Hays Q&A: Green Skills Shortage & Employee ESG Efforts

With sustainability deadlines creeping up, businesses must start putting action behind their promises.

Across industries, more sustainable practices are changing the way things work and requiring new green skills.

Hays provides recruitment and human resources services across 33 countries with more than 11,000 employees. 

Each day, the company fills more than 1,100 jobs. 

Kirsty Green-Mann is Global Head of Sustainability at Hays where she is responsible for developing and driving group ESG strategy, leading on climate and its wider ESG work programme, advising on business and human rights, overseeing benchmark assessments and enabling corporate sustainability disclosures.

She developed her expertise as a senior corporate sustainability professional in a top 50 UK commercial law firm and across multi-stakeholder not-for-profit organisations.

Kirsty shares her expertise with Sustainability Magazine.

Are businesses doing enough to support employees in being sustainable?

At Hays, we conducted a poll which revealed that 64% of professionals believe employers need to do more to support employees in being sustainable, while 52% said there needs to be an increase in environmental and sustainability-related skills within their organisation, with only 5% feeling adequately equipped.

Looking beyond our data, a Deloitte paper highlighted that 50% of Gen Z and 46% of Millennials claim that they are putting pressure on their employers to act on climate change. However, just 15% and 16% respectively believe that they can make an impact.

The results suggest that organisations are struggling to make progress against their ESG agendas, as budgets have been tightened amidst tough economic conditions. When organisations are facing financial strain, there’s a risk that ESG isn’t seen as a key priority. However, there is definitely a space for organisations to contribute to sustainability as employees are already eager to make a positive change.

What can businesses do to ensure employee commitment to ESG?

While ESG agendas focus on taking measures to lower CO₂ output and reduce waste, it also means having a diverse and inclusive workforce that brings a variety of ideas and perspectives. This puts a spotlight on employee engagement and the support that organisations offer their workforce, as this combination can ensure a sustainable commitment to ESG within a budget. The best place for organisations and business leaders to start is reviewing their sustainability efforts while seeking improvements and feedback.

In addition to this, companies need to embrace sustainability expectations from the new emerging generation and recognise this as an opportunity. They are more open to the challenge and could be better equipped with green skills than the current workforce, making them valuable contributors to a sustainable future. That’s where the power of people to mobilise – also known as ‘people power’ – comes in. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have made incredible strides in areas such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) and ensuring greater environmental awareness. This is something that we are doing within Hays, which has proved to be effective.

There is work to be done at multiple levels of the organisations, such as those in managerial positions role modelling, leaders actively looking at the governance and strategic integration and juniors being empowered to raise ideas and take action for more sustainable practices in the workplace. Some of the most powerful elements of an ESG strategy haven’t been a result of a ‘cash injection’, but rather the empowerment that comes from executive buy-in to a movement.

How can the green skills shortage be addressed?

To give a little context, shortage of skilled workers threatens the energy transition and the ability to reach climate targets. In the next 10 to 15 years, around 70% of employees in energy supply companies in Germany are expected to retire, whilst 400,000 of employees are expected to do the same in the next 10 years in the United States. In the UK, one fifth of energy workers are expected to exit the workforce by 2030.

While renewable energy is essential to reaching targets set by governments, traditional power generation remains crucial as a backup and transitional technology. Leveraging the knowledge of experienced specialists can bridge the gap and ensure a smooth transition. An effective multigenerational workforce management strategy is becoming an increasingly important competitive advantage.

Facilitating knowledge sharing between workers of all generations is key to a greener future akin to the success around DE&I. With five different generations now working together in the workforce, the landscape of the labour market is more diverse than ever. Bringing together workers who are passionate and knowledgeable about the environment with those in key decision-making positions, in mentorship and reverse mentorship schemes, can be effective in cultivating a stronger and more sustainable workplace culture. Businesses should also look to partner and learn from not for profits who can help challenge and inform playing the role of a ‘critical friend’.

When it comes to workforce planning, finding the right people with the right skills is essential. Simply put, the skills aren’t there for these ESG roles, which means there is a shortage of available workers. To address skills shortages, organisations need to ensure they are not just consumers of talent but also playing their part in creating it. This can be achieved through engaging talent at all levels - from school career guidance to employee training for older employees. It's increasingly important for the world of work to link as effectively as it can with those organisations that are preparing people for the world of work, with business doing what it can to give young people insights into the world of work.

Business has a great opportunity to bring the educational curriculum to life and help young people see the career opportunities ahead.

Given the existing skills gap, as well as the economic challenges that many businesses are facing, recruiting experts externally is difficult. By taking advantage of employees' existing knowledge and experience, their skillset can be enhanced to benefit both employee and employer. Locating adjacent skills and reskilling existing employees, ensuring lateral mobility and secondments, and providing relevant upskilling programmes can also be a solution that is worth having a look at. This way, the pipeline for the organisation strengthens, leading to a solid investment of workforce, catching both sustainability and savings at the same time.

What are your tips for improving ESG efforts within organisations?

ESG isn’t a journey that organisations can navigate alone. The ‘power of people’ is also evident when organisations look to learn from others and collaborate – whether that’s with suppliers, local community groups or education providers. There are mutual benefits to both parties; organisations could consider partnering with a charity to support their ESG aspirations, and in return, offer ‘in-kind’ support. This could include access to meeting rooms, networking opportunities, hosting events or shared professional knowledge.

All in all, an ESG effort doesn’t only mean external contribution, it can be achieved through the improvements within the organisation. Starting off with the current pipeline of the workforce, organisations can look to reskill or upskill talents to reduce cost for their own recruitment and contribute to a healthier labour market with an even distribution of skills across the board. A corporate culture that takes ESG seriously, enables the exchange of knowledge, provides resources to promote sustainable practices and opportunities to develop will attract the green skills they need to shape a better – and more sustainable – future.

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