Bird & Bird: Green perks that encourage climate action beyond the workplace

We spoke to Casper Moltke-Leth from Global law firm Bird & Bird about enabling employees to make a difference, and how green perks can help attract and retain talent.

About Bird & Bird

Bird & Bird is the picture of a forward-thinking law firm. With over 3,000 employees spread across 21 countries, their dynamic “one-firm” set-up means that they can share knowledge and best practices across geographies and disciplines. A refreshing departure from stereotypical law firms of the past, an open dialogue between senior leadership and a new wave of ambitious and climate-conscious employees is helping to shape sustainability targets both for the firm as a whole and for employees in their personal lives. 

In May 2022, the Nordic branch of Bird & Bird signed up to Goodwings to offer their employees the chance to travel more responsibly when they're booking personal trips. This was a conscious decision by the firm to help their employees reduce the personal environmental impact of their travel.

We spoke to Casper Moltke-Leth, a Partner in the Corporate group who heads up the Danish office. As a member of the firm’s global sustainability committee, Casper shared his insights on the important role that green perks like this play in attracting and retaining talent, and the importance of employees in fighting climate change both in their personal and professional lives.

This is a growing trend among progressive firms like Bird & Bird. Across the world, companies are waking up to the fact that their employees can play a critical role in the fight against climate change, and that encouraging them with green perks like a Goodwings subscription not only promotes engagement, retention and wellbeing, but has a positive impact on the planet “We cannot reach our sustainability goals alone - our employees are a critical part of the process, both at home and at work”. When you apply these kinds of schemes to an entire workforce, the potential is huge.

Let’s take an example case. The carbon footprint of an average European is 7 tonnes of CO2 per year. If a family of four travels twice a year on average - one long distance, one short, that quickly adds up to an additional 12 tonnes of CO2, increasing the family total by 43%. So, if businesses like Bird & Bird can offer their employees a way to change the way they book their travel, the impact is significant.

Education and facilitation also play an important role in changing employee behaviour, as telco giant Vodafone discovered through their Mission Green initiative, an employee engagement programme reaching over 16,000 employees across Germany. By helping employees understand their personal environmental impact, and providing them with simple initiatives to help reduce it, a crossover effect was created - employees were more likely to act on sustainability initiatives both in and outside of the workplace. 

Initiatives like these not only have the benefit of signaling that, as a business, you are working towards a greener future. But in a tight labor market and in the wake of Covid and the Great Resignation, it's also about sending a powerful message to existing employees that you are committed to the issue of climate change, and aligned with the values that they bring to work. As Casper says, “it’s really, really important for younger employees to see the purpose of who they work for and who they work with. If you cannot fulfil this for them, they will simply find another place to work”.