For the team at Clean Power Research — a company that helps customers around the world utilize renewable energy and technology — sustainability is something that can be found everywhere, even in the small ways people care for their workspaces.
From cutting deals to bring large-scale solar energy to low-income communities to implementing food waste programs in the team’s Bellevue office, environmental sustainability at Clean Power Research is a living, breathing practice of moving the world just a little bit closer to a better place every day.
As CEO Jeff Ressler sees it, by building a mission-driven culture, Clean Power Research has been fortunate to attract a talented, proactive team with a shared vision for a more sustainable future. The work that Clean Power Research employees do is an extension of their passion for a greener lifestyle.
“It’s easier to build software that helps people make intelligent energy decisions when you’re thinking and living this way every day,” said Ressler.
Having a truly passionate, highly engaged team has significant benefits for a workplace. Beyond increased employee retention, according to Gallup’s Q12 employee engagement survey analysis, highly engaged teams see an average increase of 14 percent in productivity and a 70 percent increase in overall well-being when compared to less-engaged teams.
Built In spoke with Ressler to get a closer look at the culture and initiatives that inspire the Clean Power Research team.
Clean Power Research is a B2B cloud software company that supports utilities, energy agencies and industry as they navigate the energy transition toward renewables and a modernized grid.
Describe the sustainability practices Clean Power Research has embraced. Why were these practices chosen, and what impact have they had on the business so far?
As a software company in the clean energy space, our commitment to sustainability is deep. We actively build cloud software products that help customers worldwide use and optimize renewable-energy and energy-efficiency technologies. But there’s also a lot we do directly in our offices. This has included an aggressive on-site recycling program including using Ridwell to augment the standard recycling program our corporate office campus provides.
Our office manager successfully lobbied for a food waste program at our large multibuilding office campus. Now all the businesses here can put our coffee grounds, food scraps and other organic material into a food waste container for composting.
Most of our employees are only coming into the office a day or two a week, minimizing their commute, helping our air quality, reducing consumption and maximizing efficiency. Employees who come in more frequently have the option of a transit pass with funds provided by the company.
And, of course, we try to use less paper, avoiding printing as much as possible and embracing e-payments and e-signatures in our products and business dealings. We’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable.
How does a commitment to sustainability contribute to Clean Power Research’s overarching goals?
Our vision is a clean-powered planet, and our mission is to power the worldwide energy transformation with our cloud software. We hire people for whom this vision and mission deeply resonate. Our people care about their planet, their communities and their homes and workplaces.
Our employees see that the company backs up its talk with action and this motivates employees to do great work and helps us realize our vision. A mindset of sustainability in our team helps us build software that is oriented to help our customers also save energy and be efficient.
“A mindset of sustainability in our team helps us build software that is oriented to help our customers also save energy and be efficient.”
Our customers also appreciate our efforts, in fact, some even contractually demand simple things that we’re already doing like using recycled paper — but as mentioned, we’d rather not use paper at all!
What impact does a commitment to sustainability have on employee engagement and retention?
We’ve had outstanding employee retention at Clean Power Research even though we compete for talent with some of the best-known software and technology companies on Earth — and that’s because candidates see that we live our vision and mission.
The work we do toward sustainability, efficiency and clean energy is tangible. We’re backing things up with action. And we listen. If an employee calls out something that’s not consistent with sustainability, we investigate and try to fix that. Occasionally, as with the compost program I mentioned above, an employee is, of their own accord, driving a very grassroots effort and having a great impact. As the leader of a company that believes in empowering employees, I love that things like that can happen here outside of some top-down effort. It’s because we hire great people who believe in what we’re doing. Folks that are empowered are more likely to be dedicated and happy.
