Earth Day 2023: Reward and Incentivize for the Triple Bottom Line

Earth Day is when the world comes together to raise awareness of environmental issues, speaking out against harmful, polluting practices that injure our planet. More and more businesses, such as B Corp companies, prioritize sustainable solutions, seeing past the typical bottom line (the company’s profit) to concentrate on the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. 

In honor of Earth Day, we’ll explain the triple bottom line and how you can incentivize sustainability from your employees and customers by giving change-worthy rewards and incentives. 

What is the triple bottom line?

The triple bottom line (TBL) is a concept by John Elkington, who wanted to shift the focus from financial success to an all-encompassing system that considers a business’s impact on social welfare, the environment, and the economy. These categories are commonly known as the three Ps, including:

People

The “people” are a company’s stakeholders, including customers, employees, local communities, and people along the supply chain. The TBL asserts that businesses are responsible for the well-being of their stakeholders. 

According to a CSR study, 87% of consumers will buy from a company if they support a cause they care about.

Planet

The “planet” category looks at the company’s impact on the environment, whether it’s positive or negative. For example, many companies try to use sustainable energy sources like solar and wind power, which lessens their impact on the environment and makes them eligible for government tax credits.

Factors that influence the environmental bottom line include your company’s:

• Recycling practices

• Carbon footprint

• Use of natural resources

• Sustainability

• Toxic substance management

Profit

The “profit” bottom line isn’t just about the organization’s profits. It evaluates a business’s influence on the prosperity of its stakeholders, including if the company helps communities flourish by providing benefits like economic opportunities, safe working conditions, and living wages.

Why is the triple bottom line important to businesses?

Companies that don’t consider the TBL might be losing funding from investors. The ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) score is an increasingly popular system that 65% of investors use to decide which businesses are worth supporting financially. 

Investors have realized that focusing on a company’s profit leads to oversight of potential liabilities, like worker safety and environmental issues. Companies with good ESG scores also typically have a better brand reputation, meaning it’s easier to hire and keep top talent.

Incentive ideas for Earth Day that can help improve your Company’s ESG score

The following are a few financial incentive ideas that support the environmental movement symbolized by Earth Day:

Points for sustainable activities

If you want to promote recycling in your company, you could build a points-based reward program. As employees earn points, they can win gift cards to top brands by reaching milestones. Alternatively, you can reward departments with Visa or Amazon gift cards if they can reduce their carbon footprint.

Incentives to improve employee well-being

Whether through your employee assistance program or rewards scheme, you can give personalized gift card incentives for actions that improve physical and mental health. Encourage your team members to maintain healthy habits with gift cards from sports and wellness brands like Nike and The Vitamin Shoppe.

Rewards for community outreach

Reward your employees or customers with Amazon or Starbucks gift cards for organizing community support, such as providing necessities for low-income households or cleaning up litter in public areas.

Encourage planet-friendly actions with easy-to-use rewards software

Our team at Giftbit wanted to show our Earth Day support by highlighting how businesses can incentivize the betterment of the planet with rewards and incentives that your employees and customers love. Our intuitive gifting software allows you to send, buy, and track digital gift cards.

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