The term green human resource management has recently emerged, and several concepts, such as green employees, green jobs, or green professions, have become common.
The term green human resource management refers to the contribution of human resource management policies and practices to the preservation of the environment by determining the directions and contributions of a company to the protection and conservation of natural resources. In other words, it adopts policies and practices that encourage green initiatives by increasing employees’ awareness and commitment to sustainable environmental issues. Green human resources practices consist in integrating environmental management with human resources management objectives and practices.
Eco-friendly initiatives
The Green Human Resources Department can carry out environmentally friendly initiatives through a series of activities, including writing and electronic memorization, which reduces the use of paper, thus preserving trees in nature, and participating in the collective transportation of its employees by means of transportation, which reduces the use of employees cars, thus reducing energy use and environmental pollution, and can also hold meetings, electronic conferences, sharing and training online, flexible working hours, or working from home, as well as reducing travel rates, congestion, pollution, and the concomitant waste of resources.
The importance of managing green human resources lies in promoting the global trends of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to increase the chances of a just transition to a green economy and the creation of green jobs.
The effective and vital role played by the Green Human Resources Department lies in equipping and training employees, which helps to reach a great deal of benefit at all levels; employees, the company, and the environment—and to provide a pollution-free work environment while performing their work tasks by developing their environmental citizenship behavior.
Improving competitiveness
There are a number of advantages that can be achieved as a result of introducing green human resources management into work, such as reducing the environmental impact, which improves the image of the institution/body/organization/company to the public, improves its competitiveness, improves productivity and sustainable returns for investors, and is also a response to government and global expectations for sustainability.
The Egyptian state has also paid great attention to the environment, as several initiatives have been implemented to preserve and protect the environment, including the presidential initiative “Prepare for Green.”.
The initiative comes within the framework of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development “Egypt 2030”, and aims to change behaviors, spread environmental awareness, and urge citizens to participate in preserving the environment and natural resources to ensure their sustainability in order to preserve the rights of future generations.
The initiative aims to raise awareness of the conservation and management of nature reserves according to international standards, ensuring the preservation of ecosystem balance and maximizing opportunities for economic and social development. At the same time, the initiative adopts awareness of the importance of afforestation, recycling waste, rationalizing food and energy consumption, reducing the use of plastic, preserving marine organisms, reducing air pollution and protecting natural reserves.