A New Shade of Green Employees

Yesterday, at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis predicted that hiring for “green jobs” will pick up over the next 12 months, but it will be some time before these jobs become a large part of the US economy. Secretary Solis was referring of course to the alternative energy industry. But this narrow definition of “green jobs” may need to be adjusted. Because, as capitalism converges with environmentalism, a “green” priority will soon be attached to all job descriptions, making every employee—especially within large corporations—a “green” worker.

This trend was discussed at last week’s SDForum event on “Where the Enterprise is Going Green”. Panel participants included: Matt Denesuk of IBM Venture Capital Group, Chris Erickson of ClimateEarth, Chris Farinacci of Hara Software and Amrit Williams of BigFix. Cisco's senior manager of sustainable development, John Hailey, and Hewlett-Packard's marketing manager, Green Business Technology Initiative, Ann Marie Feldhusen, also contributed to the discussion.

So, where is the enterprise going green? It turns out everywhere. And it’s not happening incrementally, nor is the movement confined to the enterprise alone. It extends across the value chain as companies mobilize to build products that deliver economic and environmental value to customers. This is challenging the entire workforce to think green—all the way from sourcing raw materials to designing, developing, marketing, packaging and delivering the product to customers. And in the common push to maximize operational efficiencies, the trend is also inspiring vendors and customers to share best practices.

Companies like Cisco and H-P are leading by example. Cisco’s Hailey described how his company is greening its 66,000-person/600-building enterprise through an array of sustainability initiatives, while delivering technology that furthers its customers’ eco-agendas. By using one of its own products, the TelePresence videoconferencing solution, Cisco has slashed corporate travel costs by more than 40 percent—inspiring customers through invention and by example to reduce their own carbon footprint.

A tribute to the Cisco “green team” that brought TelePresence from concept to commercialization. They may not fit the conventional description of “green workers”, but their contribution to greening America’s enterprises is immediate and enormous.