and waste,
or the financial investor whose organisation still invests in fossil fuels,
or the supermarket worker who cringes at the plastic packaging,
or the ecologist protecting threatened species who is limited by regulations
or the construction worker having to use unsustainable materials
or the teacher in a school with little access to greenspace, who sees the impact this has on the kids
What comes to mind for you?
Most importantly, when there is capacity for change in the workplace, when the workplace communicates that they understand the problem and are addressing it, then the person has a place for their ecological awareness to be validated and for their concern to move. In such workplaces, there is permission to raise concerns, and know that others too may feel concern. There is emotional safety in not feeling alone, and paired with opportunities to participate in the change this is ultimately rewarding. This can lead to workers feeling a greater sense of belonging and connection with their organisation. And that is motivation to stay and be productive.
BUT if there are no workplace channels for action, complete oversight or ignorance from the workplace, then the person can feel no hope for change and the ethical dilemmas remain. This can impact an employee’s sense of connection and engagement with an organisation. There is a felt sense of mismatch between values – between personal values and the workplace values – and this is a key driver for burnout.
I’m working with organisations as they align themselves with ecological realities in ways that will promote and protect the mental health and wellbeing of their employees.
Think, mental wellbeing strategy meets sustainability agenda!
If you’d like to know more about my ‘’Ecologically compassionate and healthy organisations’’ (ECHO) program reach out for a chat!
