Consumers hold brands they shop to high standards. It is no longer enough to have the best products and services in your industry. Now, to win over the hearts and minds of customers, it helps to show commitment to corporate social responsibility. But what is corporate social responsibility? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a type of business model that motivates companies to be more socially accountable.
A single CSR plan can address multiple causes and often complements a company’s broader business model. A sustainability initiative is one type of corporate social responsibility program that makes sense no matter what industry you’re in. More than any single individual, large businesses negatively impact the environment. In fact, just 100 companies caused more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse emissions since 1998, according to the Carbon Majors Report. That means you, a person with the power to influence change and corporate sustainability initiatives, can make a notable positive impact on the environment.
Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability can go a long way and make your brand more appealing. Studies show that 70 percent of consumers want to know what the brands they support are doing to address social and environmental issues. There are countless actions your company can take to be more sustainable. Some of those actions include reducing CO₂ emissions, limiting energy consumption, investing in renewable energy, and reducing plastic waste. Yet, eco-conscious changes can be costly, which is why companies that adopt sustainable CSR programs tend to be larger. That being said, you don’t have to join the ranks of the Fortune 100 to start giving back to the world. There are simple, inexpensive changes you can make right now that will not only improve the world around you but your top line as well.
According to a Sustainability Report from TechStars, “promoting sustainability and improving profitability are not mutually exclusive.”[1] Companies committed to reducing their environmental footprints save money on expenses like operational and maintenance costs. You may argue that sustainable expenses like efficient energy processes and zero waste initiatives take time and money to get off the ground. There is truth to that, yet let’s think long term. Brands that show commitment to the environment wind up spending less on energy bills and attracting more customers.
One study from the Global Web Index reports that two in three consumers think brands that make a public promise to be sustainable are more trustworthy.[2] That’s right! Going out of your way to mitigate environmental harm can boost your brand appeal and attract more people to your business. Sustainable companies are also more likely to attract qualified job seekers, especially Millennial job seekers. Forty percent of Millennial workers say they accepted a job because the company they work for performed better on sustainability than other companies. When it comes to employee retention, 70 percent of Millennials said they would stay with a company if it had a strong sustainability plan.[3] Sustainability is a source of employee pride and connects organizational values to a job seeker’s personal values. Therefore, being transparent about the sustainable practices your business implements in day-to-day operations can help you grow and strengthen your workforce.[4]
You may not have room in your budget for solar panels at the moment, but perhaps there’s room to address plastic pollution. Certain sustainability initiatives, like installing bottleless water coolers in your office, can leave more money in your company’s pocket. That’s money you can save and put towards larger eco-friendly projects in the future.
A bottleless water cooler is the solution for any company searching for innovative ways to reduce water bottles. A bottleless water cooler plugs right into your building’s water supply, filters on-site, and provides your business with an endless supply of clean, refreshing water. With a bottleless water cooler in your office, employees will be less inclined to purchase single-use water bottles from vending machines and more inclined to fill their reusable water bottles. Single-use plastic bottles are an environmental nightmare, taking over 450 years to decompose and eventually breaking down into toxic microplastics that are often ingested by animals. A single Quench bottleless water cooler prevents over 7,000 single-use plastic bottles from ending up in landfills and the environment every year. If you’re looking for more ways to reduce plastic waste in the workplace, check out a list of ideas here.
A Quench water cooler also supports the use of local water resources rather than supporting the multi-billion dollar bottled water industry. Pictures printed on single-use plastic water bottle labels lead many consumers to believe that bottled water comes from pristine mountain springs. The reality is that over half of bottled water is pulled from municipal water sources, sometimes from drought-stricken communities. Furthermore, the process of manufacturing plastic bottles and bottling water wastes millions of liters of water. It’s estimated that three liters of water are required to produce just one liter of bottled drinking water.[5]
The environmental benefits of bottleless water coolers extend beyond reducing water bottles and saving water. If your company’s sustainability initiative includes reducing your carbon footprint, a bottleless water cooler can help with that as well. There are more negative outputs to single-use water bottles than *just* the plastic waste. You also have to consider the carbon emissions that come from producing the plastic bottles, then bottling, packaging, and delivering the bottled water. All those factors add up and can eventually become part of your company’s carbon footprint.
As we reach a record amount of pollution on our planet, we each need to do our part to help save the environment. At Quench, enhancing the sustainability efforts of our customers is a core value of our service. We help our customers eliminate the use of single-use plastic water bottles, incumbent fossil fuel depletion, and carbon emissions by filtering a building’s existing water supply at the point-of-use (POU) via a bottleless water cooler.
Quench’s Corporate Social Responsibility plan is aligned with our parent company, Culligan. Click here to review Culligan’s Corporate Social Responsibility plan.
Not only does Quench strive to make the businesses we work with eco-friendlier, but we also incorporate sustainable environmental practices in our business operations wherever possible. For instance, we recently switched the location of our corporate headquarters to a more energy-efficient building, providing an 11 percent decrease in energy usage. Quench continually seeks to improve product offerings and business practices to reduce our own environmental footprint.
Want to learn more about Quench and our water machines? Click here! Can’t wait to get started? Click on the green “Get a Quote” button and we will have one of our Quench Water Experts contact you. Or give us a call at (888) 877-0571!
[2] https://blog.globalwebindex.com/marketing/sustainable-brands/
[4] https://www.nbs.net/articles/three-reasons-job-seekers-prefer-sustainable-companies