Sustainability Engagement Playbook: Giki x Kaido
1. Introduction: The Power of People in Sustainability
Employee participation is the driving force behind many successful sustainability initiatives. While corporate policies and technology matter, it's ultimately people who turn sustainability goals into everyday actions. By empowering employees to contribute ideas and enthusiasm, companies can transform isolated green efforts into a vibrant company wide movement.
Engaged employees become sustainability ambassadors, spreading eco-conscious practices throughout the organisation and beyond. Research shows that approximately 70% of employees want their companies to invest more in sustainability efforts – a clear signal that your workforce is eager to drive positive change.
Quick Stat: Nearly 69% of surveyed employees want to see their employers take greater action on sustainability. Yet only about 38% feel their company is currently doing enough. This gap represents a huge opportunity to tap into employees' desire to contribute.
The Giki x Kaido Approach
The Giki x Kaido partnership addresses this opportunity by combining sustainability expertise with proven employee engagement techniques. Our gamified challenge platform makes it easy for employees at all levels to participate in meaningful climate action while building a sustainability-focused community.
Getting Started
Begin your engagement journey by articulating a clear vision of employee-powered sustainability:
Start with a message from a top executive highlighting the importance of employees in sustainability values, and providing context for how employee action fits into broader company goals and activities
Frame sustainability as a people-powered mission that leverages your team's passion and creativity
Use accessible language and an optimistic outlook – "Together we can make a real difference"
By positioning sustainability as a collective effort rather than just another corporate initiative, you'll create an inclusive tone that inspires action and unites your organisation around a common purpose.
2. Why Engagement Matters: The Business Case for Sustainability
Engaging employees in sustainability is not just a feel-good effort – it delivers tangible business benefits across three critical areas. When employees participate in green initiatives, they become more motivated and innovative, driving value throughout your organisation.
Cultural Benefits: Attracting and Retaining Talent
Fostering sustainability at work creates a powerful sense of purpose that resonates with today's workforce. Companies genuinely committed to sustainability enjoy up to a 16% increase in overall employee engagement levels. This commitment matters because:
Over half of employees (especially Millennials and Gen Z) consider environmental commitment when choosing employers
Employees who feel their values align with their company's actions are more satisfied and loyal
A sense of shared mission decreases turnover and attracts top talent who want to make a difference
Cost & Efficiency Benefits: The Green Bottom Line
Sustainable practices driven by employees lead to significant cost savings and operational improvements. organisations that successfully integrate sustainability into daily operations have seen up to a 20% increase in productivity and morale.
Employee-led sustainability delivers concrete results through:
Reduced energy consumption lowering utility bills
Decreased waste cutting disposal costs
Optimised travel and logistics saving fuel expenses
Lower turnover avoiding recruitment costs (which can reach up to two times an employee's salary)
When people recognise that efficiency and eco-friendliness go hand in hand, they become motivated to improve both.
Customer & Brand Benefits: Authentic Advocacy
A workforce visibly committed to sustainability becomes a powerful extension of your brand story. In an age of conscious consumerism, demonstrating an authentic sustainability culture differentiates your company in crowded markets.
The impact on your brand includes:
Enhanced trust when customers see employees "walking the talk"
Stronger reputation through authentic employee advocacy on social media and with clients
Better relationships with sustainability-conscious customers and partners
Preparedness for emerging market expectations and regulations
How Giki x Kaido Helps
The Giki x Kaido platform enhances all three benefit areas through our gamified challenge approach:
Culture: Team-based activities build community around sustainability values
Costs: Employee challenges identify and implement efficiency improvements
Customers: Engagement generates authentic stories that strengthen your brand
Our reporting capabilities directly link engagement metrics to business outcomes, making ROI clear and measurable.
Building Your Business Case
To strengthen the business case within your organisation:
Link sustainability engagement directly to strategic goals (e.g., if targeting 10% energy reduction, calculate employee contribution)
Gather data on potential savings from reduced waste or increased efficiency
Develop a concise brief summarising expected outcomes across culture, costs, and customer metrics
Create specific talking points: "By empowering our people in sustainability, we could save £X in utilities while boosting engagement scores by Y points"
Solid numbers and compelling testimonials gain leadership buy-in, paving the way for successful implementation of the initiatives outlined in this playbook.
3. Building Blocks of Engagement: Laying the Foundation
Every successful engagement programme rests on a strong foundation. Before launching campaigns, you need to set the stage with the right conditions and culture. Establishing these foundational elements ensures that sustainability becomes part of your company's DNA rather than just a series of one-off events.
Four Essential Building Blocks
1. Visible Leadership Commitment
Engagement starts at the top. When employees see leaders walking the talk on sustainability, it legitimises these efforts and signals their importance.
Middle managers play an especially crucial role: research shows that when direct supervisors actively support sustainability programmes, team participation increases significantly. Leadership's primary responsibilities include:
Communicating sustainability in meetings, emails, and strategy documents
Participating personally (e.g., joining volunteer days or initiating green projects)
Championing resources for initiatives and removing roadblocks
Celebrating successes and recognising contributions
2. Align with Company Values and Purpose
Sustainability should tie naturally into your organisation's existing mission, values, and culture. If your company values include innovation, teamwork, or community, frame sustainability in those terms—"Innovating for a greener future" or "Teamwork in protecting our environment."
Rather than positioning sustainability as a standalone initiative, weave it into the story of who you are as an organisation by:
Updating onboarding materials to include sustainability commitments
Incorporating sustainability into core values statements
Ensuring internal communications connect eco-efforts to broader purpose
This alignment helps employees understand that sustainability is fundamental to your identity and long-term success.
3. Make Sustainability Relevant to Every Role
A common pitfall is employees thinking "sustainability isn't part of my job." Overcome this by demonstrating its relevance across all departments and levels. For example:
IT can optimise power settings and extend device lifecycles
Procurement can choose greener suppliers and materials
HR can integrate sustainability into wellness programmes
Finance can highlight cost savings from efficiency measures
Invite each department to explore their unique contribution, fostering ownership throughout the organisation. Share stories of employees who've connected sustainability to their personal passions—these examples help others think, "What can I do?"
4. Communication and Transparency
Be open about sustainability goals and progress from the beginning. Regular, honest communication builds trust and maintains engagement. Set up a central place, such as your Giki x Kaido platform, where employees can easily access:
Updates on ongoing initiatives
Upcoming sustainability events and opportunities
Impact metrics and progress toward goals
Success stories and team achievements
Keep the tone positive and inclusive, focusing on collective achievements rather than using data to pressure teams.
How Giki x Kaido Helps
Our platform strengthens your sustainability foundation by providing:
A digital hub for transparent communication of goals and progress
Challenge formats that connect sustainability to company values
Tools to help make sustainability relevant to everybody
Reporting that highlights positive collective achievements
Action Steps: Laying the Foundation
Secure Executive Sponsorship: Identify senior leaders who will publicly endorse and participate in sustainability initiatives
Embed Sustainability in Core Documents: Update mission statements and employee handbooks to reflect commitments
Empower Managers: Provide middle managers with resources to engage their teams effectively
Personalise the Message: Connect sustainability to what people care about—health, community, and company success
Set Clear Goals: Establish 2-3 initial sustainability targets that everyone can understand and contribute to
By building this strong foundation, you'll create an environment where sustainability engagement can flourish and become a natural part of your company culture.
4. Recruit Your Sustainability Champions
With the groundwork laid, the next step is to recruit a network of sustainability champions who will spark participation throughout your organisation. These enthusiastic volunteers and influencers extend your programme's reach far beyond what a small core team could achieve alone.
What Makes an Effective Sustainability Champion?
Champions are employees who are passionate about sustainability and willing to lead by example. They serve as ambassadors within their departments, generating excitement and helping colleagues understand initiatives. Importantly, champions don't need "sustainability" in their job title—some of the most impactful advocates come from unexpected places.
Individuals not initially associated with sustainability (like those in finance or IT) can become powerful champions when they see how they can contribute meaningfully. Your ideal champion network should be diverse, cutting across departments, locations, and seniority levels.
Look for people who:
Show enthusiasm for sustainability or community work
Are respected among their peers and good communicators
Represent different parts of the business (aim for one per department)
Include both outspoken cheerleaders and quieter "doers" who lead by example
How Giki x Kaido Supports Your Champions
The Giki x Kaido platform provides champions with essential tools for success:
Ready-made challenges that champions can promote within their teams
Easy-to-use engagement metrics showing their impact
Shareable content that simplifies their communication efforts
A structured framework that makes their role clearer
Setting Champions Up for Success
Simply naming champions isn't enough—they need proper support to be effective. Provide:
1. Knowledge and Training
Offer basic training on your sustainability goals, your broader sustainability activities, and how to use the Giki x Kaido platform. Equip champions with key talking points about your organisation's environmental impact and how employees can help.
2. Practical Resources
Supply ready-to-use materials like presentation templates, email drafts, and internal posts that champions can easily customise.
3. Community and Recognition
Create opportunities for champions to connect, share ideas, and support each other. Recognise their contributions through company communications.
4. Autonomy with Framework
Encourage champions to adapt initiatives to their team's culture while providing a consistent overall structure. Trust them to know what will engage their colleagues best.
Action Steps: Building Your Champion Network
Announce the programme organisation-wide, clearly outlining the role and inviting volunteers or nominations
Select a diverse group of champions representing different departments and perspectives
Host a kick-off session to energise champions and provide initial training
Define clear initial activities so champions understand expectations
Maintain regular check-ins to share progress and keep momentum
By investing in passionate sustainability champions and empowering them with the right tools, you create powerful multipliers for your engagement efforts—turning a handful of sustainability staff into a company-wide network driving change from within.
5. Crafting a Culture of Participation: Practical Engagement Strategies
With champions in place and a strong foundation, the next focus is driving day-to-day participation. This section provides practical strategies to engage employees in sustainability activities and cultivate an ongoing culture of participation.
Five Core Engagement Strategies
1. Keep it Simple and Accessible
One of the biggest barriers to engagement is perceived effort. Design initiatives that are easy to understand and do. Start with bite-sized challenges like “Paperless Day”"Meat-free Mondays" or "Bike to Work Day" instead of asking people to overhaul their entire lifestyle at once.
Key approaches:
Provide clear instructions and necessary resources (for example company mugs, labeled recycling bins)
Create low-friction entry points by making sustainable options the default
Emphasise ease in communications: "Just 5 minutes to log your daily eco action"
Research confirms that programmes requiring minimal disruption see higher sustained participation.
2. Encourage Ownership and Grassroots Ideas
Give employees a stake in the programme by inviting them to contribute ideas and lead initiatives. People engage more when they feel it's their project, not something imposed from above.
Set up channels for bottom-up suggestions like an online ideas box or cross-functional workshops where teams can brainstorm eco-solutions. When good ideas emerge, empower those employees to implement them with support. This grassroots approach integrates better into your culture—it's intrapreneurship applied to sustainability.
The more employees see their suggestions coming to life, the more engaged they'll become.
3. Leverage Social Influence and Team Spirit
Humans take cues from peers, and social influence can dramatically boost engagement. Create team-based challenges where departments compete to complete green actions, tracked through the Giki x Kaido platform.
Examples of effective social strategies include:
Using leaderboards while focusing on collective achievement
Sharing stories of colleagues taking green actions
Featuring an "Eco Star of the Week" in company communications
This taps into positive peer pressure and provides relatable role models within your organisation.
4. Incentivise with Purpose, Not Just Prizes
While prizes (and they should be sustainable) can spark initial interest, incentives tied to purpose create lasting change. For team milestones, have the company donate to environmental charities or let winning teams choose sustainability projects to support.
The Giki x Kaido platform helps track points that can be redeemed for sustainable items or charitable contributions. Remember that recognition itself is a powerful incentive—a simple thank-you note from leadership or public acknowledgment can be very motivating.
5. Embed Sustainability into Daily Routines
To create a true culture, integrate sustainability into existing processes rather than treating it as an add-on activity.
Embedding techniques:
Add sustainability tips to regular team meetings
Incorporate eco-themes into wellness programmes
Use behavioural nudges like reminder stickers or green email signatures
Include sustainability objectives in team annual goals
Over time, sustainability should shift from an "extra activity" to a natural part of work life.
How Giki x Kaido Helps
The Giki x Kaido platform is specifically designed to implement these engagement strategies. Our 2-week challenge format makes participation simple and accessible, while our gamified approach leverages social influence through team competitions. The system includes built-in tracking, reporting, and communications tools that make sustainability visible and engaging throughout your organisation.
Action Steps: Driving Participation
Launch a kick-off challenge using the Giki x Kaido platform as a simple company-wide initiative. Have your champions promote it to their teams and ensure it's communicated widely. Encourage departments to undertake sustainability projects together, building camaraderie while advancing green goals.
Maintain consistent communications about sustainability through various channels to keep it visible. After each initiative, gather feedback on what resonated most with employees and use these insights to refine future activities. Engagement culture isn't built overnight, but a series of well-received efforts builds momentum where sustainable choices become second nature.
6. Measuring Success: Tracking Engagement and Impact
To ensure your sustainability initiatives make a difference and continue improving, it's crucial to measure both engagement and impact. Effective tracking allows you to celebrate wins, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate value to stakeholders. It also keeps employees motivated by showing evidence of their collective impact.
Key Metrics to Track
Participation and Activity Metrics
Track how many employees are taking part in your programmes through:
Sign-up and active participation rates
Consistency (how many stick with it over time)
Reach across departments or locations
Challenge completion data
The Giki x Kaido platform automatically captures these metrics, providing insights like "200 employees (50% of staff) participated in the plastic-free challenge, averaging 10 actions each."
Behaviour Change Metrics
Look beyond initial participation to measure lasting shifts in behaviour:
Conduct pre- and post-programme surveys about habits and attitudes
Monitor proxy metrics like reduced printing or increased carpool app usage
Track sentiment through questions like "My organisation enables me to contribute to sustainability"
A rise in positive responses indicates successful cultural change. This is particularly important as it shows the programme is creating lasting impact rather than just temporary engagement.
Environmental Impact Metrics
Quantify the actual sustainability impact of employee actions:
Carbon emissions reduced
Energy saved
Waste diverted from landfill
Volunteer hours contributed
Many of these can be estimated—if employees collectively logged 1,000 km of cycling instead of driving, you can convert that to carbon saved. The Giki x Kaido platform helps convert personal actions into meaningful environmental metrics.
Also consider qualitative impacts: new sustainability projects sparked, process improvement ideas generated, and story-based metrics that illustrate real change.
Business/HR Metrics
Where possible, connect sustainability engagement to broader business outcomes:
Track retention or absenteeism in high-engagement groups
Monitor innovation submissions related to sustainability
Note positive trends in engagement surveys during programme periods
Document client or customer feedback about your sustainability efforts
Practical Tracking Methods
Combine quantitative and qualitative approaches:
Digital Platforms and Dashboards: Leverage the analytics provided by the Giki x Kaido platform. Create a sustainability dashboard that leadership and employees can access, showing participation rates, challenge stats, and environmental impact.
Surveys and Feedback: Conduct short surveys after major campaigns asking what people liked, learned, and would suggest improving. Include sustainability questions in your regular engagement surveys.
Qualitative Insights: Hold focus groups or check-ins with sustainability champions to gather stories and observations that numbers alone can't capture. Document quotes and anecdotes that illustrate impact.
Assess Against Goals: Regularly compare your metrics against the goals you established. Use a simple table to list goals versus outcomes, making progress visible at a glance.
Action Steps: Setting Up Your Measurement System
Define Key Performance Indicators: Select 5-10 metrics that matter most for your programme and get leadership agreement on these success measures
Establish Baselines: Before launching initiatives, capture current data on employee attitudes, resource usage, and existing sustainable behaviours
Create a Regular Reporting Schedule: Commit to a regular cadence of sharing results (monthly internal reviews, quarterly all-employee updates)
Celebrate Milestones: When metrics hit positive targets, announce successes and thank participants through company channels
Learn and Adapt: Use measurement data to refine your approach, addressing areas of low engagement or doubling down on successful strategies
By tracking both engagement and impact, you transform anecdotes into evidence and gain the confidence to expand successful initiatives. The Giki x Kaido platform makes this measurement process streamlined and visual, helping everyone see the collective difference they're making.
7. Real-World Inspiration: HSBC Case Study
To illustrate how the strategies in this playbook come together in practice, let's examine how one global organisation successfully implemented an employee sustainability engagement programme.
HSBC Commercial Banking: Creating a Global Sustainability Movement
HSBC Commercial Banking (CMB), which provides financial services to over 1.3 million businesses across 53 countries, faced the challenge of engaging more than 10,000 employees with their new sustainability strategy. They needed to raise awareness, build new sustainability habits, and foster team cohesion around environmental goals.
The Approach
HSBC partnered with Giki x Kaido to create a 4-week Sustainability Challenge focused on four key themes:
Sustainability and Me
My Lifestyle Choices
My Impact
Our Sustainable Future
The programme was designed to be accessible, requiring just 5 minutes of engagement per day, and was made available in multiple languages (English, Spanish, and Mandarin) to engage their global workforce.
Keys to Success
Leadership Support: CMB CEO Barry O'Byrne and Global Head of Sustainability Natalie Blythe created videos inviting colleagues to join. Regional leads from 47 countries were designated as "Champions" and equipped with engagement tools.
Structured Engagement: Daily bite-sized learning, tasks, quizzes, and team-based activities helped employees build sustainability skills while strengthening commitment to the company's mission.
Expert Learning: Weekly "Lunch and Learn" sessions delivered by sustainability experts covered topics like climate change, sustainability at work, and eco-friendly commuting options.
Motivational Elements: Teams earned points that powered their progress on leaderboards and could be redeemed for rewards. HSBC also planted over 5,500 trees to support reforestation efforts, connecting engagement to tangible environmental impact.
Measurable Results
The programme delivered impressive outcomes:
Over 180,000 sustainability tasks completed
95% of participants found the daily learning useful in building new skills
94% rated their understanding of sustainability as good or strong after the challenge
81% reported increased confidence discussing sustainability with clients
82% gained improved understanding of the company's sustainability strategy
90% were practicing sustainability habits at least weekly by the end
Most significantly, the programme generated 4,127 sustainability-related conversations between participants and their external contacts, showcasing HSBC as a sustainability leader to customers and prospects.
Participant Feedback
As one participant noted: "This challenge has everything. It keeps you engaged and informed of our role, our impact on climate change, and what we can do individually as well as a bank."
The success of this initial programme led HSBC to continue their partnership with Giki x Kaido, further embedding sustainability skills as part of their organisational culture and positioning them as thought leaders in sustainable banking.
This case study demonstrates how the principles outlined in this playbook—strong foundations, visible leadership, accessible engagement, team-based activities, and clear measurement—come together to create meaningful sustainability impact at scale.
8. Quick Wins to Kickstart Engagement
Sometimes the best way to get the ball rolling is through quick, tangible wins. These simple initiatives are easy to implement, deliver visible results fast, and generate excitement. They build confidence in your sustainability programme and prove that engaging employees is both possible and beneficial.
Six High-Impact Quick Wins
1. Launch a 2-Week Sustainability Challenge
The Giki x Kaido platform is perfectly designed for this approach. Choose one focused theme like "Zero Waste Week" or "Commuter Challenge" and invite everyone to participate through the easy-to-use app.
Keep it short, fun, and well-communicated with daily tips and encouragement. At the end, share the collective impact metrics that the platform automatically tracks. Quick challenges create buzz, provide great visual content to share, and serve as an ideal pilot for longer-term engagement.
2. Green Idea Drive
Set up a one-month campaign inviting employees to submit their best sustainability ideas for the workplace. Frame it as a friendly contest with recognition for the top ideas that will be implemented.
This quick win generates practical innovations (often employees know exactly where improvements can be made) while signaling that you value input from everyone. Acting quickly on a few suggestions demonstrates responsiveness and encourages further engagement.
3. Sustainability Tip of the Week
Start a series of bite-sized communications delivering one actionable tip or fact each week. Format them in a catchy way:
"#GreenMonday Tip: Shutting down your PC at night saves X kWh of energy per year. Give it a try this week!"
Always pair a compelling stat with a clear action. This keeps sustainability top-of-mind with minimal ongoing effort. Encourage employees to submit their own tips to feature, creating another participation opportunity.
4. Recognition programme
Implement a simple scheme to acknowledge sustainable behaviours, such as an "Eco Hero of the Month" where colleagues can nominate each other. Announce winners in company communications and share their stories.
Even small tokens of recognition create positive reinforcement and show that sustainability efforts are valued. The Giki x Kaido platform includes built-in recognition features that make this easy to implement.
5. Visible Workplace Change
Make one obvious sustainable improvement to your physical workplace, accompanied by employee engagement. Create a "Green Corner" with sustainability information, recycling drop-offs, and plants. Or organise a weekly "Lights Out Friday" ritual where everyone ensures unused equipment is powered down before leaving.
These visible changes reinforce the culture you're building and provide tangible reminders of your commitment.
6. Leverage Environmental Calendar Days
Tie initiatives to established events like Earth Day or Energy Awareness Week. The ready-made themes and public resources make planning easier. Host a lunch-and-learn webinar featuring Giki x Kaido sustainability experts or create a company-wide pledge wall.
How Giki x Kaido Helps
Our platform is designed to make quick wins truly quick:
Pre-built 2-week challenge templates that you can launch immediately
Automatic tracking and visualisation of participation and impact
Built-in recognition and gamification features
Ready-to-use communication materials
9. Conclusion: Empowering a Sustainability Movement
Sustainability isn't just a corporate programme – it's a movement powered by your people. This playbook provides a roadmap to transform sustainability from a set of top-down targets into a living, breathing part of your company culture. When employees at all levels are engaged, sustainability becomes more than an obligation; it becomes a source of pride, innovation, and unity.
Empowering employees creates a powerful ripple effect. Small actions compound into significant impact – you'll see not only measurable reductions in waste and emissions but also profound changes in your workplace atmosphere. There's a unique energy in a company where everyone feels they're contributing to something meaningful. People bring their whole selves to work when their personal values align with their daily activities. This sense of purpose boosts morale, teamwork, and loyalty in ways that conventional incentives simply can't match.
As you implement these strategies, remember that consistency and authenticity are key. Engagement isn't a one-time campaign but an ongoing process. There will be bumps along the way – perhaps a challenge with lower-than-expected turnout or an initiative that falls short of its goal – but each is a valuable learning opportunity. Keep listening to your people, adapt your approach, and persevere.
Celebrate wins, no matter how small, and be transparent about setbacks, maintaining trust throughout the process. Over time, these efforts mature from isolated projects into a true movement within your organisation. This is about building a sustainability community that continuously evolves and grows.
Think of this as creating leaders at every level for sustainability. Encourage employees to continue sharing ideas and supporting each other. New hires should immediately sense this culture of environmental responsibility, while veterans feel reinvigorated by the company's evolution. Importantly, the movement extends outward – engaged employees become advocates in the wider community, bringing sustainable practices to clients, suppliers, friends, and families. This amplifies your impact beyond office walls and strengthens your reputation as a sustainability leader.
Empower your people, and you unleash your company's potential – in sustainability, in business, and in shaping a better world. The journey doesn't end with this playbook; it begins. Now it's time to put these plans into action and watch your employees lead a sustainability movement that transforms your organisation from the inside out.