Strategic HR Circular economy at Siemens
If you make a
change once
you can use
it multiple
times rather
than everyone
reinventing
the wheel
might be slightly more expensive to
do it the more environmentallyfriendly
way but they should feel
free to go ahead and do that.”
Other activity to push this to
the fore has included encouraging
employees to use their volunteering
allowance to work on circular
economy initiatives, and
different World Environment Day
themes and comms campaigns
(including around beating plastic
pollution one year and reducing
pollution another).
“We also have something that
was developed before I started,
which is an open marketplace where
initiatives and ideas can be
promoted through social media and
people can volunteer their time,”
says Todd.
Diverse thinking
Diversity and inclusion is another
highly relevant HR area here,
adds Jones. “I think the D&I piece is
really important because if you put
a group of white middle-aged males
in a room to think about the
circular economy you get a very
different response to if it’s a more
diverse group,” she says.
“I think that is really important
because you need lots of different
viewpoints to challenge the
assumptions that we have as an
organisation. To say: ‘is this really
good enough, can we approach
it differently?’”
It’s still early days in terms of
Jones’ team partnering with HR –
the aim is to measure the impact of
all this activity around the five-year
mark. But there are already
numerous anecdotal success stories
coming through.
“On a rail electrification project
they had the challenge of getting all
their equipment through an area of
woodland,” says Jones. “Normally
you would lay down hardcore and
make a roadway. But actually they
found a reusable rubber matting
that was far more protective of the
trees; it didn’t affect the roots
systems, was very quick and easy to
lay, then they were able to take it up
and use it again on the next project.”
Another example sits
within Siemens’ gas and
power business. “They
package a lot of their
turbines in big wooden
crates and buy a lot of the
components in crates.
They thought ‘we can’t
reuse that wood because
it’s got the supplier’s
branding on’. So it was
engaging with supply
chain management and
asking ‘can we have this
delivered in unbranded
packaging? That way we
can reuse that wood to package our
own products’,” reports Jones.
Such collaboration with suppliers
and best-practice sharing between
organisations is a key focus going
forwards, the pair report.
“One of the things we know
about sustainability is if you make a
change once you can use it multiple
times rather than everyone
reinventing the wheel,” says Todd.
“We work with lots of partners in
our supply chain – if we’ve invented
something we want to share that…
Equally there are some areas where
people are more advanced than us
and we’ll learn from them.”
Todd adds that she’d really like
to “build an alliance of HR leaders
who are doing interesting things”.
“I’d like to really get a conversation
going around what more HR should
be doing,” she says. “It’s how do we
create permeable boundaries
between organisations on this issue?”
Siemens has only just begun its
journey here, Todd adds. But it’s
about celebrating successes and
breaking it down into manageable
actions for people: “We’re on a
journey and there’s no end and
every step is an improvement to
what happens to our environment.
“So it’s just taking those steps
every single day.” HR
If you’re interested in helping to
create an alliance of HR
leaders working on
environmental issues and the
circular economy, please email
editor Jenny Roper on jenny.
roper@markallengroup.com
Siemens’ six key areas of opportunity in the circular economy
Regenerate – using recycled materials
and renewable energy
Prolong – prolonging product lifespans
through maintenance and design
Optimise – improving product efficiency
and removing waste from supply chains
Loop – keeping components and
materials in ‘closed loops’
Digitalise – delivering goods and
services virtually
Exchange – replacing materials with
advanced renewable ones or applying
new technologies such as 3D printing
Adapted from McKinsey’s article ‘Mapping the benefits of a
circular economy’, 2017
Regenerate
Circular economy
opportunities
Prolong
Loop
Optimise
Exchange
Digitalise
30 HR October 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
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