Small business owners looking to recruit and retain younger employees should make more of an effort to demonstrate their commitment to helping the environment, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The organisation revealed that the majority of employers already encourage staff to recycle and reduce energy consumption but do less well in the area of transport.

The research found that while 91% encourage recycling and 83% encourage reduction in energy consumption, only 45% encourage car-sharing. Even fewer (30%) consider more imaginative ways of reducing the need to travel such as encourage their staff to work from home.

Employers recognise that to be attractive in the talent marketplace, they need to consider how potential employees will view their environmental and ethical record

And a staggering 70% of HR professionals admit that their organisation could do more to encourage employees to reduce the environmental impact of their travel arrangements.

According to the CIPD‘s Gerwyn Davies, co-author of the Labour Market Outlook report, many employees – especially younger ones – consider a company‘s green policies when considering which jobs to accept.

“Reputation and employer brand have risen to the forefront of the HR agenda,” he said. “Employers recognise that to be attractive in the talent marketplace, they need to consider how potential employees will view their environmental and ethical record. Employers will need to set an example on the environment to become an employer of choice.”

The report found that 46% of employers believe potential recruits would prefer to join an organisation with a strong environmental policy, while 39% of employers claim that an environmental policy is more important to younger workers.

Mike Kelly, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at KPMG, agreed that companies now have to consider wider issues when attempting to attract new staff.

“If you want to be a great place to work, then it‘s not just about base salary and benefits,” he said. “People increasingly expect to work in a business which has embedded environmental management systems to effectively manage its environmental impacts and we are finding that it is an issue that is moving up the agenda, especially among the graduate community.”