We have signed the green washing poster!

Now I am sitting here, on my west coast office, in between steep mountains, and Norway’s longest and deepest fjord. Research has found that flexible working conditions as home office, has a positive effect on health and welfare (Joyce et al., 2010). This is something I can stand behind!

We have been through a time of pandemic, where the home office and flexibility has become the new normal. Research has shown that an increased possibility of home office can contribute to giving better health and everyday balance (Neidlinger et al., 2022). These are factors that contributes to continuous changes in the work life, and to us having higher expectations to more flexibility in context of working days and location.

A change in communication about sustainability

During the last few years there has also been a change to how companies communicate and do their marketing, especially in regards of sustainability. We in Norske Backer are concerned with not communicating something that is not really the case. Therefore, we have signed the greenwashing poster, because we would like to show that those activities we communicate about, are activities we actually work with and that we hope to implement.

“Grønnvasking” er et begrep som brukes når selskaper prøver å gi inntrykk av å være mer miljøvennlige enn de egentlig er. En greenwasher talks loudly about sustainability, without contributing to anything that makes the world better. It is a way of marketing tactics where companies try to appear sustainable and environmental, even though their actual practice and products not necessarily are in line with this appearance.

To fight this way of misleading marketing, the greenwashing poster has been developed. The greenwashing poster contributed to create clarity and reduce the risk of incorrect information.

Sustainability and social responsibility can be two difficult areas for companies to navigate in, and where it can be easy to take a wrong step. The greenwashing poster is supposed to be a guideline to avoid greenwashing and to positively contribute to speed up the green shift.

The poster is inspired by the “be cautious” posters, and is a result of the cooperation between Skift, Zero, Future in our hands and WWF. In addition to being a guideline, the greenwashing poster is also a community.

By signing the poster, we have committed to do our very best to communicate our work on sustainability in an honest and credible way, by following the principles that the poster promotes. It encourages us as a company to be transparent and clear in our communication, and to have documentation and proofs on any environmental claims we present.

You can read more about the green washing poster here: https://gronnvasking.no/

Best regards from Oda

Oda Beate Lerheim

Sustainability and marketing coordinator

+47 418 47 763

oda.lerheim@norskebacker.no

Referanse:

Joyce, K., Pabayo, R., Critchley, J. A., & Bambra, C. (2010). Flexible working conditions and their effects on employee health and wellbeing. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2010(2), CD008009–CD008009. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008009.pub2

Neidlinger, S. M., Felfe, J., & Schübbe, K. (2022). Should I Stay or Should I Go (to the Office)?-Effects of Working from Home, Autonomy, and Core Self-Evaluations on Leader Health and Work-Life Balance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010006