The weather may be cooling down (or at least it is where this reporter is sitting), but the planet is still in hot water—and one company is trying to reduce its environmental footprint by incentivizing its employees to lead greener home lives.

Since 2022, energy management company Schneider Electric is encouraging its roughly 135,000 global employees to make their homes more environmentally friendly through its Sustainability@Home program, according to Shalin Kothari, VP of people and DE&I strategy.

HR can play a key role in a company’s sustainability plan, according to HR Director, because organizations tend to fall short on greener promises when HR isn’t involved to encourage employees to stay the course. When companies put employees at the center of green initiatives, it accelerates positive outcomes, according to a September report from Ernst & Young.

“Every company has an obligation of being more sustainable and pushing their employees to become more sustainable as well,” Kothari told HR Brew. “Every corporation now is taking a position, in terms of when they’re going to be carbon neutral, but if you look at where a lot of carbon emissions are…it’s done at the individual level within homes.”

Keep reading here.—MC

HR pros know the benefits of hiring from a diverse talent pool (inclusivity and increased revenue, for starters). So why do job seekers with military experience remain an underutilized group in today’s workforce?

In honor of National Veteran and Military Families Month, Indeed teamed up with Hiring Our Heroes, a US Chamber of Commerce foundation providing veterans with employment assistance, to conduct a survey of over 5k US veterans to shed light on the difficulties they face when job searching.

The results? Intriguing, to say the least. Data showed that although employers want to hire veterans, their job postings don’t reflect this priority.

Check out the full illuminating article for stats and highlights from the survey—and snag helpful employer strategies for improving the hiring and retention of military talent.

Starbucks announced new benefits for its employees on Nov. 6, part of ongoing investments to “uplift the overall partner and store experience,” the company said in a statement.

The new benefits for employees (called “partners” by Starbucks management) include pay raises, earlier vacation accrual, and more flexible scheduling. Like many retailers, Starbucks has raised pay over the past few years to compete for talent. Average hourly pay at the coffee chain is now nearly $17.50 an hour, up from $14 in 2021.

But the announcement was a flashpoint in an ongoing dispute between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU)—which has unionized some 360 stores—over wages and benefits for unionized workers, some of whom aren’t entitled to certain new benefits.

Starbucks management has argued that it’s unlawful to extend new wages or benefits to unionized workers while collective bargaining is underway—an assertion the union, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), contests.

Keep reading here.—CV

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Erin ImHof is CertiK’s HR director, where she is designing and building the HR department for the security tech auditing company. ImHof has HR experience in a number of industries, but told HR Brew she loves tech because of the “flexibility and variability.” Every day is something new. Since joining in September 2021, ImHof has been “creating multiple spreadsheets, and then really prioritizing the list…‘What do we want to do? What do we need to do?’”

ImHof said she is drawn to HR’s challenge of “trying to kind of bridge that gap of advocating for the employees yet trying to follow the rules of the company and do what’s best for the company. I really enjoy kind of straddling that line and doing what’s best for both.” It’s tough too, but ImHof has had support from leadership.

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

I revamped the entire HR department at my current company: installing a PEO, creating a talent acquisition team, offering improved benefits, creating an onboarding process, creating a strong employee engagement program, and many other factors. I have a fantastic team and boss who helped me on our journey to success.

Keep reading here.—AD

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: $820,000 a year. That’s the annual salary of an “overemployed” software engineer working at IBM, Tinder, and Meta…at the same time. (Insider)

Quote: “You can’t have AI films eligible for Oscars. Movies that are eligible for Academy Awards should be movies that are produced by human beings, written by human beings, directed by human beings, scored by human beings, filmed by human beings, and acted by human beings.”—Alec Baldwin, in an Instagram video on AI’s use in film, posted after actors and studios settled a dispute over AI amid the SAG-AFTRA strike (Quartz)

Read: As RTO continues to change the way corporate America views remote and flexible work, some experts worry more flexible arrangements could inadvertently limit women in the workforce. (the New York Times)

Back 2 school: What can an online master’s in HR Management from Georgetown University teach you? Find out in a virtual sample class, Coaching and Emotional Intelligence for HR. Mark your planner for Nov. 29.*

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