Leverage organizational change to encourage employees to collectively adopt eco-responsible practices at work.

The experts

In light of this, changes that lead to the creation of new habits appear as opportunities to introduce more eco-responsible behaviors. Indeed, certain changes—such as moving house, leaving the parental home, or changing jobs—disrupt existing routines and trigger a transitional period during which individuals reflect on the new behaviors to adopt. In this context, ADEME has published a study outlining how such 'life events' can prompt a reconsideration of habits (Source: ADEME, 2021. Life events as opportunities to encourage eco-responsible practices). The study found that during these moments, individuals are more open to being guided in adopting new habits—especially when advice comes from trusted people or their social circle. This period is therefore ideal for awareness messages aimed at introducing environmentally responsible behaviors—provided they align with personal concerns and highlight both individual and collective benefits. 

Changes in workspace and/or organizational structure therefore represent an opportunity to support employees in adopting new eco-responsible habits.

This context is all the more relevant as it aligns with a growing desire among employers to optimize underused office spaces and promote social connection between employees. Rethinking space design and usage—while considering issues of management, comfort, and collective working relationships—can help establish new social norms. These norms (i.e., prevailing behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and conduct within a group) influence employees' opinions, expectations, and actions, including their eco-responsible practices. Thus, social norms can be a real lever for promoting expected or desirable eco-actions in shared work environments, ultimately influencing or even triggering environmentally friendly behaviors. (Source: Cialdini, R. B., & Jacobson, R. P. (2021). Influences of social norms on climate change-related behaviors. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 42, 1-8).

In this perspective, researchers at Green & Blue are currently conducting an experiment designed to harness the momentum of workspace and organizational changes to help employees collectively establish environmentally responsible practices at work and adopt more virtuous habits. Their assessment of ecological awareness and adoption of eco-responsible behaviors is primarily based on elements from the Theory of Planned Behavior, developed by psychologist Icek Ajzen and applied here to pro-environmental behaviors (Source: Martin Greaves, Lara D. Zibarras, Chris Stride, Using the theory of planned behavior to explore environmental behavioral intentions in the workplace, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 34, 2013, Pages 109-120, ISSN 0272-4944, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.02.003).

According to this theory, behavior is determined by a central factor: the individual’s intention to perform that behavior. This intention is itself shaped by three components: 

1. the individual's attitude toward the behavior,
2. subjective norms, or the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform the behavior,
3. perceived behavioral control, or the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior.

The more favorable these factors are, the stronger the intention to act.

Adapted from Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

 

The objectives of this experiment are multiple:

• To gather employees’ perceptions of their environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviors both at work and in their personal lives;
• To collect their feedback on workspace redesigns;
• To identify internal champions on environmental transition topics and encourage a collective dynamic around sustainability in the workplace;
• To develop and test a simple and engaging facilitation tool (a “serious game”) to establish a 'framework of best practices' centered on shared values and environmental concerns;
• To provide targeted recommendations to foster a respectful and sustainable workplace culture that places environmental issues at its core.

Lastly, in fostering pro-environmental practices at the office, it may be useful to explore the connection between such behaviors at work and those in the private sphere, as well as the motivations and obstacles associated with each. The results collected could help guide how future workspace redesigns contribute to the adoption of more sustainable habits among employees.

Release date: August 2025