For your business to make the most change it is going to require each employee to make these steps, doing what they can, where they can, to reduce their carbon footprint and be more sustainable. The ‘Green Employee of the Month’ scheme can be a great way to provide incentive for employees to get proactive in making more sustainable choices both at work and at home.

We suggest each month when the new Green Employee is announced they are awarded a voucher of some kind, providing further incentive.

How you choose to categorise and decide who the green employee should be is entirely up to you and your employees. We will provide basic criterion you can use which is a great start when choosing who should be the green employee of the month.

• Contribution: It is important to recognise employees who are going above and beyond and really making an effort with the new initiatives being introduced in the business. Those who are really contributing to the steps involved should be commended, so that you are thanking them for their hard work as well as motivating other employees.
•  Volunteering: Step 30 is all about arranging employee volunteer days; ideally this would be at least one volunteer day per month. Whether employees have attended the volunteer days can be criteria for this scheme, with those who volunteer recognised and commended for their effort.
•  30 Steps to an Another Way Home: It would be great to encourage all employees to start doing the 30 Steps to Another Way Home; at the monthly meetings we recommend employees who are undertaking these steps should have the chance to share how they are getting on and the progress they have made at home. Employers can then take note of who is making the effort to be more sustainable and ensure this is taken into account when deciding the Green Employee of the Month.
• Food: In Step 13 we encourage employees to bring packed lunches to reduce plastic waste, and take part in meat free Mondays or vegan weeks as decided by the business. Employees who stand out in these weekly challenges should be noted and be considered when awarding the Green Employee of the month.

These are some examples of the criteria we recommend, but of course you can edit or add to these criteria depending on what you as a business are doing to be more sustainable. It is so important to acknowledge the employees who are really trying to be more sustainable and do all they can either in the workplace, or in their personal life at home. This step is a great way to provide this incentive and ensure employees know that what they are doing is greatly appreciated.