The time is right to get your employees involved in the sharing economy

The climate crisis has become a climate emergency. But what does this mean for your business? In short, it means that there couldn’t be a better time to think of ways to encourage your staff to live more sustainably – both in and outside the workplace. 

One way is to educate your organisation about the sharing economy and its benefits. But first, what even is the sharing economy? Put simply, it’s using technology – in the form of an app or an online platform – to connect with other people (rather than businesses) to borrow, rent or swap instead of buying. In other words, it’s anything which could be described as ‘the Airbnb of…’ like listing clothes on a website for others to borrow, or renting a car from a neighbour via an app. 

It’s certainly catching on – the total value of the global sharing economy is predicted to increase to around 335 billion US dollars by 2025, from only 15 billion US dollars in 2014. That’s a big increase, and it shows that this peer-to-peer, or ‘person to person’, way of doing things is an exciting new trend, and one that your employees will be inspired to hear about. After all, it’s not just about living more sustainably, it’s about making – or saving – some money (much needed in the current cost of living crisis), and creating powerful connections, online and off.

But that’s not all. Like your ESG goals, sharing is about making a difference and creating long-term, sustainable outcomes that strengthen our environment and societies. Here are three ways to get your staff started:

Food is a great first step to get employees into sharing

Food sharing, like most other types of sharing, isn’t new, but has been revived by technology, and is making a real difference to the food waste problem. Food sharing ap