There is a powerful resource sitting under the nose of every CEO and government department that seeks change. Employees; they have a new found importance when it comes to driving progress both internally and in society. New avenues for expression such as social media have already enhanced the influence of that marketeers’ holy grail—‘word of mouth'—but companies need not rely on external channels to drive internal change.

We have watched our OgilvyEarth employee programs work magic, prompting remarkable shifts in behaviours that many ‘social marketing programs’ would jump skyscrapers for (e.g. between 8-12% reductions in energy use within twelve months by adding in an employee engagement program to existing initiatives). It is because in general, the internal channels of communication—dare we say ‘traditional’ ones, as opposed to external social media platforms—are trusted by employees, and trust leads to compliance. That's why calls-to-action transmitted straight from leaders to colleagues have proven to be highly effective in driving new behaviours. And when employees feel engaged and yes, even ‘empowered’ to shape the organization, they will be much more likely to go out into the external social media communities to spread the good word. Thus, by focusing on internal programming first, strong employee referral and ‘word of mouth’ will follow.

Walmart, controversial pioneer of employee programming, encourages employees to rock the stage at shareholders' meeting

Photo courtesy of WSJ

In Australia, the working population is right around 11 million people (Aust. Bureau of Statistics April 2010), and in the US it’s more than 80 million (US Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2010). Imagine using the power of internal communication to turn that many employees on to more sustainable behaviours in the workplace and at home. What if this direct channel could be harnessed to develop a program that drove broader social change? Through our internal research with employees across different organisations from varied industries, we consistently found high receptivity to internal communication and programming. And great outcomes proved that there is a huge opportunity yet to be explored—that of getting  whole working populations to move in concert towards sustainable goals.

When employees in Australia were asked in a recent sustainability study, “What initiatives would you be interested in having at work?” the top choice was “Guidebook for work and home” and  “Company sponsored actions at home” ranked fourth.

If companies responded with direct support and incentives for the sustainable actions employees took at home and in their communities, not only would it bring about a greater impact on the speed of social change; it would also add the business benefits of cost reductions (as those sustainable behaviours were transferred to the workplace), reputation enhancement, employee morale, increased net promoter scores via employees and positive social media feedback. (And, similarly, if there was a greater commitment to the employee channel in government-funded social programs there could be increased return on investment and the benefit to the sponsoring political party of a direct relationship with employees.)

Ask any CEO if he or she wants to improve corporate reputation within the community. The answer is obvious: “Yes. High standing in the community is vital to the long term success of my business.” And when such is the case, there’s only one place to start. With the employees.