July 22, 2016
SR Inc was pleased to host a 2nd quarter Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Symposium in the San Francisco Bay Area on June 23, 2016. Member-Clients attending the meeting in-person were joined by many others over the phone to deepen SBER’s exploration of Sustainably Healthy Workplaces and their ability to promote employee satisfaction, wellness, and productivity while enabling a transition to lower-impact – and perhaps ultimately – Net Zero Impact portfolios.
Leading companies are integrating Sustainably Healthy Workplace objectives and metrics into their sustainability strategies and are using Scorecards and multi-year Roadmaps to effectively implement those strategies and help to inform/justify building-level initiatives within the context of a portfolio-wide strategy. One such company is SR Inc Member-Client PG&E. As Kevin McArthur, PG&E’s Senior Manager of Planning & Performance Excellence explained, the company’s Corporate Real Estate Strategy & Services (CRESS) team aims to lead by example through sustainable real estate, thus showcasing the utility’s vision for sustainability and a clean energy future.
Upstream and downstream drivers are converging to push CRESS’s Sustainability Strategy forward, including PG&E’s signing of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge and participating in the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, plus California’s legislative leadership shifting the regulatory landscape around renewable energy/energy efficiency, and a growing body of research linking sustainable buildings to employee health, wellness and productivity. As the company sets goals to achieve top decile performance in facility energy, water, and waste among industry peers, it is becoming increasingly focused on employee health and wellness.
To advance its mission for more sustainably healthy workplaces, PG&E formalized healthy building standards for all new construction and renovation projects (based heavily on LEED standards) in 2014. While PG&E aims to promote the large scale deployment of healthy work environments, the company is simultaneously seeking to transform its workspaces and use existing space more wisely. PG&E is currently in the process of developing a new set of Workplace Standards, which will help to promote a balanced workplace that connects people across silos, enabling a variety of work styles and promoting flexibility, mobility, wellness, and innovation.
Another SR Inc Member-Client that is making great strides towards more sustainably healthy workplaces portfolio-wide is Genentech. As a healthcare company, Genentech is motivated to be a leader in providing healthy, non-toxic work environments to its employees. Katie Excoffier, Sustainability Manager at Genentech, led the company in sponsoring USGBC’s Building Health Initiative, which connects the workplace environment to human health and combines Genentech’s purchasing power with that of other large real estate owners in the Bay Area (e.g., Google, Salesforce, etc.) to create a “buyers’ club” to encourage suppliers to be transparent about the chemicals in their products.
As part of this initiative, Genentech built the newest office building at its South San Francisco campus to LEED Gold Standards and screened all interior building materials and furniture against a list of potentially toxic substances. Genentech is pursuing WELL Building Certification for its next new building to further expand the criteria for a healthy building. The “Neighborhood Work Environments” in the new building have made Genentech’s workspaces significantly more efficient, allowing twice as many employees to work in it versus a traditional building while using 76% less energy on a per fulltime employee (FTE) basis. Further, employees have reported being significantly more happy and productive in the space (Genentech has partnered with an academic institution to quantify the productivity benefits of the Neighborhood Work Environments). The 100% increase in density combined with energy cost reductions and employee productivity gains provides the business case for remodeling other office buildings, enabling Genentech to eliminate unhealthy materials in older buildings while promoting sustainability and employee wellness throughout the portfolio.
SR Inc has been impressed by the cross-industry commitment Member-Clients have exhibited to investigating their shared questions regarding more sustainably healthy workplaces and is energized to continue this research with Member-Clients throughout 2016. Enabled by this work, we look forward to providing at our Summit for Sustainable Operations V on December 8th a definitive, stepwise process for Portfolio Managers and Directors of Real Estate to implement Sustainably Healthy Workplace strategies and ultimately supporting Member-Clients in the implementation of these strategies through direct assistance, customized guidebooks and tools, and proprietary resources.
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As Senior Sustainability Analyst for SR Inc, Kelsey supports research, development and implementation of enterprise sustainability strategies for companies that recognize the business imperative of more sustainable operations in the face of climate change and an increasingly resource-constrained world. Prior to joining Sustainability Roundtable, Inc., Kelsey worked for an environmental/engineering consulting firm where she supported clients including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Green Buildings Council to promote sustainable buildings, clean energy, and safe drinking water. Kelsey also devoted a year to national service with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, where she worked on team-based conservation and community development projects throughout the Southwest United States. Kelsey has her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College.
