Factoid Friday: Employees Slacking Off? One Way to Bring Back Productivity
The UCLA study, Environmental Standards and Labor Productivity: Understanding the Mechanisms That Sustain Sustainability, published on September 10, examines for the first time the link between a company’s environmental practices and worker productivity.
Employees of companies which adopt environmental practices are 16 percent more productive, according to the study. It collected data from a survey of employees at 5,220 companies, and then randomly selected two employees from each company. 
They calculated the average value of production per employee at each of these companies and discovered 16 percent higher-than-average labor productivity in those companies labeled “green.” They identified companies as green that adopted international standards and eco-labels such as “organic” or “fair trade.”
The study showed that companies that had voluntarily adopted sustainable practices had happier and healthier employees resulting in an increase in productivity. One company that was examined in the study was Patagonia. Known for being a green company, Patagonia often receives an average of 900 applicants for every job opening.
You can learn more about the study here: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/study-certified-green-companies-238203.aspx
