I remember the very first Earth Day. What a shock to realize that it really was over 30 years ago. I distinctly recall my AP Biology class deciding as a group to cut class and spend that class period, and then the next, picking up litter along the highway in front of my high school. It was a bold move for a bunch of nerdy advanced placement geeks. It seems so long ago, those first heady days of environmental awareness.
The 1970s brought suddenly higher oil prices, and both individuals and organizations scrambled to control their energy costs. Over time, complacency set in and the sense of urgency about controlling energy usage faded. Fast forward 30+ years, and corporations are slowly getting on the new green bandwagon, finally making the connection that doing the right thing by the environment can be good for business, too, for a myriad of reasons. So what does "green" look like in our workplaces today? How are our IT shops contributing toward organizations being better corporate world citizens?
Such questions came up during informal discussions during TechEd. This is a tale of two members of our community and their workplaces. To protect the innocent, we'll call them Jane and Joe. Both Jane and Joe work in the SAP shops of their respective US corporations, each of which is located in the suburbs of a major US city. The respective web sites of each corporation offer statements proclaiming their commitment to environmental awareness and being good corporate citizens. So how do their employees think they are they doing?
Jane is very fortunate in that the public transit in her city is extensive; however, the office is located in a suburban office park, so the company recently held a meet and greet by ZIP code to connect employees for car pooling. Jane's IT department is piloting a telecommuting arrangement; about half of the IT staff work from home one day a week. Jane is not sure when this opportunity might be extended to other support functions, but she is pleased that her employer has taken this first step. Jane's work site also went from single-serving bottled water to water service in 5 gallon jugs- not perfect, but a step in the right direction.
The corporate offices of Joe's company are in a city with very limited public transit opportunities. Due to the poor air quality and frequency of ozone alerts, local government has urged employers to support workplace initiatives including staggered work hours, car and van pooling, and telecommuting. Many of Joe's co-workers participate in van pooling; Joe used to car pool, but his car pool buddy left the company, so he is back to driving to work. Joe's company does not support telecommuting, at least not officially. Workers and their managers who reach an agreement on working from home, either part time or full time, have to keep it "under the table." Joe's work site has offered reverse osmosis water for years in its coffee bars; single serve bottled water is still available in the onsite cafeteria and in vending machines, but most personnel take advantage of the filtered water. Styrofoam cups in the coffee bars have been replaced by mugs and paper cups. The cafeteria has also gone green in recent months, including a switch from Styrofoam to cardboard serve ware.
There are a lot of good things happening at both workplaces: virtualization is saving both companies money in energy consumption, and recycling programs are strong. When Joe's company recently relocated their data center, that relocation was the opportunity to move towards virtual servers wherever possible. Both companies have strong SAP data archiving programs, reducing the need for additional servers in the SAP landscapes. Both companies have cut back on corporate travel, using teleconferencing for internal meetings, at least for the worker bees. Joe's company has recently rolled out new shared workspace tools, although the company still blocks nearly all networking web sites, making it more challenging to build relationships in the absence of frequent face to face meetings. Web access is less tightly restricted where Jane works, so she is able to do a lot more informal networking virtually. Both companies support volunteerism in their communities, including a variety of neighborhood and environmental improvement programs.
It is fair to say that while both Jane and Joe are eager to see their companies do more, both organizations have come a long way in being environmentally responsible world citizens.
