Concern over climate change continues to be a pressing issue, and more employees demand that their workplaces take action. According to a 2023 survey, 73% of American workers are concerned about climate change, and 61% said they want to see their company “take a stronger stance on the environment.” Additionally, just over half of U.S. employees surveyed said they would even “consider resigning from their job if the values of the company did not align with their own values.”
This push to address environmental issues is even more evident among younger employees. Research from Deloitte shows that 72% of Gen Z and 71% of millennial workers consider an employer’s environmental impact and policies before accepting a job. Furthermore, 54% of Gen Z and 48% of millennials request their employers to take more action on climate change. Some would even be willing to leave their job if their concerns aren’t addressed.
These employees—commonly referred to as green employees—are passionate about environmental issues and use their skills to promote sustainability and environmental awareness at work.
Green Employee Benefits Can Make a Difference
One way companies can attract and appease more green employees concerned with environmental issues is to offer sustainable business practices like green employee benefits, or climate change benefits, as part of their employee benefits package.
Health and retirement were the crux of employee benefits packages for many years, but that’s changing. We’ve also seen more companies offer public transportation subsidies and support for bike-to-work programs. However, there are also creative ways to enhance a benefits package that encourages employees to tackle climate change while helping them and the company lower their carbon footprint.
Here are six innovative eco-friendly employee benefits that environmentally conscious companies can offer employees. If your company isn’t offering them yet, contact your HR department and encourage them to consider these green benefits.
1. Climate-Friendly Travel
Who doesn’t love extra time off work? More companies are now offering additional paid leave for employees who choose climate-friendly vacation options, such as traveling by train or using electric vehicles rather than flying.
At MIRA Safety, a company that provides personal safety equipment, “if an employee chooses to travel by rail instead of flying or [visits] an environmentally friendly destination, they will receive additional paid time off. This effort promotes sustainable travel practices and is consistent with our company’s overall goal of decreasing its carbon footprint,” says Roman Zrazhevskiy, founder and CEO of MIRA. “Employees appreciate the opportunity to explore green travel options without sacrificing their vacation time.”
Sarah Howden manages the nonprofit program Climate Perks, which supports employers who want to offer paid leave benefits to their green employees for climate-friendly travel. The organization helps more than 140 companies by providing policy and procedure templates, discounts on low-carbon travel and sustainability services, tailored carbon savings reporting, media and press opportunities and more.
“It’s… like volunteering days,” Howden explains. “It’s the same principle, but specifically for low-carbon travel. And what it covers is the difference between flights and low-carbon equivalents. So if you took the train… instead of flying, you’d work out how long it would take by train, how long it would take by plane, and then the difference between those two times. And that difference is what you’d claim as annual leave. So, it’s basically all about making sure people don’t have to sacrifice their holiday time to make climate-friendly choices.”
Other climate-friendly modes of travel that companies can encourage their employees to use for local travel include carpooling, buses (especially electric-powered), electric scooters and bikes, trams, the tri-rail or subway system and bicycles.
2. Carbon Savings Accounts
Another green perk is the Carbon Savings Account® (CSA). Developed by Scope Zero, the CSA is a financial wellness benefit that provides strong financial incentives for employees to invest in home technology and personal transportation upgrades while reducing their company’s commute emissions.
Like a health savings account, the employee and employer contribute funds to a CSA. Green employees can then use their CSA funds for eligible home technology and personal transportation upgrades, such as low-flow shower heads, smart thermostats and electric vehicles to reduce their utility bills, fuel costs and carbon footprint. According to Scope Zero, employees can save more than $5,000 annually with CSA upgrades.
Precision Watches has a CSA “that lets employees bank unused carbon credits and cash them in for rewards,” says Sergey Taver, the company’s director of marketing. “As an example, I biked to work for six months straight, earning enough credits to redeem a weekend eco-retreat. This approach converts sustainable behavior into measurable benefits, encouraging long-term commitment to green practices.”
MIRA Safety also introduced a CSA “in which the firm contributes to an account for employees to utilize exclusively for environmentally friendly purchases” like electric vehicles or solar panels for their homes, Zrazhevskiy says. “This initiative not only helps our team’s individual sustainability efforts, but it also highlights our commitment to long-term impact on the environment.”
3. Sustainable Food Funds
Intertwining wellness and environmental benefits is also becoming more popular. One green employee benefits example is rewarding employees for making healthier, more sustainable food choices.
Fig Loans is leading the way by offering a sustainable food fund perk. “We pay up to 50% of employees’ grocery expenditures if they agree to buying locally sourced or organic produce,” explains CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Zhou. “It’s a tangible approach to connect our employees’ personal choices to broader environmental aims.”
This green employee benefit not only supports sustainable farming practices but also promotes healthier eating habits. The company “track[s] the sustainable food fund through a straightforward reimbursement process. Employees submit receipts from local farms, farmers markets or organic shops, which [the company] verif[ies] before approving reimbursement,” Zhou adds. “This system is transparent and promotes trust, guaranteeing that the fund is used appropriately.”
Companies can also support green employees by covering memberships to local organic farms and markets that offer community-supported agriculture food boxes and encouraging employees to grow their own food at home by subsidizing gardening and composting supplies.
4. Energy-Efficient Home Upgrades
More environmentally conscious companies are supporting employees’ efforts to cut carbon at home. This includes home energy assessments and upgrades, such as solar panels, heat pumps, induction stoves, smart home technology and more, to improve efficiency.
Precision Watches offers “a home green tech grant [that provides] funds to implement eco-friendly home improvements,” which Taver tapped into. “I utilized this to set up a rainwater harvesting system, which considerably lowered my water expenses and environmental impact,” he says. “This perk empowers employees to make sustainable changes at home, creating a ripple effect of environmental consciousness.”
Reviewflowz, a SaaS company that enhances customer feedback management, “provide[s] a home upgrade package for remote workers. Green employees can use these funds to make environmentally beneficial changes, such as installing energy-saving lighting or smart thermostats,” says Axel Lavergne, the company’s founder. “This bonus encourages our team to live more responsibly while working from home and reflects our company’s green values. For example, one employee installed solar panels on their home, resulting in significant savings on energy expenses and a lower carbon footprint.”
Rob Bayless, growth market lead at Elephant Energy, a home electrification company, took advantage of this green employee benefit by working with Elephant’s Home Comfort team to upgrade his home.
“I… replaced our gas water heater with a heat pump water heater, and… also upgraded to a heat pump for both heating and cooling,” he says. “I’m grateful that my company… enables and encourages us to walk the talk and bring sustainability into our own lives. Seeing the impact of these technologies firsthand, like lower power bills, has been a blessing. Plus, it was a nice way to show my family what I do every day.”
5. Digital Declutter Days
Most people don’t realize that their digital activities impact their carbon footprint. The digital sector is estimated to account for roughly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2025, according to a report by Green IT. Our emails also add up: 376.4 billion emails are sent and received every day worldwide, and an estimated 8 billion spam emails are sent daily in America, which releases 240 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The more we use electronic devices, the more energy we’ll need to sustain our usage.
Fig Loans “introduced a Digital Declutter Day, where employees get an extra day off if they spend it reducing their digital carbon footprint,” Zhou says. “This includes tasks like clearing out old files, unsubscribing from unnecessary emails and optimizing cloud storage,” organizing folders and emails and uninstalling unused apps and computer programs. “It’s a novel approach to sustainability that addresses the often-overlooked environmental impact of our digital lifestyles,” he adds.
Participate in Digital Cleanup Day
Digital Cleanup Day is an annual initiative that spotlights digital pollution and inspires individuals and corporations to “declutter and restructure their online presence.” The organization says that since 2020, nearly “1.2 million people have deleted over 14.5 million GB of data, preventing the yearly production of around 3,625 tons of carbon dioxide.” Any company can introduce this event to its staff.
6. Sustainability Sabbaticals
Many companies are now offering time off to engage in volunteer projects, but Precision Watches offers something a bit more unique: the “sustainability sabbatical.” These are longer periods of paid time off during which employees can engage in environmental projects or volunteer work related to sustainability in the country or abroad.
Taver used his company’s sustainability sabbatical by “[taking] a month off to volunteer for a reforestation project. The hands-on experience was immensely rewarding and reinforced my dedication to environmental stewardship,” he says. “This bonus not only improves the environment but also enhances our personal and professional development.”
Challenges and Solutions to Implementing Green Employee Benefits
Even as green employee benefits become more attractive, implementing them successfully remains challenging. Companies may face barriers like additional costs, training needs, lack of buy-in from management and the need to hire additional staff to implement and track green perks.
If you want to provide environmental-based employee benefits to your staff, continue exploring what your green employees want and how these perks can benefit them by changing their lives and perspectives at work and home. Such eco-friendly solutions at your company can have a ripple effect globally that can help drive engagement, inspire interaction and motivate employees to make a real difference to help improve the environment.
Photo by NassornSnitwong/Courtesy of Shutterstock
