Study: green companies triple customer satisfaction

A new report reviewing buyer preferences and the performance of green brands found that top performing companies with strong green practices have three times more customer satisfaction than poor performers, as well as 4.7 times more employee satisfaction and 1.7 times more revenue per employee.

"Business people have worried about the cost of being green," said Peter Brockmann, President of Brockmann & Company, the consulting firm that released the report.

"We provide evidence that companies that focus on recycling in the office, reducing energy consumption in the office and use video conferencing or telepresence technologies intensively, also have higher customer satisfaction, higher employee satisfaction and higher revenues per employee."

Another interesting discovery noted in the report was that top performers weren't simply adopting green technology, but were employing green practices and management attitudes that influence corporate culture on issues like using public transportation and teleworking.

In a separate survey, commissioned by National Geographic magazine, more than 80% of U.S. workers polled said they believe it is important to work for a company or organization that makes the environment a top priority.

Yet, only 53% currently work for a company or organization that implements environmental or sustainable programs in the workplace, the poll revealed.

In the survey conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 by Lightspeed Research, 88% of those surveyed also said that if they had access to easy tips for making their office green, they would be "very" or "somewhat" likely to work toward helping the environment by using those tips.

Acting on this information, National Geographic is publishing a book, titled "True Green@ Work," which it said provides easy-to-implement workplace strategies for safeguarding the environment.

Tips include:

• Shut down your computer and other office equipment: Left on all day, every day, a computer will over a year use nearly 1,000 kilowatts of electricity, resulting in more than a ton of carbon emissions.
• Use recycled paper: It uses up to 90% less water and half the energy of making paper from virgin timber.
• Bring your lunch to work in a recyclable container to reduce packaging waste.
• Remove your phone charger from the power point when not in use, as it continues to consume up to 40% of the current used to charge your phone.
• Introduce flextime and telecommuting: U.S. drivers waste nearly 6 billion gallons of fuel each year due to traffic congestion, typically during peak morning and evening commutes.

This article is reproduced with kind permission of SustainableBusiness.com