Here’s How We Keep Sustainability Front and Center for Our People

This blog post is guest authored by Virginie Helias, Chief Sustainability Officer.

Sustainability is most powerful when it’s deeply embedded into the way we work, think and lead. As Earth Month comes to a close, I’m reflecting not only on our continual pursuit of progress, but also on how we demonstrate every day that sustainability is a foundational part of P&G’s business strategy.

Here are a few ways we’re doing this.

Enabling Open Conversations and On-the-Ground Leadership

Transparency is everything to me. One of the most rewarding parts of my role is creating space for honest conversations with colleagues around the world about sustainability, our collective progress and the challenges we face, both as a community and as individuals.

That’s why I host SustainTable Talks — informal lunch gatherings held in our offices across the globe bringing together employees from diverse businesses, functions and levels, spanning Europe, the U.S and Asia. These in-person discussions are opportunities to foster open dialogue, offering employees a broader perspective they may not typically have and taking the time to listen to their hopes and concerns.

In addition, I facilitate monthly candid calls called All In On Sustainability, which are open to all employees. These virtual forums provide a platform for individuals to ask questions on any sustainability-related topic and receive unscripted answers. With broad attendance ranging from 100 to 300 participants for each call, these sessions offer valuable insights into the organization’s pulse and help inform our internal engagement strategies.

I also make it a point to visit our manufacturing plants to engage directly with the incredibly dedicated teams who are busy making sustainability irresistibly superior. These visits are more than check-ins. They’re ways to listen, learn and uncover powerful insights that fuel our journey.

Making Sustainability Relatable and Irresistible

Helping employees personally engage with our approach to sustainability is important. One effective way we’ve done this is through a video series featuring the children of P&G employees. Who better to convey the importance of environmental action than the next generation of leaders? In their own words, they explain how P&G reduces its own environmental impact, enables consumers to reduce their impact and helps scale solutions across industries.

Rewarding People and Projects That Drive Sustainability and Value Creation

For the sixth straight year, our It’s Our Home Sustainability Awards ceremony celebrated individuals and teams from around the world whose significant contributions are making a difference, accelerating progress and creating value while reducing environmental impact, across three levels:

1. Reducing our environmental impact — our operations and supply chain.
2. Enabling consumers to reduce their environmental impact when they use our products.
3. Scaling industry-wide solutions that help reduce environmental impact.

We were delighted to recognize 12 winning teams or individuals this year, from more than 300 nominations.

Many P&G sites also host expo events around this occasion, where teams showcase their successes for employees to learn how to further leverage sustainability as an amplifier of product superiority.

At P&G, we believe the path forward is innovation that solves everyday problems through irresistible superiority that drives market growth and is more environmentally sustainable — helping to fulfill our purpose of improving lives for generations to come.