Employees' experiences on the development of sustainability competence at workplaces

(Text continues after graph)

Introduction

Climate change and related adaptation and mitigation measures have a significant effect on occupations, job content and the competencies needed at work. All work tasks require new sustainability competencies, such as work and production practices that mitigate climate change and are more ecologically sustainable. Practical measures for ensuring competencies are required both from the educational system as well as in the competence development that workplaces offer to employees.

The Climate change and work survey examined for the first time views of the entire employee population on the competence development related to sustainability transition at workplaces. The survey was used to explore the extent to which workplaces have collected information on employees' environmental and climate competencies and organized training on climate change and its mitigation at work.

Employees' climate and environmental competencies have hardly been assessed

Practical measures for improving and developing employees' environmental and climate competencies are still in their infancy. Only one in ten respondents reported on their workplace having surveyed the employees' competencies regarding environmental and climate issues.

Climate and environmental competencies had been most often surveyed in educational and research organizations, in public administration and in the category “other”, which contains a wide range of different occupations, such as the primary sector as well as culture and entertainment. Educational and research activities are important ways of producing sustainability information and establishing guidelines, whereas public administration produces instructions and frameworks for the activities of companies and other organizations. That makes sufficient and up-to-date sustainability competencies especially important in these expert tasks.

However, in the future, sustainability competencies will be needed in almost all occupations. The recognition of existing sustainability competencies helps employees to identify on which topics there is a need for additional information in the organization as well as on how to make use of employees' competencies in the development of sustainable operations. For example, an employee interested in questions of ecological sustainability could guide others in the work community and use these skills in their work tasks if the employer provided opportunities for it, such as time and other resources for joint development and implementation of changes.

Large companies had surveyed competencies somewhat more often compared with mid-sized and small companies. Large companies have greater resources for systematic competence mapping and development.

The provision of training on climate change or its mitigation is still limited

Only 13% of the respondents reported their workplace having organized training on climate change or its mitigation. The content of the training was not examined in more detail in the survey. Training related to the topic varies between various sectors and may also be affected by the respondents' level of competence. For example, in the restaurant sector the training may relate to vegetarian and locally produced food, in the energy sector it could involve the commissioning of renewable energy technologies whereas in the educational sector it might concern environmental education. Despite the variety of training content, the survey provides an overview on the prevalence of training in work life.

Most training was offered in educational and research organizations along with the group “others” (incl. primary sector and culture and entertainment). Primary sector - agriculture and forestry - has been among the first sectors to need and apply information on climate change and mitigationto ensure the future operating conditions of the sector. On the other hand, training is the core activity of educational and research organizations, and thus, training provision related to climate change is a natural part of their activities.

It is notable that only less than 7% of employees of the health and social services and wellbeing sector and 8% of transport and traffic sector employees reported their workplace having organized training regarding climate change and mitigation . In the open-ended survey responses, respondents from the health and social services commented that due to the high hygiene requirements, there is a lot of disposable equipment (tools and protective equipment), which the employees felt distressing from the point of view of sustainable development. The scarcity of training in the transport and traffic sector is alarming as the sector is seen as a key area for mitigating climate change.

Large companies have organized more training compared with smaller companies. There is significant pressure for large companies to act responsibly and sustainably, exerted both by their clients as well as society in general. In addition, they have more resources available for training. It is likely that in the future, small and medium-sized companies will also have to prove that their operations are sustainable, meaning they too will need to increase their competencies.

As competence studies have found in general, more highly educated people stated that more training had been provided compared with less educated employees (upper secondary or lower education).

Orientation to climate-friendly work practices

Climate-friendly work practices are already a part of job orientation. Instructing climate-friendly practices in orientation was most common in manufacturing and construction, in the service sectors and in the class “others” along with the transport and traffic sector. Thus, climate-friendly ways of working are becoming part of orientation in such sectors where they might have a significant impact on, for example, recycling, material use or energy and fuel consumption.

On the other hand, in the educational and research sector and public administration, climate-friendly practices did not play a part inorientation, which may be explained by the nature of expert work. The sustainability competencies most needed in those sectors do not concern daily work procedures, but are rather related to content-focused work and those competencies are provided by training.

Instruction and training are provided for general sustainability measures: energy saving, recycling and material efficiency

Common sustainability competencies needed in many sectors include energy saving, recycling and the efficient use of materials. Up to three out of four respondents reported having received instruction on recycling, sorting and reusing. Nearly two out of five had received instruction on material efficiency and a third of respondents reported energy-saving instructions.

The responses regarding the provided instruction varied significantly based on the sector. Across all sectors, most instruction had been provided for recycling, sorting and reuse. Instructions on energy saving had been provided especially in manufacturing and construction along with transport and traffic, whereas material and raw material efficiency was a common topic in manufacturing and construction as well as the service sectors (commerce and the accommodation and restaurant sector). These correspond with process efficiency measures that are central in these sectors, , but it is likely that the focus of the training was on cost savings instead of climate measures. This interpretation is supported by the respondents feeling that they had not received training on mitigating climate change, although the measures in question are important also for sustainable development. More research is needed, especially on vocational training organized by workplaces and its significance in different sectors.

Development of sustainability competencies is a way to promote the green transition

Anticipating new competence requirements and the systematic competence development are key measures of promoting the green transition and adapting to climate change both in workplaces and in the society at large. For example, sector-specific plans for reducing carbon footprint (low-carbon roadmaps, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, 2020) have been drawn up in Finland, and the plans emphasize competence development as one of the key prerequisites for reaching a low-carbon society.

Reskilling and upskilling of employees also acts as a buffer against the potential negative impacts of the on-going green transition and reduces the risks of unemployment, poverty and inequality. What is needed is more co-operation between political decision-makers, developers of the educational system, labour market organizations and workplaces along with practical measures for ensuring sufficient sustainability competencies.

This Work-Life Knowledge service analysis page also involves a data page: Climate change and work.