Green HRM: Meaning, Advantages, Policies, and Practices

In the present scenario, Green HRM is an emerging topic. Green HRM was developed from the Green movement around the world.

The concept of Green HRM has become popular worldwide. Its meaning differs from person to person. It attempts to boost energy savings or reduce the pollution created by industries and general living habits. The primary aim of greening is to minimize the possible adverse effects of energy consumption and pollution on the environment.

Implementing green technology as a corporate plan will promote business success in the ever-evolving world. The inevitable fact is that organizations will play a critical role in the fight against global warming. HRM will fulfill the company’s dedication to green practices with the help of management and its employees. Green HRM's function may become the operator of sustainability goals, which will aid in achieving your company goals.

What is Green HRM?

Green HRM extends its role in the promotion and achievement of sustainable objectives within a company. The word green HRM applies mainly to the contribution of policies and activities in the field of HRM. It is commonly known as green human resource management or GHRM.

It involves all workers in adopting sustainable practices and improving awareness about eco-friendly lifestyles. They include the promotion of energy conservation.

Why is Green HRM Important?

Within thousands of businesses today, sustainability plans are growing steadily due to the threats and uncertainties that climate change has caused our world. The support of senior management is crucial in the implementation of its sustainability management by an organization.

Benefits of Green HRM

Companies need to carry out an environmental audit that can focus on recycling and help society and its people. It will help the workers and members of organizations to understand the use of natural resources and promote eco-friendly goods. Some benefits of Green HRM are as follows-

1. It can support organizations to minimize expenses without losing talent.

2. It decreases a company's total costs as it becomes more effective concerning the use of electricity, water, and manufactured goods.

3. It helps to achieve greater employee job satisfaction and dedication, which leads to increased productivity.

4. Develop a culture of concern for the holistic wellbeing of fellow employees.

5. Small companies can also reduce their electricity costs by using technologies that are energy-efficient and less costly.

6. It can be used to create good public relations if an organization adds a green initiative to its workplace.

Policies Of Green HRM

Recruitment and Selection Method

Companies can go online to hire candidates with online applications and resumes to reduce massive paper waste.

HR should ensure that the next steps of the selection process determine the applicants’ willingness to embrace eco-friendly choices after the first screening of CVs. During an interview, some questions should focus on environmental issues or a group dynamic that combines a corporate strategy with sustainability concerns. In the end, each candidate can also be given a green score and added to the total spreadsheet of scores that will eventually rank the top applicants.

Onboarding Process

Induction programs should be structured in such a way to promote the incorporation of these new workers with the culture of green consciousness of the organization. Besides, these programs should also illustrate the company's environmental issues and the green actions that are being developed within the company.

Read more: Employee Onboarding and Its Steps That You Need To Know

Learning and Development

Learning and development is a method that focuses on improving the abilities, skills, and attitudes of employees. Leaders should offer training materials to develop employee knowledge and skills in environmental sustainability. Learning and development can encourage the employees to find ways to help their organizations become more successful.

For environmental management training, companies can use digital media and web-based training modules. Energy conservation, waste management, and recycling factors relevant to the environment can become green training core points.

Performance Management and Appraisal

Performance management is a motivational approach to enhance employees' technical skills that help in achieving company goals. Thus, performance appraisal can include sustainability objectives measured with specific metrics to set up a greener company.

Green targets, tasks, and responsibilities such as creating green awareness and encouraging them to participate in the company's green activities can also be considered when it comes to managers’ performance appraisal.

Compensation and Reward Management

Green compensation and reward management aim to acknowledge workers’ commitment to developing a more sustainable organization. Three types of rewards are as follows-

• Monetary rewards can be in the form of salary increments, cash rewards, and bonuses.

• Non-Monetary rewards like leaves for special occasions, gifts, etc.

• Recognition-based rewards highlight the employee’s contribution towards the company, appraisal from the top management, etc.

Crucial Green HRM Practices That You Need To Know

Employment Security

Life is unpredictable, and a job is a reliable thing that most people are concerned about nowadays. In reality, having an employer that helps the worker to be there for themselves and their families is the number one reason why employees come to work. Employment security allows employees to go home to care for themselves and their families after work.

Companies can benefit from employment security because it helps them retain their employees. For example, when workers get laid off, usually it is the company that pays the price. Organizations are the ones who have engaged in the recruitment, training, and growth of these workers.

Selective Hiring

Selective hiring helps a company to bring more value-adding workers to the company. You can't just hire anybody if you want individuals who are fit for the position. Organizations do their best to recruit outstanding individuals because they bring more success to the company. Therefore, hiring the right people is a secret to maintaining a strategic advantage.

We can use several different recruiting methods to find the best candidates in today's global world. To see how well they are performing, more and more businesses actively keep track of their recruiting data sources. IQ tests, personality reviews, structured interviews, task tests, and performance reviews are widely used selection methods.

Teamwork

Teamwork is essential in achieving goals. When it comes to success, high-performance teams are critical for any organization. Teams bring benefits because they are formed up of individuals who think differently but work towards a common objective. Then these ideas are analyzed, resulting in the selection of the best ones.

The best teams which are mentally healthy can think differently. It ensures that team members will develop ideas that are different while getting comfortable bringing them up. Like another team or a department, a team usually is a small unit of the organization. Such larger organizations need to work together as well. Teamwork helps to create a productive and successful organization.

Open Communication

Open communication is about strategies, finance, and events that promote a culture in which individuals believe they are recognized. It genuinely involves workers in the organization. It prevents negative conversations between the employees.

If you want your employees to share their ideas, they need to have a clear understanding of what's happening in the company. Being aware of the company is something that workers feel is an integral part of the company. Open communication creates an opportunity to contribute to and influence decisions that impact their work lives.

Training and Learning

Organizations are investing significantly in training for their workers. After hiring the best candidates, you need to make sure that they stay in the organization.

Learning has now become a way of being creative, growing faster, and maintaining a strategic advantage. Employers are focusing on skill-specific types of training. Nowadays, on-demand courses have increased enormously all over the world. All thanks to the internet as everybody is connected and can learn anything, from anywhere and anytime.

For modern generations, such as the Millennials and Generation Z, learning has also become extremely important. In a Gallup study, younger workers' rate of learning and personal development is as much more critical as older generations. The next generation of employees is continuously looking for growth opportunities and succeeding in their careers.

Conclusion

As a process, Green HRM helps in achieving greater productivity with minimal expenditure. It helps eliminate ecological waste and makes the best use of refurbished HR goods, equipment and techniques. It aims to increase workers' engagement in a work environment that allows the company to function in an environmentally friendly manner.

This article is written by Rashmi Rekha Deka. She works as a Content Marketer at Vantage Circle. She likes to keep herself informed about the HR happenings and write about topics surrounding organizational growth. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com