John Lewis partnership launches online training in energy efficiency for all staff, amid energy price crisis

Called ‘EnergyAware’, the digital tool will provide staff with educational sessions on reducing energy consumption at their homes, at John Lewis Partnership’s distribution stores and at its retail sites. Retail sites for both John Lewis and Waitrose & Partners will be covered in the training. Crucially, the training tells staff how much of an impact they can make through small changes to their day-to-day routines and the processes they complete at work. This will emphasise how important staff are to the delivery of John Lewis Partnership’s 2035 net-zero roadmap.

Each EnergyAware session takes just 30 minutes to complete. Training can be completed at home or at the workplace.

The Energy Institute has already developed EnergyAware sessions for businesses in sectors including professional services, manufacturing, logistics and construction. The sessions delivered with John Lewis Partnership will be its first for retail. And, given that the Partnership employs some 29,000 people – all of whom will be encouraged to take part – this will be the largest rollout of EnergyAware to date. The Energy Institute has worked with energy major Engie and sustainability services provider Rio ESG to adapt EnergyAware for a retail setting.

“This is a timely training tool given the tumultuous state of energy markets in 2022,” said the John Lewis Partnership’s commercial analysis manager for utilities and carbon, Nadia Hartley. “Not only do we wish to support Partners at home in the face of these trials, but also support the behaviour change in our properties. The training in partnership with the Energy Institute allows the Partnership to embed these skills with all Partners in line with our net-zero commitments.”

Green Mirror

In related news, FMCG Major Kao Corporation has launched a new staff education scheme and behaviour change platform for workers in its professional hair salons. Kao owns brands including John Frieda, Molton Brown, Goldwell, Oribe, KMS and Varis.

The business has launched an online ‘edutainment’ game called Green Mirror, which is being made available to all salon owners and salon teams. The game can be played online on a laptop, computer or tablet, and is designed as an escape room that players can ‘beat’ by reducing their energy consumption, salon emissions and waste. Topics covered include turning appliances off, saving water and reducing hair colour waste through efficient application.

All salon owners and teams will be invited to take part in Green Mirror from this month.

“Instead of sharing information in classic ways such as brochures and static content on websites, we decided for a highly modern, interactive digital format that offers not only a deeper learning experience but also a lot of fun,” summarised Kao Salon Divison’s global sustainability director Dr Elmar Mussenbrock.

edie’s recent Barometer survey, which was hosted online in April and taken by 256 professionals, found that staff behaviour change programmes are the most popular priority area for business investments to reduce emissions in 2022. More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they class delivering staff behaviour change initiatives that reduce emissions,   energy use and/or waste as either ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ for 2022. The full results of the Barometer will be published in a new edie report, sponsored by Centrica Business Solutions, shortly.