Mindful Monday’s

Transcript

Michelle

Welcome to Mindful Mondays. My name is Michelle Precourt, and it's, as always a pleasure to be here with you today. We've got a fantastic show lined up for you today. But before we dive into that conversation, I invite you, Juvarya, and all of our guests here today to reflect on the indigenous communities from where we're calling in from. I certainly come from a place of respect to know that I live and learn about the indigenous communities of the Squamish people otherwise known as Squamish, British Columbia. Please tell us in the chat, where you're calling from we love to hear from you. Of course, if you have any questions for our guests today, we love those as well. And I actually have a question for you. Before we get started with our viewers, what do you think about this time? Typically, we've broadcast at 9am Pacific Time, and today, we thought we'd change things up to 830 Is that better is that worse, love to hear from you tell us in the chat so that we can align and be available for you when you are available. So with that, let me tell you about Juvarya here, so much to so much knowledge to share with us. So she is currently a senior advisor with C 40 cities green ports forum, she brings together leading global ports and cities with a goal of cutting emissions in half for 2030. That's amazing. She's an economic strategist. She has extensive experience. We're working at the intersection of cities, industries, and climate change. And here's a fun fact about Juvarya. She was responsible for delivering Vancouver's green economy strategy which helped the city double the number of green jobs within a decade. So welcome to the show.

Juvarya

Thanks. Hi, Michelle. Thanks for having me. I thought you're gonna say fun fact that we both live in the same town as well.

Michelle

Well, there is that too. Yes. We do. And so interesting, because how I typically meet folks in Squamish is not out and about, it's in a platform like this. And I'll be like, you're from Squamish, I'm from Squamish, and we go to a meetup. And that's exactly what we did. So thank you so much for joining us here. I want to take a quick chat, and see who is with us here online. So just bear with me for a moment here. Where are we here? I'm having a little bit of tech issues here. So I can't actually see who is in the chat or who is here joining us. But I see some comments in the chat here. So I'm going to check those out. Let's take a look. So we've got India, a couple of folks from India here. Someone else from the Vancouver area and Youssef you're here with us every single time really appreciate your support calling in from Ottawa, the Algonquin, and Anishinabe territory. So thanks for joining us, Youssef. If you've got questions for Juvarya. Please do share those in the chat. Okay, so let's get back to our show. Tell us what you've seen Juvarya in, you know, you've been in this green energy space for 15 plus years, and how is that environment changed? What are you seeing?

Juvarya

Yeah, thanks, Michelle, for the question. I think it's important and interesting to see how the world of sustainable business has changed. Depending on where you're our viewers today, sort of started to hear about this. If you heard about sustainability many, many years ago, it was sort of often about well, just compliance, right? We need to do what the law requires us to do. But I think sort of maybe late 80s, this concept of sustainable development came out. And companies started to say, Okay, well, you know, we can get a better social licence, if we're being good corporate citizens. So organizations would maybe talk about what they're doing for philanthropy. Or, you know, it was a little bit associated with your marketing department. We're going to tell stories of the good things that we're doing. But I think over the years, that has really changed to become that sustainability is a critical business issue. It's about innovating new products, it's about being more efficient saving money and our costs. Right up to today, you know, those of us in British Columbia here, we just had 40 degrees heat some of us. And so now you can see that climate change and other sustainability issues can be real risks to your bottom line. If you have to close your office because it's too hot, or all your crops are not doing well or, you know, whatever issues are in the supply chain sustainability, I think the bottom line is it's a business issue. And then these days, it's not just about your marketing team, but it's right across your organization right up to your, you know, CFO who needs to know about financial risks and your board, you need to know how to avoid risk, but also take advantage of all the opportunities and innovating these products and services in the future.

Michelle

Yeah, thanks for giving that background, it makes me think a little bit similar to, you know, accounting standards, that there are some standards in place that you need to have in order to run your business. In the HR world, there are some foundational HR practices that are legislated. You know, when BC, what comes to mind is sick leave, they implemented some new sick leave standards in January of this year. In Ontario, Youssef you may. It's on the tip of my tongue. It's about boundaries. If you remember what that legislation is about. It's about not being available 24 hours a day to your employer. I forget what it's called. But it's basically saying, Hey, I'm at work during these hours. And I have the right to be away from work during these hours. I bring those up only as analogies, similar analogies to if I hear what you're saying to Juvarya is this idea of there are some legislated mandated practices and processes that employers need to be aware of from a sustainability perspective.

Juvarya

Yeah, I think that's right, Michelle, you know, because so we've had sustainability around for a long time is what I was getting at earlier. And then over that time, it's matured. And so there are ways to measure what you're doing on sustainability, there's what's called Environmental Social Governance, you might hear this phrase more ESG. This is the idea that if you are measuring the right things that can help you perform better if you're measuring around how your sustainable performances, your social performances, it helps you run a better-managed company. And not only these things used to be voluntary, right, you could do them voluntarily, and you could have a sustainability report, but what you're getting at is they're actually becoming regulated. So now there are sustainability standards that are being designed by the same people who put out the global accounting standards. Canada has a Canadian Sustainability Standards Board. So accountants really need to know how to integrate this into the reporting. And larger companies will have to disclose some of this information in Canada, you have to disclose gender diversity of your board, for example. And so it's becoming standardized. And, you know, the benefit of that is then now we don't have greenwash, right, you're going to be if you're making these statements on being sustainable, there's a way to measure it and back that up with data. And so I think that's a good place that that we're in now.

Michelle

Yeah, you mentioned the term greenwash. Can you tell our viewers a little bit more about that?

Juvarya

Yeah, I think, you know, the concept is, if you put out statements that were really sustainable company, can you back that up? And you know, now that we have good ways of measuring and good frameworks and standards, you do need to be able to back that up. It can sound a bit daunting, but there are a lot of resources out there on how to, you know, properly account for sustainability in your organization. Whether you're large or small. There are, as I said, sustainability standards. There are also organizations that can help you understand what are the key things for sustainability in your industry. So if you look at sustainability broadly, it can be a bit overwhelming, but you want to see what's material to our industry? What are the most important things that we might be exposed to whether it's extreme heat and climate? Are you trying to avoid modern slavery in your supply chain? And so trying to understand what's most relevant to your business, you want to start there if you're a small business, it's, you know, the scope is going to be smaller. But there are organizations, I think, when we were preparing for this call, we talked about Climate Smart, a Canadian organization that helps all small businesses understand. How does climate change impact us? And how do we, you know, save money while running a great business? And how do we use that to our advantage actually?

Michelle

Yeah, yeah, what comes to mind is a little while ago, I sat in on a webinar around B Corp and becoming a Certified B Corp. And so that's one of the ways as I understand it, that there are some measures in place that you need to do these things in order to be deemed a Certified B Corp, which is, you know, a sustainable, there are parameters around saying that you are a sustainable organization. For example, here in Squamish, there's a hair salon and I see their signs that say that they are a Certified B Corp, which means to me, what that means is that when I go in there, I know that the products aren't adding to the water system in the Squamish area, and then continuing on into the ocean into the Pacific Ocean. That their products are sustainable, that somehow they're recyclable or compostable or something like this. Do I have that right?

Juvarya

Yeah, that's right. And so and then, you know, the B Corp label or any of these kinds of labels are a great way to indicate to your customers, what you're doing is that kind of mark of quality, in this case, you know, sustainable practices. And it helps you attract, you know, loyal customers, and also attract talent, you know, millennials, and have different values, right? So what we're seeing is that not just millennials, I think after the pandemic, a lot of people whose values have shifted, they want to work for organizations that, you know, have wellness at their heart. But that also aligned with their concern for the environmental concern for what they're seeing happening around in their communities. And so that's, I think, a really important driver for attracting and retaining good talent, and also good customers loyal customers.

Michelle

Yeah, yeah, I want to tap into that right away this idea of attracting talent, because I know we've got a few HR professionals on the line here with us. But I want to pop this question up. So Vraya Forrest does Mindful HR Services marketing, she does an amazing job. So she's working behind the scenes here. And curious about the folks online what sustainability trends are you seeing in the workplace? What are you seeing in the places that you are, or in your communities love to hear your dialogue around this. So go ahead and share that in the chat. And thanks for your efforts here. I want to say hello to a few other folks here it to Italina. And Italina is a colleague of mine, she is a new HR up and coming new in HR, upcoming HR professional in the Learning and Development space. And I know she's also looking for work. So hello, Italina, thanks for joining us today. Greg, thanks again for joining us. And it's the Right to Disconnect in Ontario, that legislation means that employers can't ping you at all hours of the night. Unless that's part of your shift. Of course, there are those organizations that are 24/7 and then you're on shift or you're off shift, but then you would still have that ability to disconnect from work. What else do we have going on here? Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Youssef for confirming the Right to Disconnect legislation. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about this. We left off around recruitment and retention, and values. And so, you know, you also talked about wellness. So here's what I'm seeing. I'd love to hear your perspective. And the perspective of our viewers is that people want more than a paycheque. They want to feel valued. They want to feel heard, but they also want to know that their employer cares and in a general more global sense. You know, I think about organizations like we were just talking about this offline, not that long ago Paparide, Paparide is a car-sharing service that is especially for someone like Juvarya and I that live about 60 kilometers outside the city. We can go online and say, hey, either we're looking for a ride, or we can offer up our vehicle to bring someone else. So to me, that's a sustainable way of A, you're building community, you're meeting someone who's likely from your community and B, you're saving on fuel, meaning you're saving on greenhouse gas, and you're contributing something to the greater good. So that's what I'm seeing is that folks are looking for something more than just a pay cheque. What about what are your thoughts on that Juvarya?

Juvarya

Yeah, I mean, it's a great example, I do love Poparide, and just got their email where they are talking about exactly how much carbon they've saved, and how many neighbors have introduced to each other, so they can now use that as their impact statement. And I think that's an interesting thing, as well. So, you know, comparing companies that are doing great, interesting things for the environment. On the one hand, I think we were talking about this offline, you know, you've got Patagonia, the owner has given the company to a philanthropic foundation, basically. And so the proceeds now, when you go and buy Patagonia, your that money is going to save the planet. And so, you know, at that one end of the spectrum, you can see that's really making an impact. And then at the other end of the spectrum, you can compare that to a company like Tesla, right? And so they are making electric vehicles and having an impact that way, but they are known for having not a great culture, there's no diversity, there are a lot of claims of harassment and a bad culture. And so how do you start to see the difference? Well, the differences there in those values, what is this company committing to, and how it operates? And so I think that's, that's a distinction and you can the rest, you can tell, where would you prefer to work?

Michelle

Yeah, I could see people being really torn thinking about Tesla. Because I know a lot of people with Tesla's and they love their Tesla's and I, and I get it, I get it that, you know, we plug in your car, and it's contributing to the greater good. But at the same time, the way I also look at it is, I'm also contributing to an environment, that's probably not a great environment to work in. I don't, I'm not there. So all we see here is, is what we see in the news and on social media. And what is the news and social media love to cultivate negativity, they bring those sorts of things to the surface. So maybe we have it wrong. I also think that there are pockets, there are always pockets of teams that are really cohesive, and engaging, and are, you know, really supportive, and other teams that are exactly the opposite. I feel like that's in every workplace as well. So there are different ways of looking at it. But you touched on something and I'd like to expand a little bit because there's, there's aligning with corporate values, and then there's the value that organization brings. So there are different ways of looking at it.

Juvarya

Yeah, exactly. And so when we're talking about a company like Tesla, they are creating value, it is a very successful company. And they are creating a lot of innovation. So I think, as you said, there's got to be some cohesive teams there to lead to such a level of cohesion. But then there's the idea of values. And that's, this is the idea of, are you leading with your values, right? If you look at cooperatives, for example, or credit unions, which are essentially financial institutions, like banks, but they're driven by their cooperative values. And so they might make decisions in a slightly different way. It's not always about whether is this the maximum amount of value we can extract from our customers, but instead of seeing them just as customers, you see your customers as members and so you want them to benefit in multiple ways. So for example, you know, banks might have their fees, banking fees, I think I'm from the UK and I find banking fees so high in Canada. And I think banks are set the fee or whatever they think the market can bear right where Whereas credit unions might say, well, we want our fees to be just enough, so that we can make sure that we're providing financial services to this community. And it's a different proposition than that. And so values are really important. And that's the way you change how you make decisions. One thing I wanted to say earlier was, I think one of the key things from where we're at at this moment for sustainability is that we can't keep looking at the way we did things in the past, to inform how we're going to do things in the future. The climate is changing. And so you can't say, Okay, well, this year, this is how everything went, and it's going to be the same this year. We can see it's really hot this year, you might need to make different arrangements for employees, if it's going to be really hot in the workplaces. Are you bringing in air conditioners? Are you giving people you know, a respite from the heat? So you have to have this fresh thinking of what's it going to be like in the future and lean into that future versus relying on it? You know, the tried and tested from the past?

Michelle

Yeah, yeah. And speaking of the future, I'm just going to que Vraya here there are a few resources that you could share the competent boards, climate-smart, and B Corp if you can throw those up in the chat there for our viewers, I think that might be helpful about where to go next and what to think about next, because even a small business like myself, there are certain things that I just don't do. I don't have a printer. I hate paper because it just sits there. And then I don't know what to do with it. And then do I, do I shred it, do a save it, like what do I need to do with this? So I just go paperless period, and paperless. So that's one of the things that I do, but I think Vray is going to share those in the chat there. I want to bring up a comment here from Youssef. And so Youssef, Yes, definitely, employees are looking for more and more, the bigger picture and how organizations walk the talk into impactful sustainability, just not performative. I worked for Nav Canada for 10 years. And so definitely, you know, air traffic, air travel, there's the impact on greenhouse gas effects, every time you get on a plane, there's something negative that's happening to the quality of our air, what they would do is find ways of bringing plane safely, it's that threshold safely closer together so that you can get more planes in the air and get them more quickly to their destination, the quicker that they get there, the less fuel the less impact on greenhouse gas effects. They also did something really fun as a way to engage employees was a great initiative, we will fund you to do something at your work sites, it's got to be some sort of green initiative. So many of the Nav Canada work sites have garden spaces, composting, and extra composting bins and the company would fund those projects as a way to connect, contribute to the overall goals, and also connect as a community, connect as team members. So I thought those are just a couple of real examples that I could share. I am going to pop these up here. So this one here is climate-smart. For more information on what you can do as a leader for your organization, you can find some information here. And this is what I was talking about here B Corp as well. There's a whole process. And there are a lot of online tutorials about how to achieve that B Corp status because I did look into it. And it's not an easy status to get, which I think is good, right? This isn't something that they're just giving away, you have to work at it. So that's also another resource for you to share. We are coming up to the end of our time here. And so I have one more question for you. So let me just take a look at this. So we typically have a number of HR professionals online with us. So what closing comments would you like to share about building more sustainable workplaces and specifically for the HR profession?

Juvarya

Yeah, you asked me this question. And I thought there were a couple of things. I mean, one is what kind of skills do we require for sustainable workplaces of the future, and, you know, we talked about one, which is this idea of being able to see the future and bring the future to happen. Now, this kind of sort of vision, I suppose, and shaping new things, but another is just being able to work with others. And that kind of collaboration. What we see a lot is sustainability is effective when there's collective action. And so from a corporate perspective, you'll see businesses that are engaging with NGOs and nonprofits to say, Okay, how do you think we should be shifting and changing? How do you bring in civil society to inform what we're doing as a business? Can we work with academia? Can we work with students can we bring in that energy to help us research new ideas, and so you're, you're not an even within an organization, if you only have a sustainability team or an energy team doing their own thing, and they're not connected across the organization, it's not going to give you the same kind of impact. And so you certainly need people who can collaborate internally as those intrapreneurs creating change from inside and externally with different stakeholders to work together to go further. I love this word coopetition. You know, you're not necessarily always seeing your competition, as I mean, you are competing, but you're cooperating, especially around things related to climate and environment where you need to learn faster and go together. Yeah.

Michelle

Yeah, thanks for that. I'm a big believer in open collaboration. It's why I do this type of work, Mindful Mondays, bring in subject matter experts who have a thing or two to say, on HR hot topics. And so collaboration is is huge for me. I really liked what you were saying there about the sustainability team, and sustainability committees within the organization. And there's so much data and metrics that you can extract, and then share with C suite saying, You know what, by implementing these foundations, this was the impact. Here's how it's shifted retention. Here's how it shifted engagement. Here's how it's shifted the reduction of you know, how much paper we purchase, things like that. So thanks so much for sharing with us. We are coming up to time. I want to thank all of our guests for showing up today for chiming in and sharing your questions, and your comments, and I want to tell you what's happening next. really inspiring conversation with someone who I've known for a number of years. His name is Ray Zahab. Ray is an explorer, he is a sponsored athlete, he traverses around the world. He's crossed the Sahara Desert. He's had a film made about that. Matt Damon was the moderator for that. And he's going to talk with us about inspiring workplace resilience. If there's someone who knows how perseverance and resilience, and is chock full of so much energy, it's Ray Zahab. So that's happening at 8:30am, Pacific time on June 19th. So with that, I want to thank you so much for Juvarya for sharing your knowledge and your wisdom on sustainability and building sustainable workplaces. Thank you.

Juvarya

Thanks for having me. Michelle, that went quickly.

Michelle

It always does. It always does. I'm always surprised by how quickly our time comes. But here we are almost at the top of the hour. So thank you once again. And of course, I just want to close by saying I wish you all a great day and do be well.