From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.

HR Brew

Adam DeRose

hr-brew.com

image of a laptop in a green triangle and surrounded by various leaves

Climate change efforts are human resources efforts—here’s why

As more companies work to incorporate net-zero emissions goals and sustainability into their business models, enacting climate-related policies is increasingly falling to HR.

Climate change efforts are HR efforts—here’s why

Kristen Parisi

the top of a globe with a phone, notebook, laptop, glasses, iPad and coffee cup floating above it

Employers lower temperatures to reduce costs

Rising heating costs are putting employers under added stress.

European employers are turning down the thermostat to help reduce costs this winter

Susanna Vogel

Farm workers in a field drink water in extreme heat.

At least 600 US workers die annually from heat-related illnesses; what can employers do to prevent these unnecessary deaths?

As the planet warms, heat-related workplace protections in the US lag behind

a man in a suit making a "pledge" sign overlaid on a forest of trees

Illustration: Dianna “Mick” McDougall, Photos: Getty Images

Climate Change

Mikaela Cohen

 wildfires in recent weeks, affecting the thousands of people who live and work in the region. And for HR pros in the area, the current crisis may serve as a reminder of the importance of having a plan in place to keep employees safe.

“There’s a whole host of considerations, starting with safety concerns that might be first and foremost for employers,” said Andrew Sommer, employment lawyer at law firm Fisher Phillips. He told HR Brew that there are some protocols that California employers are required to follow under the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA.

Sommer and Tracy Watts, a senior partner and national leader for US health policy at consulting firm Mercer, shared with HR Brew what California people pros should do to protect employees amid wildfires.

 Workplaces that are outdoors, or exposed to outdoor conditions, like a mechanic shop, are required to monitor the Air Quality Index (AQI) in order to limit employees’ exposure to poor air quality, Sommer said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

 AQI from 0, which is “good,” to 301 or higher, which is “hazardous.” Pasadena, California, for instance, hit an AQI of 293, which is “very unhealthy,” on Jan. 11, Vox 

. When the AQI is between 151-500, employers are 

 to encourage employees to use respirators; when it rises above 500, employees are mandated to do so.

Environmental Protection Agency's airnow.gov. Home of the US Air Quality Index

“Public health authorities are recommending, where there is visible to the eye or there is a smell of smoke, that employees wear respirators—could typically be N95 respirators,” he said.

Employers are also required to “identify, assess, and correct workplace safety hazards” during wildfires, Sommer said, 

 the state’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) rule.

Watts told HR Brew that people pros and leaders should ask themselves, “What would you do for yourself and your family? And treat everybody else the same way.” This might entail ensuring each employee is safe during and after a disaster, and following up with one-on-one conversations to discuss how they’re doing.

“Making sure people are safe and communicating with them…just to understand how you can provide really personalized support for somebody’s individual circumstances is the starting out point,” she said, later adding, “But longer term, plan and being aware of risks and helping people, your workers, be prepared for things like this is definitely the call to action.”

What HR can do to protect employees affected by wildfires

There are several steps California employers are required to take, and can consider taking, to keep their employees safe.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Climate change.

Extreme weather events resulting from climate change pose a threat to the health of over 65 million “nonelderly” workers, according to 

 from health policy nonprofit KFF. While 81% of executives are concerned about how these weather events might impact the workplace, only 62% have a response plan, a recent 

 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found.

Whether wildfires in California or hurricanes in North Carolina, extreme weather events happen all around us, said Tracy Watts, senior partner and national leader for US health policy at consulting firm Mercer. “So many things happened last year, I felt like that really brought climate to the forefront…as something that is a true threat to worker health,” she told HR Brew.

Bruce Tracey, Blanchard professor of HR management at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University, who works with companies on weather protocols, agrees with Watts—adding that it’s important for companies to recognize how these events can impact employees, in order to develop responsive plans.

“Climate change is one of many notable forces that influence people, both at work and at home, and as a result, firms need to recognize that these kinds of forces do influence people, emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally,” Tracey said.

Experts shared with HR Brew how people leaders can support employees before, during, and after extreme weather events.

HR pros can create a communication plan to raise awareness about climate change, Watts said. Watts, who lives in Florida, said that during hurricane season, Mercer’s parent company Marsh McLennan communicates with her about how to stay safe, a protocol every company should follow.

“We get communication…saying, ‘Hey, we’re coming into hurricane season. Here’s a list of things you want to be mindful of. You want to have [these] kinds of supplies on hand…so that you’re prepared going into the season,’” Watts said.

HR should check in with employees during extreme weather events, asking about their evacuation or safety plans, their location, and if they need emergency assistance, Watts said. For weather events that last an entire season or occur during working hours, like extreme heat for those who work outside, she suggested HR inform employees of potential health risks and ways to adapt working conditions.

“Going into the season, [tell] people what they need to be aware of in extreme heat, what to watch out for, knowing the symptoms of heat fatigue,” she said. “[Be] more vigilant with outdoor workers…Where do they go to cool off? How do you provide water to them?...A lot of it is really just being aware, and planning, and then acting accordingly.”

When consulting companies, Tracey said weather-related protocols are often “buried in a handbook somewhere.” But they need to be visible and discussed regularly.

“It’s an identifier of who you are as a company, that safety is an important part of how we do our business here. … Talk about it [in] meetings…[and] formally through training and performance reviews, and accountability systems…reward those who are complying with, and supportive of, and reinforcing these types of values that go back to safety first,” he said.

Watts said extreme weather events might require resources similar to those needed during the pandemic, like emergency relief funds. HR teams can also conduct climate vulnerability assessments, which can help identify employees who are susceptible to extreme weather events. With that information, HR can offer more specific resources.

Companies can tap their local government and community for support, too, Tracey said, whether employees are temporarily out of work and need state unemployment benefits, or need shelter and food.

Employers should also remember to have sensitivity and compassion, said Kerry Ebersole Singh, executive VP and chief talent solutions officer at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“Be human and sensitive to the realities that people are now faced with because of the changing elements,” Singh told HR Brew. “Employers, HR professionals, they need that…understanding that this is very much a new space for us in this moment of humanity’s existence.”

Extreme weather events can be traumatic for employees, Tracey said, making access to mental health resources important. Supporting employees can be a heavy responsibility for people leaders, so those resources should be available to HR pros, too.

“Mental health extends to the leaders as well, and that they need to have outlets and resources to help them with the loads that they carry,” he said. “We’re all human beings, and we all can be influenced very negatively if we don’t have a very constructive means to manage these influences.”

Split image of a desk in two different weather conditions.

Climate change is a workplace issue. Here’s how HR can support employees.

Experts share how people leaders can support employees before, during, and after extreme weather events.

Some civic duties, like paying taxes or serving jury duty, can feel like a chore. Outdoor retailer Patagonia doesn’t want its employees to feel that way about voting, so it’s trying to make it easier for them to participate in the democratic process.

The Ventura, California-based company has, since 2016, closed its 70 stores and paused its business operations in the US on general and midterm election days so its nearly 2,200 employees can vote, according to J.J. Huggins, PR and communications manager at Patagonia, who is also a project manager for 

, a program Patagonia launched in 2018 to help employees cast their ballot.

“We decided to close [in 2016] on election day, give everyone a paid day off and let all the employees know that nothing was more important than voting on election day,” Huggins told HR Brew. “Simultaneously, we sent the signal to our customers, letting them know that we believe nothing is more important than voting in this election and that shopping could wait a day.”

 Environmentalism and justice are central to the company’s mission, so Huggins said employees have been encouraged to vote “with the planet in mind,” since 2004. But in the lead up to the divisive 2016 presidential election, he said “leadership put their money where their mouth is” and started providing PTO to vote.

“By doing that, we’re telling the employees that we not only care about them as someone who contributes to the company, but we can care about them as someone who contributes to society, and we’re backing that up with the paid time to do it,” he said.

On election days, Huggins said full-time employees are paid the equivalent of eight hours on the job, while part-time workers are paid the equivalent of four hours. This applies to the nearly 800 corporate employees in Patagonia’s Ventura-California headquarters, roughly 700 warehouse workers in Reno, Nevada, and 600 retail employees across its US stores.

Sloan Richardson, a general manager at an Atlanta store, who has worked at Patagonia for 18 years, said the company has always prioritized getting employees to vote.

“It’s baked into the culture of Patagonia, which is activism, and because it’s not always just about voting, it's about being part of the community,” Richardson told HR Brew. “It’s not just a job, it’s about the mission. Which, we’re in business to save our whole planet and everything that goes with that.”

In 2018, Huggins said Patagonia wanted to do more to help people exercise their right to vote. So it teamed up with Levi’s and PayPal to start Time to Vote, through which US companies can publicly pledge to help their employees vote.

“The only call to action for Time to Vote was that companies who joined it commit to providing time to vote for their employees in elections. We didn’t tell them how much time they had to provide…It’s just, ‘Give your folks time off to go vote,’” he said. In the first year, he said, 400 companies signed the pledge. Today, over 2,000 companies have signed, including other big retailers like Best Buy, Barnes & Noble Education, and Kohl’s.

Patagonia is approaching PTO to vote a little differently this year. Instead of suspending its business operations on November 5, Huggins said Patagonia will be closing its doors on October 29, or Vote Early Day.

Richardson is happy about the move. By closing his store for early voting, he said it will make it easier for him and his employees to volunteer as poll workers on election day. “It goes to the core for me,” he said. “It becomes super important to people. It’s just a way to put our love of the environment into action.”

At the end of the day, said Huggins, that’s the company’s goal: to make the process even easier.

“It’s non-partisan. It’s just simply supporting employees at the end of the day and supporting our country, because if we get more people out to vote, our democracy will function better,” Huggins said. “Supporting your employees to do their civic duty is table stakes these days. That’s just a basic service we can provide to the people who work for us.”

Patagonia gives employees PTO to vote—and wants others to do the same

“Supporting your employees to do their civic duty is table stakes these days,” J.J. Huggins, a project manager for Patagonia’s Time to Vote program, tells HR Brew.

Amanda Schiavo

Some employers are responding to the threat of the climate crisis by doubling down on all things green—including green talent.

“You can take ‘green’ a lot of different ways, but the purest version of what’s green is that it is leading to environmental or sustainability initiatives,” Mindy Schestag, VP of growth markets and strategic initiatives at ManpowerGroup, told HR Brew. “There’s a spectrum, there’s the very pure view of a 100% green job that is focused on sustainability or the environment. And then you’ve got all these other jobs that have skills required or a role that they play related to sustainability.”

Some 70% of global employers are currently recruiting or planning to recruit green talent. While renewable energy, manufacturing, operations, and IT are among the industries where such talent is in the highest demand, according to data from 

, Schestag said employers across the board are recruiting for these roles.

“There are very specific industries that are all about sustainability,” she said. “But there are also many jobs outside of those verticals. Think about consumer goods, for example. Anybody can manufacture toilet paper, it’s been around forever. But now you have to start to think about how you package it, what it’s made of, and the company has to think about its own sustainability goals. So, there are roles that will be green across all industries.”

In addition to creating green jobs, HR can consider other ways to incorporate the organization’s commitment to the environment into recruiting practices. Doing so can factor into where a candidate chooses to work.

Indeed, 60% of the workers surveyed by ManpowerGroup said “clear and visible action to address environmental issues” would have a positive impact on their decision to work for an employer. More than one-half said “leaders vocal about commitment to environmental responsibility” (54%) and “ambitious company environmental targets” (52%) would have the same effect.

“HR professionals should really be thinking about how they represent themselves to new hires,” Schestag said. “So, even if the role itself doesn’t require green skills, the employee value proposition is something that we’re finding is going to be really important, especially as the workforce turns over and baby boomers are retiring. There is sentiment from younger employees that the environment and sustainability are much more important to them.”

Hands typing on a keyboard covered in greenery

Why HR should focus on green initiatives when recruiting

Highlighting an employer’s commitments to the environment can help attract employees.

The majority of employers are recruiting green talent, survey says

An illustration of reporter Courtney Vinopal's headshot.

Courtney Vinopal

 and associated deaths, Phoenix amended its city code to better protect contractors working in the Arizona capital from “

The ordinance, which Phoenix’s city council passed unanimously, applies to city contractors and subcontractors whose employees work “in an outdoor environment.” Under the new rule, covered employers must develop a written heat safety plan that, at a minimum:

Makes “sanitized cool drinking water” available to all employees and contract workers for free, at easily accessible locations

Allows workers to take “regular and necessary breaks,” in addition to hydration breaks

Provides access to air conditioning and/or shaded areas

Installs functional air conditioning in “vehicles with enclosed cabs” by May 1, 2025

Includes “effective acclimatization practices”

Conducts training that is available and easy to understand for all employees and contract workers

After last summer’s record temperatures, the state of Arizona asked employers to create written plans aimed at reducing the “risk for heat-related illnesses and injuries” as part of a State Emphasis Program. City of Phoenix departments developed a Heat Illness and Injury Prevention Plan to support employees in line with this program, and then sought feedback from stakeholders on supporting contract workers, resulting in the current ordinance.

Amid heat waves across parts of the Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast US last summer, the Department of Labor issued a 

 reminding employers of their duty to protect workers who are assigned to work in high heat conditions.

 a federal heat-specific workplace standard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t currently have one in place. Local efforts to protect workers from the heat in 

 have been thwarted by Republican lawmakers.

In the absence of more meaningful policies, there are a few measures HR can take to protect workers exposed to the heat, 

 in August 2023. They include shifting schedules to cooler times of day, as well as investing in technology such as monitors to measure workers’ core body temperatures.

Legislative Lowdown recurring feature illustration

Phoenix city council passes heat ordinance for contractors 

The ordinance requires contractors to provide cool drinking water, shade, and air conditioning, as well as conduct training to help mitigate dangerous effects of working in the heat.

Legislative lowdown: Phoenix passes heat ordinance to protect contractors 

If you can’t take the heat…be careful in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, last week signed a law that would prevent local governments from establishing rules protecting workers from excessive heat in the Sunshine State.

The measure was part of a larger preemptive law stopping local governments from establishing minimum wages above the state’s $12-an-hour rate, as well as barring any specific employee benefits or conditions beyond what state or federal laws allow as a requirement for doing business with any municipality in Florida.

Local governments cannot regulate “employee monitoring and protection, water consumption, cooling measures, acclimation, and recovery periods,” or “posting or distributing notices or materials that inform employees how to protect themselves from heat exposure,” among other prohibited activities, 

The new law was enacted just as local officials in Miami-Dade County were set to explore protection mandates for outdoor workers, according to 

, and it was a major win for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which outlined a ban as part of 

, and climate experts say there’s a good chance 2024 will be even more sweltering, based on a 

Last summer, the Department of Labor issued a 

 reminding employers of their general duty to protect workers in the heat, but there is no federal heat standard, and regulating how employers protect their workforce is up to local governments.

That alert reminded employers of their “legal and moral responsibility not to assign work in high heat conditions without protections in place for workers.” Officials recommended employers ensure access to water, rest, and shade; allow new workers time to build up tolerance; and offer training on preventing and responding to heat illness.

Some states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, have enacted heat standards, and lawmakers in a handful of other states are exploring them, 

 the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, another Republican, on the other hand, 

 similar to Florida’s last June, to bar local governments from enacting local measures.

 that employers looking to protect their outdoor workers from extreme heat can explore simple fixes like adjusting scheduling, embracing flexibility, relying on tech that can help flag dangerous conditions, and creating a response plan to be ready for the next heat wave.

Illustration of a thermometer heating up with Earth at the bottom

Florida lawmakers ban local efforts to regulate employee heat exposure

The move comes as local governments move to protect workers from extreme heat.

The weather may be cooling down (or at least it is where this reporter is sitting), but the planet is still heating up—and one company is trying to reduce its environmental footprint by incentivizing its employees to lead greener home lives.

Since 2022, energy management company Schneider Electric is encouraging its roughly 34,000 North American employees to make their homes more environmentally friendly through its Sustainability@Home program, according to Shalin Kothari, VP of people and DE&I strategy.

HR can play a key role in a company’s sustainability plan, according to 

, because organizations tend to fall short on greener promises when HR isn’t involved to encourage employees to stay the course. When companies put employees at the center of green initiatives, it accelerates positive outcomes, according to a September 

“Every company has an obligation of being more sustainable and pushing their employees to become more sustainable as well,” Kothari told HR Brew. “Every corporation now is taking a position, in terms of when they’re going to be carbon neutral, but if you look at where a lot of carbon emissions are…it’s done at the individual level within homes.”

Through Schneider’s Sustainability@Home program, all employees have access to a website where the company provides discounts on sustainable products, including solar panels and electric vehicles from Schneider and other brands.

The company also reimburses its nearly 18,000 US employees up to $600 annually for sustainable purchases, like solar panel installation (something Kothari said he has taken advantage of) and composting equipment.

Employees can also earn up to an additional $400 annually to put toward sustainable purchase by logging healthy habits, like the steps they take, in Virgin Pulse, a habit-tracking app.

Schneider also hosts lunch-and-learn sessions on a monthly basis during which employees can learn and ask questions about sustainable products and habits, Kothari said, adding how he hopes the Sustainability@Home initiative will help employees adopt a “sustainability mindset.”

“We want to put our money where our mouth is, and we’ll help you,” he said.

Correction 11/17/23: This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect that Schneider Electric has 18,000 employees in the US and that its Sustainability@Home program is available to its North American employees.

How Schneider Electric’s HR team encourages employees to be greener at home

 “Every company has an obligation of being more sustainable and pushing their employees to become more sustainable as well,” says its VP of people and DE&I strategy.