Microsoft UK: Conservation Innovation in Paradise

Corporate Partnerships

Microsoft employees exchange the office for Oxfordshire’s Paradise Woods to take part in Earthwatch’s innovative one-day employee engagement program.

MICROSOFT EMPLOYEES STUDY CLIMATE CHANGE TO CHANGE THEIR COMPANY

Employees of Microsoft’s Leadership Training Group are sent to the woods to collect data about climate change and forests. While undertaking this crucial research, they also have the business goal of being empowered with the knowledge and support they need to deliver environmental sustainability action plans within Microsoft UK. Earthwatch has hosted 15 programs so far, all with the aim of culminating in a team-wide sustainability action plan that this group will take back to their headquarters in Reading, United Kingdom.

Microsoft employees exchange the office for Oxfordshire’s Paradise Woods to take part in Earthwatch’s innovative one-day employee engagement program.

Research in Paradise Woods
Microsoft employees were able to immerse themselves in the subject and explore how to maximize the benefit of this key environmental and business alignment.

How did Microsoft get involved?

Earthwatch delivered two one-day programs for Microsoft in April 2012, focusing on different relevant employee groups within the business. The employees carried out research on the response of forests to climate change and took part in structured workshop sessions and discussions facilitated by Earthwatch. By the end of the day, the participants found they had a clearer understanding of environmental sustainability as a business imperative, and could connect climate change issues to Microsoft’s business activities.

What are the aims of the program?

In Paradise Woods, far away from the daily grind, with a new group of people and new stimulus, there is an opportunity to take a deep breath, look at your organization from a different angle, feel a new enthusiasm for this topic, make new connections, and start new ways of thinking.

Climate Change is the biggest environmental imperative for energy reduction, but it is also a business imperative to control costs and improve efficiency. On this program, Microsoft employees were able to immerse themselves in the subject and explore how to maximize the benefit of this key environmental and business alignment. Participating in environmental research on climate change and breaking down energy reduction into specific actions provides a way of understanding complex issues by engaging with them on a manageable scale.

Learning about the carbon cycle from a scientist out in the forest, before measuring trees in order to understand carbon storage, is ideal for clearly illuminating what can be a seemingly complex and intangible concept – climate change. The parallels between this and the business sustainability strategy are clearly drawn out through the program, as both have huge and seemingly unachievable goals, but by breaking them down into their component parts we are able to help participants find a clear path and motivation to move forward.

The effect is that business leaders become “change agents” and have a mandate to change business as usual.

More on Earthwatch and Microsoft

Earthwatch's relationship with Microsoft has grown over the years. In 2011, Microsoft awarded Earthwatch a technology grant that has allowed Earthwatch to create a customized database, streamline its intranet, and launch a more robust and user-friendly website.

Some outcomes:

The pilot program went so well that Microsoft now plans to send all 200 members of their leadership group on a similar program, culminating in a teamwide sustainability action plan that this group will take back to Microsoft headquarters in Reading, U.K.
100 percent of participants said the day had significantly or very significantly increased their commitment to taking action toward environmental sustainability in their business, and that it had motivated them to include more environmental considerations in their day-to-day decision-making
Microsoft is on the journey toward incorporating sustainability into its working practices and the lives of its customers and clients. Given the nature of Microsoft’s business, much of the sustainability benefits focus around energy reduction

Climate change is an environmental imperative for energy reduction, as well as to control costs and improve efficiency.

Microsoft employees immerse themselves by measuring tree circumference.

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