The Green Workplace: Sustainable Strategies that Benefit Employees, the Environment, and the Bottom Line [Hardcover]

Leigh Stringer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 4, 2009

As 21st-century companies realize they'll need to be green to compete, sustainable ideas are spreading like wildfire throughout all fields of modern business. In The Green Workplace, Leigh Stringer, an expert on sustainable workplace design and strategy, shows companies on the cusp of radically transforming their practices how to bring together diverse teams and establish new organizational governance for creative problem-solving in greening their workplace. Her hands-on green strategies are based on concrete and cost-effective changes such as:
- working from home

- ways to cut commuting costs
- video conferencing to cut down on travel 
- increasing access to natural light to save energy
- and more.
Stringer explains how managers can implement these changes smoothly and efficiently. In solving key problems, she shows companies how a green business reduces costs, increases productivity, improves recruiting and retention, and increases shareholder value, in addition to benefiting the environment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Provides a holistic, practical, and useful guide to developing green business practices in ways that benefit the organizations’ members and also enhance business profitability and long-run marketability. This well-written, easy-to-read work covers a wide range of topics and strategies related to developing a green business…Stringer provides unique insight into the ways in which well-known organizations have successfully adopted sustainable green workspace solutions. For anyone interested in creative, sustainable ideas for developing a green workplace, this book will serve as an excellent guide.”

—Choice

"A must-read for any company, regardless of its place on the green spectrum.  The Green Workplace includes great information for companies just beginning to green their offices or for those who are further along in the process.  From alternative work options to the greening of actual buildings and spaces, The Green Workplace has it all!"
--Alicia R. Martin, Sustainability Manager, Sprint

"Leigh surfaces the many challenges businesses may face in their quest to 'go green.'  Her passion for the environment comes through with each turn of the page. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand environmental issues in the workplace, and how we can begin replacing destructive behaviors with practices that will ensure future generations enjoy the same pleasures we experience today."

--Randy Knox III, Sr. Director of Global Workplace Solutions, Adobe Systems Incorporated

 

"This book is a good compilation of the issues facing corporations today.  Fortunately, there are also examples of solutions that have been implemented.  Ms. Stringer recognizes that there is no silver bullet solution, but does a good job of highlighting some of the silver buckshot that can help businesses improve their ecological footprint. We must recognize the challenges and change our behavior in a controlled manner before it becomes imposed on us in a harsh manner.  The recent financial crises should have taught us this lesson--there is no bailout planet available for our ecosystem."

--Paul Westbrook, Sustainable Development Manager, Texas Instruments

 

"This is one of the most useful books I have ever read—Leigh Stringer has taken on 'green' in the most holistic of ways. To inform, educate and inspire while at the same time reeling off fact and after fact, and idea after idea, is no mean achievement, but that she did so in a way that is eminently readable is a wonderful bonus. Stringer’s passion and enthusiasm for the subject is infectious; no contemporary business organization should be without this book."
--Chris Hood, Program Manager, the HP Workplace

"Leigh Stringer hits the nail squarely on the head with The Green Workplace. Anyone designing a green building without full consideration of the people effect is missing the boat. Stringer shows how you can have a fully green building, highly energy-efficient, with a healthy and productive workforce, if we’re willing to rethink our assumptions and current practices. It’s never ‘either/or’ but always ‘both/and’ that we need to consider in designing and operating our workplaces."
--Jerry Yudelson, author of The Green Building Revolution

"From the newest cutting-edge green technologies to the small lifestyle changes that can make a big difference, The Green Workplace is an illuminating, accessible, and comprehensive guide that reveals how managers at every level across a wide variety of industries can make their offices and practices more sustainable, efficient, and well-suited to our complex, ever-changing world of business."
--Curtis Ravenel, Global Head, Sustainability Initiatives, Bloomberg, L.P.

"The Green Workplace is a smartly articulated and comprehensive strategy to transform the way you do business. Stringer attacks this critical challenge in the most intelligent way: by understanding how to use design thinking to change behavior. Recommended for anyone who wants to make change at work."

--Valerie Casey, Founder and Executive Director, The Designers Accord

 

About the Author

Leigh Stringer is a LEED® Accredited Professional and a workplace and sustainability expert at HOK, a global architectural firm. She has been a featured speaker at numerous design and construction industry events for the U.S. Green Building Council, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and CoreNet Global.  In 2007, she was named to the list of “40 Under 40” top industry professionals by Building Design + Construction magazine.

In addition to appearances on CNN,  published articles in USA Today, CoreNet’s Leader magazine, Building Operating Management, and Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Stringer is the founder and editor of TheGreenWorkplace.com, a blog dedicated to sharing ideas about greening the workplace through space, technology and change management.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (August 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230614280
• ISBN-13: 978-0230614284
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leigh is a vice president and on the board of directors at HOK, a global architectural firm. She specializes in workplace and sustainable consulting for higher education, government, corporate, institutional and private sector clients.

She has been a featured speaker at many industry events including Greenbuild, IFMA, the AIA, and CoreNet Global. In 2007, Leigh was named to the list of "40 Under 40" young AEC industry professionals by Building Design + Construction magazine. She recently completed a "Green Workplace Make-over" for a small business as part of a new product launch for Dell.

She is the founder and editor of TheGreenWorkplace.com, a blog of workplace and sustainability experts dedicated to sharing ideas about greening the workplace through space, technology and change management solutions.

Leigh has a BArch, MArch and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

She lives in Washington, D.C.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read... August 12, 2009

By Mary Moore

Format:Hardcover

Leigh Stringer's new book, The Green Workplace, is an engaging and authoritative review of what the costs are when we ignore the challenges that we face environmentally, and conversely, the benefits that we can reap by `greening' our work environment AND our lifestyles. Based on her years of research and design experience, this isn't an esoteric discussion; her approach is pragmatic as she maps out resources and opportunities to transform our work and personal lives. It's a facinating read.

Leigh sets context for the issues that we face today, both locally and globally, and she provides alternatives for reducing our ecological footprint. Everything from where we chose to live in relation to our workplace, and how we chose to accomplish our work via computing technology and virtual teaming can have a positive impact.

Liberally sprinkled throughout the book are callouts such as "Finding State and Local Tax Benefits" or "Actions You Can Take Today"; resources and suggestions that offer tangible steps that we can take to improve our lives and our bottom lines. There is no single map to successfully improving our work-style and business practices in support of the environment, so she provides analytic tools to help the planning process. Determining candidates for alternative work settings is an important component of planning, as is identifying an organization's "cultural readiness to adopt alternative work strategies". These are in Chapter 10, my favorite, which focuses on work practices.

This book is more than a compelling read; it is a ready resource of information that you will find yourself reaching for again and again as you rethink your work environment and daily work practices. The notes section alone is encyclopedic in content. Read it; it'll change the way you think about working in a green environment!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential "Green 101" guide for the business leader August 4, 2009

By John Hlinko

Format:Hardcover

Well written, concise, and even entertaining, "The Green Workplace" is essential reading for any business leader trying to survive and thrive in today's new, greener environment. The book doesn't just preach green in the abstract, it provides clear case studies from some of the best known companies out there. And it gives specific examples of how companies really can implement green practices to increase profits (something especially relevant in today's economy).

Two (green) thumbs up for The Green Workplace!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book November 9, 2010

By Salvador

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is great since it allows us to discover "green methods" easily appliable to our everyday life.
It's just like a manual. It's worth its price.