Imagine a workplace where employees are happy, relaxed and innovative. Work is something to look forward to, a place to learn new skills and challenge yourself. It’s satisfying, varied and autonomous. You are set challenges and asked to solve them, rather than being told what to do. This is underpinned with simple, usable processes that help you to complete your work. The office is smart, well maintained and comfortable to work in.

Travelling to the office is easy: you can get there easily by public transport or cycling. You walk when you can and love the feeling the exercise gives you. Your immediate manager is supportive, giving you regular feedback. You understand your role and where you fit within the organisation. You know your strengths and weaknesses, where you excel and where you can improve. Hours are flexible, allowing you time to play sport at lunchtime, take courses or volunteer when you want to.

You like the company you work for. You understand what they do, their priorities and the decision making process. You know your role inside it. You feel that the performance of the company is, in part, due to your actions and those of your colleagues at work. Your ideas are heard and your opinion is taken into account. Their transparent financial and environmental reporting means that you understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as your own.

Everyone uses the corporate vision. It’s a KPI and a mental checklist when planning everything from projects to procurement. Rejecting decoupling and a growth orientated approach, the company instead creates quality products with longevity. Income is split between the sales of the products and their upkeep. In addition, they share their learning throughout the whole company and partnered organisations in less developed countries. One of their revenue streams involves creating innovative products and sharing expertise with emerging markets and developing countries.

Now imagine the alternative, an office familiar to many. Managers despair because employees need to be shown ‘what to do’. Annual reviews are complex, feared and arduous and is the only chance for personal feedback. Employees dislike the company and are suspicious of management. Hampered by old and cumbersome procedures, people moan about pay, feel trapped or want to leave but have no self confidence left to get another job. The Green Champions nag you to use the recycle bins and turn the lights off, but it doesn’t make a difference to anyone whether you do or don’t.

You’re unsure of why you work for the company. You don’t like the product they make and are quick to pick holes in what they do. You feel like their shareholders come first and that you, as an employee are to be worked hard, paid little and discarded. Their aggressive expansion plans conflict with their corporate social responsibility reports. CSR is just something they do to put on their website.

The first scenario outlines my vision for a sustainable workplace. I admit that I’ve hardly mentioned what we traditionally think of as ‘sustainability’ (ISO14001, space age buildings, working from home). This is because it has become embedded in all that the company and it’s employees do. The imoprtance of sustainability is recognised and is fully compatible with the way that the business works. I’ve emphasised the individual experience. This is because I believe that sustainability is a human issue and the solution lies with human beings. A workplace like in the first scenario I mentioned above fosters innovation, creates the most enjoyable and creative work environment for all and provides the right environment for ideas to grow and spread. Good communications holds this picture together, making the link between sustainability and the employee’s position seamless. Employees understand why it’s an important consideration, what it means to the company and, most importantly, have a unique sense of what it means to them. The human experience is all backed up and supported by the business processes. The business is innovative, accountable and genuine.

So how do we achieve this seemingly impossible task? Start with your employees. Get the work environment right, show leadership and direction and watch the solutions form themselves. No one knows your business better than your employees. Set them free to creatively think and watch the ideas float to the surface, like bubbles in a Champagne flute. For further reading on how to do that, start here.

We will be discussing more visions for sustainability in the workplace at the Workplace Sustainability conference on 14 June. Join us there to continue the conversation and kick start it on the discussion board below or join the #workplacesustainability hashtag. What’s your vision?