CBRE, City Of Cleveland Share Employee Engagement Best Practices

Dec 7, 2012 11:30 AM ET

CBRE, City of Cleveland share employee engagement best practices

In this column, we last discussed the connection stage of employee engagement. By connection, we mean taking a step beyond just presenting information --  the first stage -- and promoting interaction and a sense of belonging among employees, helping them make the home-work connection, supporting work-life balance and enabling them to share best practices with their peers and beyond. Deeply rooted connection leads to commitment, our third stage of employee engagement. Commitment requires ongoing interaction, knowledge sharing and reinforcement of a company’s values as they move through their sustainability journey.

CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, has made great strides in engaging its employees to inform and shape its corporate sustainability strategy. In 2007, after a rigorous process to evaluate its impacts and effectively mitigate its carbon emissions, the company committed itself to carbon neutrality. Upon achieving carbon neutrality, CBRE put a great deal of thought into how to go about creating employee enthusiasm and securing commitment from the entire organization to drive forward its sustainability journey.

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