News
New IEHA Credentials Make a Business Case for Sustainability
October 24, 2018
Earlier this month, IEHA, a Division of ISSA, announced its initiative to help members meet key sustainability goals while improving their earning power through the new IEHA Sustainability Professional (SP) Credential.
“The SP course modules explore the three Ps of people, planet, and profit, with a goal to create return on investment (ROI) for our environmental services (EVS) members,” says IEHA Executive Director Michael Patterson. “It’s doing well by doing good.”
The ROI of sustainability comes largely from reducing waste and viewing these materials as a resource to optimize.
The course contains two modules SP Module One explains how “backcasting” can help with sustainability. Backcasting is a form of planning that involves three steps:
- Envisioning or forecasting the future.
- “Casting back” to assess the current situation compared to the desired future.
- Developing a plan to bridge the gap to the desired state.
EVS leaders can also backcast by setting sustainability goals, such as buying only products in packaging that contains 100 percent renewable, recycled, or certified materials.
SP Module Two aspires to help members become more accomplished in sustainability management—and to be happier on the job. It cites the Net Impact and Rutgers University survey “Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012,” which found that “employees who say they have the opportunity to make a direct social and environmental impact through their job report higher satisfaction levels than those who don’t. In fact, employees who say they can make an impact while on the job report greater satisfaction than those who can’t by a 2:1 ratio.”
To read the full release, click here.
