A Culture of Sustainability can Help your Business Thrive

Green Training Associates’ unique consulting can transform your business in a variety of ways.

By Jim Pytell, Assistant Editor On Sep 3, 2020

People often associate business sustainability simply with “going green” or helping the environment by recycling, however, according to Pam Sammarco, president and CEO of Green Training Associates LLC, sustainability at an organization can be much more than that.

A women business owner and entrepreneur for 11.5 years, Sammarco founded Union-based Green Training Associates in 2009 after a successful 24-year corporate training career with four different global companies across three industries. 

Now, she describes her company as helping businesses make sustainability a “way of life and a way of business.” 

“In the broadest sense of sustainability, we work together with our clients to help their organization thrive,” Sammarco says. “We deliver sustainable performance in every respect of a company’s talent ecosystem.” 

Sammarco says that sustainable development at a company requires a culture shift – “integrating the mind, body and spirit of a company, starting with its people.” 

“Companies often only think about sustainability goals in terms of technology, technical, production, or scientific strategies. However, human resources (HR) plays an integral role,” she says. “In fact, the entire HR strategy can become ‘green’ in its practices and contribute to the company’s goals not only for corporate social responsibility, but for the entire HR ecosystem.” 

Green Training Associates provides a plethora of services including Virtual Suites, and learning solutions such as young and mid-level leader readiness training, coaching, mentoring partnerships, sharpening digital talent capabilities for STEM professionals, and more. 

“We accelerate growth and integration of sustainable practices and business opportunities across the company, its people and culture,” Sammarco says. 

“The heartbeat of what happens in sustainability comes down to human behavior,” she adds, explaining that her company’s training maintains a strong emphasis on “power skills” which improve employees’ interpersonal effectiveness, and in turn, help shift an organization’s culture from within. 

But why is creating a culture around sustainability so important? 

Sammarco cites a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which found that when a company was advertised as “doing good,” it received a 25% boost in applicants, and saw those who were hired to be more productive and even willing to take less money than those who were hired without such “do-good” messaging. 

“The younger generation’s workforce is environmentally conscious, with a sense of urgency about planetary issues and a sense of activism, which drives them,” Sammarco says. “Our world depends on a collective effort to saturate the fabric of a company where employees make green decisions everyday.”

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