What is Green Recruitment?

 

Green recruitment is the process of hiring candidates with knowledge, skills, approaches, and behaviors that identify with environmental management systems within an organization.

In general, environment concerned companies have their own environmental policy framework. In materializing the established environmental policies, companies need environmentally oriented workforce. In creating environmental oriented workforce,companies have two options: First is focusing on green recruitment. Second is providing required environmental protection related awareness, education, training and development to the existing workforce. The first option is more proactive and cost effective than the second option. Hence, searching best green recruitment practices is important to organizations. In the recruitment context, what some companies are doing is that they integrate corporate environmental policy and strategies with the recruitment policy of the company. A survey by the British Carbon Trust confirms that most of the employees (more than 75%) considering working for an organisation perceived it as important that they have an active environmental policy to reduce carbon emissions (Clarke, 2006).

On the other hand, potential employees also search and want to work in the environmental concerned organizations. In United Kingdom environmental issues have an impact on organizations‟ recruitment efforts, and according to a survey high-achieving graduates judge the environmental performance and reputation of a company as a criterion for decisionmaking when applying for job vacancies (Wehrmeyer, 1996; Oates, 1996). The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) believe in that becoming a green employer may improve employer branding, company image and is a useful way to attract potential employees who have environmental orientation (CIPD, 2007). Attracting environmentally aware talent might be facilitated by pro-active branding of the organization as a high-quality “green employer of choice” (Renwick et al, 2008; Jackson et al, 2011). Increasingly, firms are beginning to recognize that gaining a reputation as a green employer is an effective way to attract new talent (Phillips, 2007; Stringer, 2009).

    1. Indicating or making transparent about organisation‟s environmental n                      performance (past and current) when communicating reruitment messages.
    2. Becoming a green employer or green employer of choice
    3  Including environmental criteria in the recruitment messages.
    4  Communicating the employer‟s concern about greening through recruitment
        efforts.
    5  Reflecting environmental policy and strategies of the organisation in its
        recruitment policy.
    6  Expressing certain environmental values (e.g. be a part of the green team of
        ABC.. or we are a socially and environmentally responsible employer) in the
        job advertisements of the company.
    7  Expressing the preference of the organisation to recruit candidates who have
        competency and attitudes to participate in corporate environmental
        management initiatives too in the recruitment message

Reference 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2007), The environment and people management, Discussion web page. 

Clarke, E. (2006), Power Brokers, People Management, 18th May, pp. 40-42.

Phillips, L. (2007), Go Green to Gain the Edge over Rivals, People Management, 23rd

August, p.9.

Renwick, D.W.S. Redman, T. and Maguire, S. (2008), Green HRM: A Review, Process

Model, and Research Agenda, University of Sheffield Working Paper.

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/content/1/c6/08/70/89/2008-01.pdf.