job crafting - a business case towards sustainability

JOB CRAFTING - A BUSINESS CASE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

Inducing opportunities for co-creating sustainability in the banking sector

Master Thesis | MSc Sustainable Entrepreneurship

University of Groningen | Campus Fryslân

Julia Twachtmann | S4032837

Email: [email protected]

Supervisor: Hans van Polen | Co-Assessor: Dr. Thomas Long

June 12th, 2020

ABSTRACT: A rising sustainability awareness, increases the pressure on companies to shift

towards more sustainable business practices in order to remain an attractive employer.

However, many companies have to limit the employee’s agency due to a necessary level of

compliance. Thus, people begin to autonomically alter the boundaries of their daily jobs to

implement sustainable values. If this process remains unaligned with the company’s higher

mission, it can lead to a discrepancy between the employee and the employer, hemming the

overall performance. In a qualitative single case study, at a bank in the Netherlands, this study

assesses how both parties can induce opportunities to co-create a shift towards sustainability.

The results suggest that an impactful shift can be created if the concepts of job crafting (bottom-

up) and sustainable intrapreneurship (top-down) are implemented simultaneously. Based on the

novel merging of the previously unrelated concepts, recommendations for practice and future

research are proposed.

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INTRODUCTION

“You cannot ignore the requirements of your job,

but you can watch for opportunities to make it more meaningful.”

(Spreitzer & Porath, 2012: 9)

Nowadays, Millions of people are entering the work-force, carrying strong, sustainable values

(cf. Chillakuri & Mahanandia, 2018; Seemiller & Grace, 2019). First, to name are Millennials

(born between 1981 and 1996), who pose the largest percentage of working people worldwide

today (ConeCommunications, 2016). In the US alone, 55 million Millennials will have entered

the work-force by 2025 (ConeCommunications, 2016). Millennials are open to change

(PewResearchCenter, 2010) and strongly oriented towards sustainability. Three-quarters of

Millennials in the US would rather accept being paid less to find purpose in their job, and over

10% of them state they once left a job due to the unsustainable performance of the business

(Cone Communications, 2016). Because of their age, many Millennials are in role model

positions (e.g., older siblings, parents, or teachers) for people who are forming the upcoming

generation. In the coming years, ‘Generation Z’ (born after 1995, referred to as Zs) will also

enter the work-force (Chillakuri & Mahanandia, 2018). As previous generations pass on their

thought patterns and perspectives on the world (cf. Seemiller & Grace, 2019), new generations

are increasingly more primed towards sustainability.

The global movement ‘FridaysForFuture’ is one paradigmatic example of this, headed and

hugely supported by Zs (FridaysForFuture, 2020). Zs are defined by their drive towards societal

problems, which they not only identify but proactively try to change (Seemiller & Grace, 2019).

Unlike previous generations, the Zs seem to be more entrepreneurial and trying to fulfill their

ideals independently (Chillakuri & Mahanandia, 2018). In the US, 90% of this generation thinks

that it is crucial to foster social change through their careers, and 93% state that they would

only work at a company that contributes to a positive, sustainable impact (Seemiller & Grace,

2019). Accordingly, this mindset and fundamental attitude of future employees induce immense

pressure for companies to shift towards sustainable business practices (cf. Miles, Munilla, &

Darroch, 2009). Otherwise, they are likely to lose their legitimacy and become an unattractive

employer, especially for younger people (cf. Roy, Salam, Saker, & Pavez, 2015). The shift

towards sustainability deems thus crucial for the long-term survival of a company. However,

the implementation of sustainability is currently not assessed as compulsorily important in the

business environment (cf. Calabrese, Costa, Levialdi, & Menichini, 2018; Gunasekaran &

Spalanzani, 2012).

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Many companies (e.g., banks) are faced with the situation that they first must comply with the

given laws and regulations to be allowed to operate in the first place. The topic of sustainability

is, therefore, not at the forefront of those companies. This can lead to a situation in which

employees work in positions that are not aligned with their personal beliefs and values.

Consequently, employees like Millennials and Zs feel disconnected from the mission of these

businesses, which could lead to tensions between an employee’s sustainable agenda and the

core business itself (cf. Criado-Gomis, Iniesta-Bonillo, & Cervera-Taulet, 2018). To cope with

this tension, more and more employees begin to ‘craft’ their individual sustainable job missions

within their company. For example, Zs expect that they need to create opportunities themselves

in order to hold a job that suits their demands (Seemiller & Grace, 2019). This phenomenon is

called ‘job crafting’, and according to Le Blanc, Demerouti, and Bakker (2017) already widely

known. However, a translation to the field of sustainability is still at an early stage. Further, the

tensions between employee and employer ties-in with the trend of intrapreneurship (i.e.,

sustainable intrapreneurship), where sustainable innovations are induced by the employer and

executed by the employees (Criado-Gomis et al., 2018).

Due to this possible discrepancy of missions between employees and the firm, the company

itself could intentionally or unintentionally pose barriers for employees who are intrinsically

motivated and engaged in job crafting processes (cf. Tams, 2018). This process could lead to a

situation in which employees are not focusing on their initial job description. Consequently,

this could possibly result in a deficit for the company’s operations if this process is not jointly

coordinated (Alka, 2018; Spreitzer & Porath, 2012). However, if the interests of both parties

are aligned, the process of job crafting can lead to higher job satisfaction positively affecting

the company’s performance (Spreitzer & Porath, 2012; Tams, 2018).

Until now, this dynamic process between the perspectives of the employees and the employer

during the sustainable job crafting process remain unattended by researchers. Therefore, this

research aims to foster the understanding of this dynamic by investigating the question: How

can a company and its employees co-create opportunities to foster sustainable job crafting

processes – in order to ensure sustainable change?

This research intends to understand employees’ concerns to actively engage in the job crafting

process, which is only achievable if also the concerns of the company are fully understood. By

answering this question, both parties of the discussion can gain insights into the other part’s

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internal processes. Finally, this paper aims to foster a co-creating process not only by detecting

patterns and barriers but also by developing a strategy to overcome these obstacles. Therefore,

the single case of IT-related departments at the ING bank in The Netherlands (see Appendix

A) will be studied.

In the following chapters, further theoretical concepts will be elaborated to ensure a precise

conceptual stage. In this chapter, theoretical concepts will be introduced to stress how the

research aligns with and expands upon the existing knowledge in the field. Subsequently, the

methods applied in this research will be provided, and the results of this study will be presented.

Lastly, a discussion will elaborate on conclusions that will allow finding an answer to the posed

research question, thereby giving implications for practitioners. Further, limitations and future

research avenues will be discussed. The purpose of this study is to add value to academia by

enhancing the concept of ‘job crafting’ with the sustainability component and using the concept

of co-creation in a novel setting.

THEORETICAL KEY CONCEPTS

In the next section, the current business landscape will be evaluated shortly by embedding the

research into a theoretical context.

Sustainability in Business

Throughout history, a company had to fulfill only the quest to generate maximal economic

profit. This paradigm resulted in the so-called Friedmanisque view on sustainability in business,

which indicated that implementing sustainability would disorient companies from their primary

goal of profit-maximization (Karnani, 2011). This view asserted the impact of sustainability on

the performance of the business’s economic competitiveness, discussed by academics over

decades (e.g., Maletic, Maletic, Dahlgaard, Dahlgaard-Park, & Gomišcek 2015; Porter & Van

der Linde, 1995).

However, Miles et al. (2009: 68) already claimed that due to external stakeholder pressures,

sustainability has become “[…] the business imperatives for the early part of the 21st century.”.

Sustainability in business is understood as a new ‘cultural imperative’ that requires long-term

planning for economic success, thoughtful environmental management, and responsibility for

social well-being (Miles et al., 2009). A paradigm shift towards including sustainability into

the business processes has established (cf. Hart & Milstein, 2003).

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However, this task proved to be complex, as it was and still is difficult for companies to

understand how to implement sustainability into their strategies and operations (Bonn & Fisher,

2011; Hult, 2011). In order to outline what sustainable business practice comprises, the effort

from a single actor is not sufficient, but instead requests collective assessments from diverse

stakeholders (e.g., companies, industry boards, political entities, etcetera.) (Provasnek, Schmid,

Geissler, & Steiner, 2017).

Sustainability and Banking

Nevertheless, sustainability is still driven by external stakeholder pressure in many sectors,

leading to reactive behavior of companies (Roy et al., 2015). According to Soppe (2009), this

external pressure is also heavily influencing the banking sector, which developed increasing

attempts to act more sustainable and practice ’sustainable banking’ over the last years.

In 2016, Kapoor, Jaitly, and Gupta claimed that the financial sector would be the ‘real catalyst’

for sustainable change as it significantly impacts the development of the whole economy. Banks

can oversee and manage processes, ensuring the intermediation between short-, medium-, and

long-term investments into environmental and social projects (Rebai, 2014). However, these

institutions are under constant severe pressure from a diverse stakeholder set and emerging new

technologies (e.g., blockchain) to act responsible (Roy et al., 2015), in order to ensure their

survival and legitimacy on the market (Geddes, Schmidt, & Steffen, 2018).

Sustainable Intrapreneurship

One possibility to achieve a change in the company is to internally commit to exploiting new

opportunities by forming new business units, processes, and strategic avenues in a proactive,

entrepreneurial manner (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2004). This approach is called intrapreneurship

and is directed at sustainability, a still-emerging conduct in business (Criado-Gomis et al.,

2018). As this concept is still forming, a multitude of terms could be identified, all related to

the same phenomenon and thus treated as equal in this study (e.g., corporate entrepreneurship,

corporate venturing, or entrepreneurial strategy) (Criado-Gomis et al., 2018). In short,

intrapreneurship focuses on entrepreneurial actions within a business (Provasnek et al., 2017).

Recently, this concept was recognized as a strategic avenue to achieve a competitive advantage

regarding sustainability (Miles et al., 2009; Urban & Nikolov, 2013). This so-called sustainable

intrapreneurship is driven by the strategic choices made by the top managers (Miles et al.,

2009), thus led top-down and only granting the employees a limited range of agency.

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The Phenomenon of Job Crafting

The term’ job crafting’ was initially used by Wrzesniewski and Dutto (2001: 179), who outlined

a process in which employees can shape their individual job tasks, and defined it as “[…] the

physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or relational boundaries of their

work […]”. It is crucial to highlight that job crafting is always initiated bottom-up by the

employee who takes agency by changing different aspects of the job. In other words, an

informal process that shapes the working practices to align them with individual values and

interests (Grant & Ashford, 2008).

Within the academic field of job crafting, two lines of thought are predominant. First, there is

the perspective of Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001), according to which there are three types

of job crafting: task-, cognitive- and relational crafting. By these options, employees can revise

their work identities to increase the meaning of their job. In the second line of thought, Tims

and Bakker (2010), and Bakker and Demerouti (2007) lean their concept of job crafting on the

‘job demands-resources theory’. They focus on the adjustments an individual can make to

offset a positions’ demands with the resources they possess (Tims & Bakker, 2010). In this

case, the term ‘demands’ incorporates the aspect of mental, emotional, and physical job-related

endeavors. The term ‘resources’ implies the ability of personal growth, the reduction of

deliverables, and the efforts to achieve a common goal (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).

In 2018, the first approaches were made to merge the two concepts in a further developed

framework (Bruning & Campion, 2018; Zhang & Parker, 2018). Both papers reorient job

crafting towards a broader understanding of the term. Especially, Bruning and Campion (2018:

500) influence the novel understanding as they define job crafting as: “[…] the changes to a

job that workers make with the intention of improving the job for themselves”. They develop

six characteristics of this practice to make it more accessible. Therefore, job crafting requires:

(1) a change that is intended to benefit the individuals themselves; (2) change on several levels

at the same time; (3) an apparent deviation among the pre- and post-crafted job; (4) a permanent

change of the job; (5) a direct shift in the job role; (6) a position with a detailed job description

and specific job-relevant tasks (Bruning & Campion, 2018).

This study will follow the most recent way of thinking while relating the job crafting concept

to a new domain - job crafting for sustainability. Le Blanc et al. (2017) were the first who

actively linked job crafting to sustainability. They claim that job crafting is an excellent

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opportunity to foster the relationship between employer and employee and to cope with the

difficulties of implementing sustainability into the company. This organizational change is

crucial to move towards sustainability and can be directly impacted when “[...] employees alter

the task boundaries of a job (i.e., type or number of activities), the cognitive task boundaries of

a job (i.e., how one sees the job), and the relational boundaries of a job (i.e., whom one interacts

with at work).” (Petrou, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2018: 1769). In order to ensure a positive

outcome for both parties, Alka (2018) demands clear communication between the company and

the employee to align their goals and elevate job crafting from a coping mechanism to a strategic

tool.

Value Co-creation for Sustainability - A Different Way of Thinking

Initially, the concept of co-creation was developed by Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) with

their paper ‘Co-Opting Customer Competence’. This initial focus on the customer was further

adapted by following scientific research. McColl-Kennedy, Vargo, Dagger, Sweeney, and van

Kasteren (2012) identified 27 articles that entirely focused on the customer-centric value co-

creation process. The predominant ‘Service-Dominant logic’ focuses entirely on value creation

between a service provider (i.e., company) and the beneficiaries of a particular service (i.e.,

customer) (Merrilees, Miller, & Yakimova, 2017). This concept recently shifted towards the

employees who initiate the value creation, giving them a greater agency - referring to staff-led

value co-creation (Merrilees et al., 2017). Further, this perspective was expanded by the notion

of Laamanen and Skalen (2015), who stress the necessity of collective actions to ‘truly’ co-

create in an equal process between the company and its employees. Bridoux, Coeurderoy, and

Durand (2011: 712) highlighted that collective action, which results in value rather than

conflict, requires “[...] coordinated and cooperative efforts undertaken by multiple agents

within firms [...]”, whereby Ramaswamy (2009) underlines that in practice the process of co-

creation is always driven from within the company.

This state already gives reason to adopt this logic to other processes within the company.

However, no existing study has been found where value co-creation between the employer and

the employees per se is the primary focus of a study. Thus, an analog application of the term

co-creation is proposed, aligning with the idea of Tams (2018), who calls for a new perspective

on this concept, as it in practice occurs in various forms. The analog application is further

underpinned by Zwass’ (2010) definition of co-creation, according to which co-creation is: (1)

a way of combining, renewing and sharing, (2) resources and capabilities, (3) between two

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parties (4) by new forms of interaction and learning mechanisms. This idea of co-creation

directly links to Le Blanc et al.’s (2017) idea of job crafting as an opportunity to foster the

relationship between company and employee while ensuring mutual benefits. Co-creation

between employees and employer is thus a powerful way to ensure employees’ agency (Tams,

2018), while collectively energizing all layers of a company (Ramaswamy, 2009).

METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

In order to answer the proposed research question, a qualitative approach within a single case

study is applied. In the following, further introduction to the data collection and analysis process

of this study will be provided.

Design of the Research

The choice of a qualitative approach is appropriate due to the exploratory nature of the proposed

research question, further underlined by the open-ended design of the study (Denzin & Licoln,

2000; Gephart, 2004). Moreover, Pettersen et al. (2004) stress that exploratory research can

provide significant insights into a specific field, supporting this study's aim. Studies of

exploratory natures are usually applied to smaller populations and therefore request future

research to investigate the initial findings (Pettersen et al., 2004). In order to understand the

complex social phenomena of job crafting and value co-creation, a single case study is the most

appropriate research approach. This approach allows an in-depth analysis of specific actors in

light of a specific complex occurrence and dissuades this study from a generalized view on a

generic problem (Lapan, Quartaroli & Riemer, 2012). The study is fundamentally oriented

along the Grounded Theory idea, whereby this concept functions more as a meta-frame rather

than a concrete method, following the line of thought from Clark (2015) and Götzö (2014).

They interpret the Grounded Theory in a modern way, as an empirical way to understand social

realities, shedding light on individually experienced perspectives.

Data Collection

The concept of Theoretical Sampling is applied, to account for the relevance of the data, rather

than quantity (Götzö, 2014). Thus, this concept aligns with the Grounded Theory’s paradigm

to collect and analyze data simultaneously. Further, this approach is deemed suitable because

it focuses on unique data sources (i.e., individuals within the field) to generate knowledge

without trying to represent a whole sector (Clarke, 2012).

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Single Case Study

The company ING is considered suitable because, as a bank, the company has to comply with

many national and European legislation to maintain all business operations, thus limiting

employee’s agency. The bank ING describes itself as a transparent and sustainable pioneer

within the baking sector (ING, 2020). The firm is large enough to provide a dynamic and

diverse field with individual cases (e.g., management, co-worker, job crafter) (see AppendixA).

A single case study was chosen to support the study’s aim to understand dynamics occurring

within a single setting while also giving the opportunity to deeply understand each individual’s

position (Eisenhardt, 1989). Thereby, ensuring a well-grounded answer to the research question

and avoiding confirmation bias, and over-consciousness reasoning (Gudmundsson & Lechner,

2013), this research bases the conclusions on a sufficient number of eight individual cases (cf.

Eisenhardt, 1989). This approach fosters an intimate interaction with actors and processes,

leading to a lifelike outcome (Eisenhardt, 1989).

Semi-structured Interviews

This research understands the interactions in the field as a learning opportunity for researcher

and interviewee alike (Clark, 2015; Götzö, 2014). Thus, the interviews were designed in a semi-

structured manner, allowing a relatively open conversation with space for further insights, while

remaining grounded in theory (Breidenstein, Hirschauer, Kalthoff, & Nieswand, 2015). This

method further ensures an interview process where the researcher leads the conversation while

invites the interviewees' expertise to foster the understanding of different positions within the

field (Girtler, 2001). So-called 'uncharted territory' can thus be investigated, meaning that

semi-structured interviews allow spotting useful leads and further investigation of those with

follow-up questions (Newcomer, Hatry, & Wholey, 2015).

To determine a list of essential interviewees, the key actors within the field have been identified

via the literature evaluation: the employees who try to implement their own sustainable mission

into the business, the employer (i.e., manager of prospective employees; manager of the Global

Sustainability Department), as well as the co-workers who are directly affected by actions from

the previously named. The job crafting employees are of specific importance for this study. To

better understand their position and role, the interview questionnaire for this group is leaning

on another paper, 'The job crafting questionnaire: A new scale to measure the extent to which

employees engage in job crafting.' from Slemp and Vella-Brodrick (2013). Questions of the

questionnaire will be adapted in the interview guide, to understand better how and why job

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crafting is done (i.e., asking about initial job tasks, how and why they have been altered).

Generally, this study focusses on understanding motivations, perceived barriers, and self-

perceptions of the actors. The interview questions relate to the participants' perceptions of roles,

desired outcomes, and role division (see Appendix B for the questionnaire sets). Eisenhardt

(1989) states that it is generally recommendable to apply "[…] controlled opportunism in which

researchers take advantage of the uniqueness of a specific case and the emergence of new

themes to improve resultant theory". In line with that thought, the study aimed to remain

flexible throughout the data collection process.

Collection Procedure

A single point of contact functioned as an initial entry into the company. This employee, with

a strong, sustainable orientation, functioned as a gatekeeper and opened his internal network

for the course of this study. An initial conversation underpinned that ING employs several

individuals who all established sustainability measures on their behalf. The point of contact is

soundly embedded into the business, ensuring an initial level of trust towards the researcher. In

collaboration with this employee, a list of possible interviewees was curated, and possible

participants contacted. Eventually, five different actor groups were interviewed with tailored

questionnaires. The fifth group was implemented later, following the discussed opportunism.

The Sustainability Manager initiated an interview with one Project Manager from an agency

that consulted ING regarding employee engagement towards sustainability, introducing an

external perspective and perception.

Table 1: Interview Overview

Role Name * POSITION Duration

1. Sustainable Job Crafter Jeremy Walter

Damian

Esther

Customer Journey Expert Product Owner

Customer Journey Expert

Risk Operations Manager

38:21 minutes

49:32 minutes

52:52 minutes

50:22 minutes

2. Co-worker

Charol Data-Scientist 22:40 minutes

3. Middle Manager

Hanna Chapter Lead 32:40 minutes

4. Sustainability Manager

Dorian Global Sustainability Manager 49:50 minutes

5. External Consulting

Marielle Project Manager & Lead 43:20 minutes

* altered to ensure privacy.

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In total, eight interviews were held online between April and May 2020. All material is handled

confidential, ensuring compliance with the disclosure document the participants verbally

agreed to prior beginning the interview (see Appendix C).

Data Analysis

By using the described data collection methods, a comprehensive corpus of data was

established. All interviews were transcribed and coded in line with the method of Theoretical

Sampling (cf. Götzö, 2014) (see Appendix E). The further coding process was guided by the

proposed structure of the Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1999), which implies three

coding phases: (1) open coding to identify relevant topics within the data set and establish initial

comparability between different materials; (2) axial coding to extract the gained information

from their chronological order and enable a novel thematic order, thereby creating new links

between previously unrelated data; (3) selective coding to compress the gathered results in core

categories (Strauss & Corbin, 1999). The core categories embedded in their context led to the

conduction of the comprised code trees (see Appendix D).

RESULTS

In the following, the collected data will be presented while preempting subjective

interpretations and ensuring a focus on the critical components of the research question. Thus,

it is crucial to define what the term ‘sustainable change’ within the research question

encompasses for the actors before further presenting the findings. Hence, the results are

prevented from projecting a predefined bias into the field.

Towards Sustainable Change

The actors define sustainability primarily via two components: green and social. Green

sustainability incorporates environmental factors like climate change and, consequently, the

aim to reduce CO2. Whereas, social sustainability entails empowerment in human rights and

embracing diversity. Further, sustainability is perceived in contextual relations, as Dominic

states: “[…] we don’t operate independently we are always part of the society […]“. Often

sustainability is connotated with a degree of trade-off regarding economic priorities, implying

that it is possible to lose financial gain over sustainably made choices. Generally, they show

that sustainability is connected with a strong intrinsic motivation driven by an emotional

connection and identity-forming designation with the topic, aiming to serve a higher good (i.e.,

future generations). The sustainable change is comprised via ING’s mission statement:

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“Empower people to say a step ahead in life and in business.” (Dorian), which the actors embed

into their sustainable mindset.

Key Actors – A Gap Between the Status Quo & the Identified Ideal Co-Creation Position

The data shows that all actors identify certain positions for themselves and other actors, that

would induce joint opportunities towards sustainability (Figure 2). However, the status quo of

the positions and roles differs form that ideal, presenting a state where co-creation between

employee and employer is barely possible at the moment (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Status quo – Relations and Positions of the Key Actors.

Figure 2: Identified Ideal - Relations and Positions of the Key Actors.

Sustainable Job Crafter – Driving & Bridging

The collected data showed that only one person managed to actively implement sustainable

changes into the direct job. The majority of the participants, however, saw no opportunity to

craft their daily jobs towards sustainability. Esther states: “I don’t do that within my personal

job - because I don’t know how. I don’t see a single way.”. Others claimed that their

departments generally were too unrelated to sustainability, to allow that implementation. The

findings indicate that job crafter entrepreneurially sought and created sustainable opportunities

that were not within their official role. For example, they negotiate hours with their managers

to spend on voluntary sustainability projects or to engage in voluntary committees. The job

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crafters positioned themselves in an accentuated role by creating communities and only altering

the relational boundaries of their jobs. Because the company’s sustainability aim cannot be

transferred to the employee base, the sustainable job crafters reported that they were trying to

bridge the gap they perceive and their insufficient knowledge about how to implement

sustainability into the job, with such an accentuated position. Damian states that the company

“[…] is already doing quite a lot for sustainability but not - but not all the employees are aware

of it […].” and explains, in line with other job crafters, that they are thus trying to internally

promote the company’s sustainability mission (Figure 1).

The results show that sustainable job crafters currently only focus on the relational aspect of

job crafting and create new communities to raise awareness about the company’s sustainability

aims and empower other employees to act more sustainably within their departments. It

becomes visible that job crafting currently remains a coping mechanism (Figure 1). Dorian

describes it as “[…] a good first step […], but it does not lead to an actual change.”. However,

sustainable job crafters claim to inspire other employees in the company to act more sustainable,

but they are not implementing their knowledge and inspiration into their departments to shift

job practices in a more sustainable direction. The direct relation of job crafting to the daily tasks

and the direct embeddedness into the department was identified as the most impactful position

for sustainable job crafting (Figure 2).

Sustainability Department – Leading & Enabling

The Sustainability Department has developed a global so-called ‘sustainability direction’ for

the company rather than a strategy, attempting to fade the sustainability aim directly into the

overall business strategy. This ambition was collectively emphasized as a pioneering role

within the industry which the job crafting employees are proud of. However, this direction is

still not well known throughout the employee base. For example, Charol stressed that it is

difficult for him to pinpoint the company’s actions for sustainability “[…] as a corporate in

terms of their strategy […]”.

The Sustainability Department operates at a global level and is addressing an employee base of

54,000 people, from which they talk to about 2,000 people directly. With a team size of 15

people, the department is limited in its actions and highlights that in their perspective, it is not

their job to make the company sustainable. Instead, it is everybody’s responsibility. As this

department states, they cannot oversee all employees throughout the company, thus opening

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this mission to all employees. Michelle describes the Sustainability Department is ”[…] trying

to involve and drive the sustainability direction from the inside out.” and Dorian thinks they do

not understand sustainability as a “top-down thing” (Dorian). However, the results demonstrate

that all sustainable job crafter perceive the Sustainability Department in the position that they

are a key supporter of their sustainable actions, which is contradicting to the self-concept of

this department. For instance, Dorian states: “The sustainability department is not the decision-

maker in the business.”. So, he sees the department as an enabler but sees the ultimate power

of the sustainable change within the employees’ daily jobs. In order to enable employees to take

meaningful action within the job, the Sustainability Department developed a program to educate

employees about the company’s sustainability direction in 2018. In this program, they directly

address employees from all over the world in a one-week Bootcamp; until now, about 0,22%

of the employees participated. It is visible that besides this program, the sustainability direction

is currently not communicated in an actionable manner throughout all levels of the company.

Damian describes this in seeing “[…] a gap between the higher goals of […] the management

board and a bit lower-level manager.” and Esther stresses: “In my department, it is - there is

not an ambition to be sustainable.“ Concludingly, it is visible that the firm’s sustainability aims

are not directly reaching the employee base (Figure 1).

Department Management – Supporting & Directing

The Department Management (also addressed as Middle Management) was collectively named

as the central key figure when trying to implement sustainability directly into the job. Hanna

named herself “[…] a key player.” within this process and Dorian pointed out that “[…] it is a

fact those people who can make the decisions around making [the company] a sustainable

business.” The support of direct management has been pictured consistently positive. However,

results showed that Middle Management is tightly bound to their given goals and objectives

and focused on efficiency and cost reduction, so that sustainability appeared as a by-product.

Marielle describes this dynamic as: “So, the top […], they know that it is important, the bottom

really wants to go for it as well, but Middle Management has like 100 KPIs that they are being

held back by.” The focus on clearly measurable impacts seems crucially essential; therefore, it

poses a barrier that the outcome of sustainable job crafting is not as tangible as other KPIs.

Further, managers claim to need sustainable job crafters to argue their alteration ideas in a

business case that is suiting their pre-given economic goals. If the value of the job alteration

cannot be argued in a way that includes a value for the customer, process efficiency, team

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dynamic, and (or) cost efficiency, it is described unlikely that the idea will be embraced.

Consequently, Middle Management is described as a possible barrier as they need to align each

employee’s actions with the higher goals given to them, which currently lack a sustainability

component. This barrier aggravates the creation of opportunities directly within the job –

fostering the outsourcing of the sustainable job crafters (Figure 1).

Co-Workers & Fellow Employees – Reflecting & Embedding

Co-workers were described as the job crafters’ direct peers and reason for motivation. Thus, it

was surprising that none of the sustainable job crafters included their direct co-workers into

their missions. Instead, they talked about sustainability with their peers on a personal level,

raising awareness about sustainable values in general. Consequently, the co-worker stays

uninvolved and remain distant from the bottom up-shift of sustainable job crafting (Figure 1).

Damian, for example, described that he tried to involve his co-worker but learned that “[…]

they were not interested in my sustainable endeavor; they did not know about sustainability, or

their world is so different from how I see it.” This demonstrates a barrier, as for sustainable job

crafters as they fail to connect to their peers in this regard.

For the induction of co-creation opportunities, it was perceived as essential that the job crafters

are embedded in their department, and fully supported by their direct co-workers. Charol said:

“[…] the colleagues that you work with - your equals, of course, they should be convinced that

it is a good idea because otherwise, it will become more difficult.” Thus, in order to integrate

the sustainable job crafter, it was identified that job crafters need to communicate their mission

from a point that includes their own motivation as well as the economic benefit of the alteration.

In the identified ideal communication, a job crafter tailors their proposal in alignment with the

team’s priorities, which are again geared with the Department Management’s priorities and

customer’s interests. It is pointed out that, if the communication between co-workers and

sustainable job crafters is established openly and reaches a certain consensus, then co-workers

even function as an accelerator to the job crafting endeavor. Finally, two benefits of the job

crafters’ embeddedness were pointed out. First, co-workers can be inspired toward

sustainability. Charol described that he could “[…] experience a personal growth, new insights

or a new way of thinking about certain topics.” Second, within a dialogue, the co-workers can

add further expertise and so amplify the impact of the job crafting endeavors.

16

Opportunity Preventers & the Ideal Co-creation Outcome

Beyond the mentioned hurdles, several barriers have been identified that prevent the creation

of opportunities and are deriving equally from both parties. Thus, the current flow of

communication is hindering as it leads to a lack of awareness within the employee base about

a) the extent of impact held by the employee and b) clouds the idea the employee’s innovative

force is invited beyond their predefined daily tasks. Moreover, the high compliance level with

procedures to ensure the data security was described as hindering as well as that the number

one priority within the department remained always task fulfillment of the already time-

intensive job.

Overall, the ideal sustainable job crafter was identified uniformly as: being proactive and

communicating their own values and motives openly within the department while embedding

it in other people’s mindsets. This includes arguing the case in a business fashion, ergo making

a business case for sustainability. It was collectively identified that the ideal sustainable job

crafter should combine an entrepreneurial and sustainable mindset with their practical skills

and technical know-how while remaining embedded in the department. The ideal company was

conversely portrayed as communicating the higher goals transparently while fostering an open

company culture. Regarding an environment where employees are trusted and free in their

choices on how to work, by ensuring a high level of individuality. For example, Jeremy

highlighted that he could identify with the company’s slogan, “Do your thing.” From the

company’s perspective, it is pointed out as crucial that the alteration made by the employees

persists beyond their working time of the employee in order to be declared as impactful. This

is identified as a good first step from Figure 1 to Figure 2 to inspire other employees who

perceive sustainable job crafter as role models who ideally make sustainable opportunities

visible for others.

DISCUSSION

This research examined an internal process of high relevance for employers in the future. It

inspected the dynamics and introspections between employee and employer in light of a

possible internal co-creation process towards sustainability. The research was guided by the

research question: “How can a company and its employees co-create opportunities to foster

sustainable job crafting processes – in order to ensure sustainable change?”

17

Conclusions

The results show that such co-creation processes are not only possible but substantial in order

to see an impactful shift towards sustainability in the corporate environment. Further, this study

is a step into dilating the scientific status of the still-emerging field of sustainable job crafting

by the conceptual elaboration below.

Co-creating Opportunities – Combining Top-down & Bottom-up Actions

Contrary to Le Blanc et al.’s (2017) idea, the results stressed that job crafting alone is not

suitable to lead employer and employee beyond the difficulties of inducing sustainability into

the company. Therefore, the most important and new insight of this study is that in order to

elevate job crafting into a tool of strategic use (cf. Alka, 2018), opening opportunities for co-

creation is necessary to counter the bottom-up agency of employees with top-down action led

by the employer. This paper argues that the top-down action is ideally introduced in the concept

of sustainable intrapreneurship led by the company, as this concept focusses on new

opportunities in a strategic, proactive and entrepreneurial manner (cf. Antonici & Hisrich,

2004). If combined with the full agency (bottom-up) concept of job crafting the initial

downsides of this concept, the limited range of employee agency (Miles et al., 2009), is

compensated. If implemented jointly, both concepts combined can lead to the identified ideal

co-creation outcome, subject to the condition that both parties ensure open communication.

As the direct union of sustainable job crafting and sustainable intrapreneurship in the context

of internal co-creation towards a sustainable change is an entirely novel association, the new

association is visually reprocessed below.

Figure 3: The Process of Opportunity Creation towards a Co-created Sustainable Change.

18

Communicating from Barrier to Opportunity

Insufficient communication about the employer’s sustainable strategy leads to a lack of

perceived opportunities on the employee side. This issue is further evolving and strengthened

by the fact that employees are not positioning themselves ideally within the field and do not

use the surrounding support system to its full potential. Consequently, the different layers of

the company are not aligned due to insufficient communication. Hence, the results show that

the strategic communication between employee and employer is the critical barrier, and

simultaneously the primary tool to induce opportunities. Alka (2018) already claimed that clear

communication is needed between the company and the individual to align their goals and to

elevate job crafting from a coping mechanism to a strategic tool. If the communication between

the two parties stays insufficient and partners (i.e., Department Management, co-worker) are

continuously only partly integrated, job crafting remains a coping mechanism. Sustainable job

crafters do not perceive any other opportunities and thus only alter the softer “[…] relational

boundaries of a job (i.e., whom one interacts with at work)” (Petrou et al., 2018: 1769). This is

visible in the bridging perspective of sustainable job crafter portrayed in Figure 1, showing the

unideal status quo that is almost exclusively driven by the employees’ bottom-up agency.

Consequently, it becomes clear that it is not sufficient only to initiate communication from the

bottom to the top of an organization. Instead, in order to induce co-creation opportunities, the

employee and employer must communicate equally (Figure 3).

Sustainable Job Crafting Only Enfolds Beyond Own Interest

Contrary to the claim from Brunning and Campion (2018), job crafters here are not satisfied if

they purely alter their jobs in their self-interest. Instead, as introduced in the definition of

’sustainable change’, sustainable job crafters aim to achieve a higher good with their job

alterations. In contrast to Grants and Ashfords (2008) claim that job crafting is an informal

process to align only the job crafters’ values with the working practice, the result showed that

sustainable job crafters are not satisfied with aligning their values with only their actions.

Instead, the alignment of their values and actions needs also to suit the strategic alignment of

the company’s higher sustainable aim to lead to the desired outcome, which would allow

sustainable job crafter to embed initiatives into their department better.

One aspect that has not been found in previous literature is that it is of crucial importance for a

job crafting endeavor to be argued in a business case, relating to the goals and objectives of the

whole department. This stresses the importance of sustainable job crafting endeavors to be

embedded beyond employees’ own interests if they should lead to co-created opportunities.

19

Fostering Sustainable Change by Co-creating Opportunities

Taking the original points of the preceding discussion into account, the research question can

be answered as follows. The employer and its employees can co-create opportunities if both

parties focus on their zone of influence. The employer facilitates sustainable intrapreneurship

strategies, and the employee embeds these strategies via job crafting into their daily operations.

Meanwhile, both parties remain in communication in which they include their direct

stakeholders (i.e., Department Management (employer), co-workers (job crafter)). At the same

time, they demonstrate specific characteristics in their behavior and practices. The described

process is tightly connected with the dynamic described in Figure 3, which visually underlines

the answer.

In particular, employers need to introduce opportunities for sustainable intrapreneurship by

setting clear goals regarding sustainability that are accessible internally. The employer needs to

openly communicate these sustainable strategic directions throughout the company and needs

to share all the necessary knowledge to ensure a joint basis for action for the whole company.

The actions further need to align throughout all layers of the firm. Thereby aiming towards a

collective overarching mission that is openly lead top-down, ensuring the creation of

opportunities that can be intentionally filled with the expertise and creative solutions of

motivated employees. On the other hand, employees must engage in job crafting while looking

at the strategic opportunities presented by the employer. Keeping an entrepreneurial mind that

recombines established processes with new knowledge in a proactive manner is driven by a

strong intrinsic motivation. At all times, job crafting employees must focus on the introduced

strategic mission and reassessment through a sustainable mind. Simultaneously, sustainable job

crafters must communicate ideas and proposals transparently in line with contextual interests.

Throughout the described process, all involved parties need to have the freedom of choice,

meaning they need to be intrinsically motivated to contribute. Lastly, the enfolding co-creation

process of opportunities towards sustainability needs to become self-evolving. Thereby it is

referred to as an evolving snowball effect where increased awareness, knowledge, and

inspiration then triggers the creation and recognition of co-creation opportunities by employees

and managers alike.

20

Recommendations for Practice

This study adds value for practitioners on the employee and employer side. The results and

conclusions enable the actors to understand their role within the field better and help them to

foresee and overcome barriers they might face when aiming towards sustainability at their

workplace. A key factor in inducing opportunities is a strategically aligned communication

between the different actors. Accordingly, this study recommends the following for employees

and employer:

Employees

Employees who aim to or do engage in sustainable job crafting first need to communicate the

changes they have in mind to their co-workers as they are presenting their equals and have

further insights into other facets of the task process. It is further wise to address these actors

first as they probably will be affected as well if a process within the department is changed

because a co-worker implements sustainability into their tasks. Thus, they can either be a

bottleneck or an accelerator of desired job crafting endeavors. Employees are recommended to

tailor their communication strategically amongst the department's goals while forming a sound

business case.

Employer

The employer’s sustainability strategy and aim should be especially communicated to middle

management. They should be explicitly addressed in strategic communication as they hold the

ultimate power to embrace and embed a job crafting opportunity in the sense of Figure 2 or to

deny it. Thus, the responsible party (e.g., Sustainability Department) should implement the

sustainability target in a way that managers can align their KPIs and possible job crafting

processes within their goals.

Generally, the employer must ensure that sustainability is not only part of the company’s

strategy but also the embeddedness of sustainability within the operations. It is logical that not

every employee can work in a position that directly connects them to sustainability. Thus, it is

even more crucial to establish an environment where every employee can pinpoint their

personal impact on sustainability within the firm. The accessibility of the sustainable strategy

must be ensured to secure in all positions to attract young, driven employees (i.e., Zs) and to

remain an attractive employee in a fast-changing environment.

21

If employers and employees follow this line of communication, it will allow the emergence of

co-creation opportunities. In this way, co-creation is so directly implemented by the sustainable

job crafter into the department bottom-up with new ideas and inspirations. Moreover, due to

the top-down intrapreneurial communication, the department also knows how to align these

actions with their respective goals and priorities. Overall, the recommendations align with the

illustrations presented in Figure 3.

Limitations

Even though the research was designed and executed conscientiously, the research still faced

some limitations.

Circumvented Direct Contact

The outbreak of the COVID-19-Pandemic substantially influences this study. Consequently,

the interviews could not be held face-to-face, which shaded the possibility of observing the

non-verbal factors in the field, denying access to a fundamental layer of the field (Breidenstein

et al., 2015). However, Sullivan (2012) argues that online interviews can provide an equal level

of authenticity. Moreover, Janghorban, Roudsari, and Taghipour (2014) argue that the more

convenient conditions from the interviewee side can enrich the interview quality. Given the

temporary circumstances, the choice of online interviews opened new possibilities to bride

geographical distance, embracing the recommendation of online interviews from Lo Iacono,

Symonds, and Brown (2016).

Small Sample Size

The research focused on one rather small sample within one company, which could be seen as

a limitation as it results in a low level of comparability in the broader context. However, the

focus of this study is the use of Theoretical Sampling, which is tailored to lead to an in-depth

and pragmatic analysis (Bryant, 2009). Following Clarke’s (2005) and Götzö’s (2014)

postmodern concept of the Grounded Theory allows to interlink theory and practice by focusing

on individual experiences and expertise of individuals. This is beneficial in pursuing

exploratory research (Dimbath, Ernst-Heinrich, & Roche, 2018) and allows the characterization

of the field dynamic (Guetterman, 2015). The inherent subjective turn of this research method

could be criticized but is here seen as a primary strength of this research as it grants access to

the realities of actors shaping interpersonal habitat (cf., Girtler, 2001; Clarke, 2005, Götzö,

2014).

22

Future Research

The findings of this study indicated that the status quo between employer and employee is

different from the identified ideal status. Thus, it raises the grounded question if the co-creation

process towards sustainability may unfold in a stepwise approach in which the roles and

responsibilities of each party shifts in different stages.

Based on the given insights, it is deemed as a promising opportunity for future research to

analyze the dynamics between employer and job crafting employees regarding sustainable

change over a more extended period. A longitudinal case study would be the advised method

to gain further insights. This method provides data about the temporal evolution of individuals

within a field and compares the continuity and the development, which opens opportunities to

recognize development patterns (Ruspini, 2002). Complementary to the first proposal, this

study could serve as the departing point where the qualitative findings are extended through the

complementary strengths of quantitative methods to go beyond the findings of this study (cf.

Morgan, 2014). This would follow the aim to generate wider generality by pursuing evidence

on how the core results of this study more broadly (Malterud et al., 2016; Morgan, 2014).

Wenger (1999) posits an enriching opportunity to combine quantitative and qualitative

approaches in a longitudinal study. Thus, the combination of a longitudinal and quantitative

extensions builds the ideal ground to understand complex interactive environments (by, e.g.,

D'odorico, Carubbi, Salerni, & Calvo, 2001; Small, Dixon, Hultsch, & Hertzog, 1999;

Yoshikawa, Weisner, Kalil, & Way, 2008).

For all further research, the presented study poses a valuable first step into understanding the

changing dynamics between employee and employer, which will become increasingly relevant

for employers in the future.

23

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APPENDIX A – OVERVIEW ING NETHERLANDS

Firm: ING Groep N.V. (ING Group) Head office: Amsterdam, NL Homepage: https://www.ing.nl/particulier/index.html Founded: 1991 Employees: 54.804 (2018) Revenue: 18,17 billion (2018) Scale: Operating in +40 countries

Logo: [Source: https://www.ing.com/Home.htm, Accessed online: 01.05.2020]

APPENDIX B – INTERVIEW GUIDES

All questions marked with * derive from the paper of Slemp and Vella-Brodrick (2013) „The job crafting questionnaire: A new scale to measure the extent to which employees engage in job crafting.“ Preparation procedure as well as the introduction and outro questions remaining constant throughout all interview questionnaires.

Preparation

• Introduction of myself, shortly my background (everything that feels important to the person)

• Sufficient explanation of the project • Recording per Smartphone • Data protection; Data handling

• Verbally agree to Form – otherwise no interview! • Highlighting that there are only right answers – I specifically care about the individual

point of views and personal experiences

Introduction

1. Can you tell me something about yourself? a. Who are you (name, age, locality)? b. What is your background? c. What is your position?

2. What is sustainability for you? How would you describe it? a. How would you describe your relationship with sustainability? b. Is there anything that motivates you to act more sustainable?

31

Outro

1. Is there a specific anecdote from your work experience that stuck out for you and that you would like to share in this context?

2. Are there any unspoken thoughts? Is there anything you would like to add? 3. Thank you!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I: Interview Guide – Job crafter

Preparation & Introduction

Sustainability in business (ING)

4. How would you describe INGs sustainability ambitions and goals? a. To you think these ambitions and goals are sufficiently implemented?

Why would you argue in that way? b. Do you think that the implementation of the ambitions and goals currently leads

the firm to be proof for the future? 5. How is sustainability implemented within ING from your perspective?

a. How has sustainability implementation effected the workflow in the company? b. Does this have any effects on your tasks and or the objectives you are working

towards? If so, can you describe these effects? 6. Is there anything you would directly add or change regarding the sustainability approach

of ING if you could decide it? If so, what would it be and why?

Job crafting (Employee)

7. What are the objectives you are working towards according to your job description? a. Can you tell me about the elements in your job that are especially satisfying? * b. Can you tell me about the elements about you that do not suit your interests? *

8. Would you say you altered the initial job description of yours and implemented more sustainability through that? If so, can you describe how?

a. Can you give an example? b. How does this influence you in your daily work life (mentally and physically)? c. Do you think it is beneficial for you and the firm? If so, in what way?

9. Would you say your sustainable interests in the firm are shared with others? Please explain your answer. *

a. In your experience: In which positions are the people who share your interest? b. Do you feel that someone who dislikes the changes you made in your job? c. Can you describe a specific situation you encountered this?

10. Are there people who explicitly support you in your work? If so: a. Who is supporting you? b. How are they supporting you? c. What would people need to do in order to support you better? d. How important is it for you to be supported by others? If so, why is that

important to you?

Opportunities and Barriers (Co-creation)

11. How would you describe INGs stance towards your sustainability drive?

32

a. How is the reaction from other employees? 12. Do you feel limited in what you could achieve regarding sustainability? If so, please

explain in which way? a. Could you give a concrete example? b. Do you see an opportunity to overcome the limitations? If so, can you please

describe them? 13. Do you think the work you are doing could be better implemented? If so, in what way?

a. Can you directly pinpoint room for improvement? b. Who would be needed for the implementation of that improvement?

14. What would an ideal outcome of your sustainable changes look like for you? a. What would be needed for that to happen? b. What would be your role in the process of achieving your goals? c. What would be the role of ING in this process of achieving your goals?

15. What advice would you give someone who also wants to implement sustainability into their job? Is her anything you would recommend?

Outro _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

II: Interview Guide – Global Sustainability Management



1. How would you describe INGs sustainability ambitions and goals? a. Why do you think ING views sustainability this way? b. Do you think these ambitions and goals are also sufficiently implemented?

Can you please explain your answer? c. Do you think that the implementation of the ambitions and goals currently leads

the firm to be future proof? 2. How does ING communicate these goals and ambitions towards their employees? Can

you give a few examples? a. Do you think this level of communication is sufficient? Please explain your

answer. b. Can you pinpoint any room for improvement in this communication process?

How would they look like? 3. How is sustainability implemented within ING from your perspective?

a. How das it affects the workflow in the company? b. Would you say this has a direct effect on employees? If so, can you please

describe this?


4. How would you describe INGs stance towards the sustainability drive of its employees? a. Are there any measures taken to better implement this sustainability drive? If so,

can you explain them? b. Is it beneficial for ING if employees start implementing sustainability into their

jobs or projects? Why would you argue in that way? c. Do you think it is important to support the implementation of sustainable

objectives into the tasks of an employee? Please explain your answer.

33

5. Do you think it is the responsibility of ING to enable such opportunities towards sustainability within its employees work schedule? Could you please elaborate your answer?

a. How would you describe the role of the employee in this process? b. Did you experience challenges within this process? If so, can you please explain

what you encountered. 6. Do you feel that employees are limited in what they can achieve regarding

sustainability? Could you give a concrete example to illustrate our answer? 7. Do you think the sustainability drive of employees could be better implemented? If so,

how could this be done? a. Can you pinpoint room for improvement? If so, how would that look like? b. If the answer is yes: Who would need to involved to implement this

improvement? 8. In this context: How would an ideal outcome between the company and its employees

look like for you? a. What would be needed to happen in order to achieve this? b. What would be your role in this process? c. What would be the role of the employees in this process?

9. What advice would you give someone who wants to implement sustainability into their job at ING? Is there anything you would recommend?

a. Is there anything that ING expects from people who want to implement sustainability into their jobs?

Outro _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

III: Interview Guide – Department Management



1. How would you describe INGs sustainability ambitions and goals? 2. How is sustainability implemented within ING from your perspective?

a. How does it affect the workflow in the company in your experience? b. Does this have any effects on your tasks or objectives? Can you please explain

your answer?


3. Do you think that employees who are implementing their sustainability values in their objectives or establishing individual sustainability projects are adding value to ING? Can you explain your answer?

a. Can you give an example where you could see this behavior in one of your employees?

b. How does this affect the performance of the employee in your experience? 4. Is there anything you expect from an employee who tries to carry their own values into

the workplace? If so, what exactly? a. Do you think it is appropriate to implement personal values like sustainability

into the workplace? Why do you think so?

34


5. How would you describe INGs stance towards the sustainability drive of employees? a. How would you describe the stance from other employees in the team?

6. Do you think it is important to support the implementation of sustainable objectives into the tasks of an employee with a strong sustainability drive? Please explain your answer.

a. Do you think it is the responsibility of ING to enable such changes? Why do you argue in that way?

b. Do you think it is important for the employee to act proactively in this regard? Why do you argue in that way?

7. In your opinion, could the process between ING and sustainably driven employees be improved?

a. What would be needed for that to happen? 8. Do you feel that employees are limited in the way in which they can implement their

sustainable values into the job? Could you give a concrete example to illustrate our answer?

a. Do you see an opportunity to overcome (further enhance employees sustainability efforts) this? Can you describe your answer?

9. What advice would you give a new employee in your department who also wants to implement their sustainability values into their job? Is there anything you would recommend?

10. What advice would you give a manager who works with an employee with a strong sustainability drive? Is her anything you would recommend?

Outro _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

IV: Interview Guide – Co-worker Preparation & Introduction


1. How would you describe INGs sustainability ambitions and goals? 2. How is sustainability implemented within ING from your perspective?

a. How does it affect the workflow in the company? b. How would you describe the effects of this on your tasks or objectives?


3. Can you tell me about a situation or case where a co-worker of yours tried to implement their stainability values into his or her work?

a. How do you experience such situations? 4. Do you think that employees who are implementing sustainability in their objectives or

establishing own sustainability projects are adding value to the company? Please explain you answer.*

a. How does this affect the performance of the employee in your opinion? 5. What do you expect from an employee who tries to carry their own values into the

workplace? a. Why do you feel this is important?

35

b. Do you think it is appropriate to implement personal values like sustainability into the workplace? Please explain your answer.

6. In which way does it affect you on a personal level if other people implement sustainability into their jobs?

a. Would you say this is positive or negative? Can you elaborate your answer? b. Can you describe any benefits from that? c. Can you describe any problems that can arise?

7. In which way does it affect you on a professional level if other people implement sustainability into their jobs?

a. Would you say this is positive or negative? Why? b. Can you see any benefits to that? c. Are there any problems with that?


8. What would you say is something you expect form a co-worker who tries to implement their sustainable values into a team you are a part of?

a. Can you please explain why you feel that this is important to you? 9. What advice would you give someone who works with a person with a strong

sustainability drive? Is her anything you would recommend? Outro _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ V: Interview Guide – Consulting Agency


1. Can you tell me a little bit about the firm you are working in? What is your aim? a. In which way are you working together with ING?


2. How would you describe INGs sustainability ambitions and goals? 3. How would you describe INGs stance towards the sustainability drive of employees?


4. Do you think that employees who are implementing sustainability in their objectives or establishing own sustainability projects are adding value to ING? Please explain your answer.

5. In your opinion, could the process between ING and sustainably driven employees be improved?

a. What is needed for that to happen?


6. Can you tell me a little bit about the Boost Training? Program at ING? a. Can you walk me through the process of establishing this program? b. What where the biggest obstacles within this process? c. How could you overcome these? d. What was your role within this process?

36

7. In your experience what are the most important factors to watch out for if a firm is trying to implement an employee engagement program?

a. Where so you see the barriers of such a project? b. Where do you see the opportunities of such a project?

8. Do you see any specific benefits on the side of the employee? If so, can you describe them?

9. Do you see any specific benefits on the side of the firm? If so, can you describe them? 10. Could you observe any tensions between sustainable driven people and the company’s

interests? 11. How would the ideal outcome of this project would look like in your perception?

a. What would be needed for that to happen? b. What would be the role of the employees in this process? c. What would be the role of ING in this process?

Outro

APPENDIX C – CONSENT FORM

Consent to Participate in a Case Study Interview for the University of Groningen Dear Interviewee, You are invited to take part in an interview as part of a Master Thesis to be delivered in the master program Sustainable Entrepreneurship at Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen. The interview has the purpose to support the conducting of a research project, aiming to support a shift towards sustainability, connecting employer and employee. By consenting to this interview in a verbal manner, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

1. To provide qualitative data on the topic of your perception of sustainability, your job tasks and the approach of your organization to this as well as similar relevant information to the research topic.

2. For the purpose of conducting research, the interview will be recorded, transcribed and analyzed. Recording and transcription will not be used for any other purpose besides conducting the research. The recording will be immediately deleted after transcribing the text.

3. The recorded and transcribed data will be anonymously stored on a secure drive. 4. The results of the study will (expectedly) be presented at the online Circular Fryslân

conference on the 26th of June 2020 as a final presentation of this research. 5. You have the opportunity to withdraw from the research at any time. Therefore, please

contact me via [email protected] 6. The names of the participants will not be published. The participants will be identified

with their function. Full anonymity can be requested by the participant.

This interview is supported by the student’s professor Dr. J. Hans, van Polen (University of Groningen, Campus Fryslân, Contact: [email protected]) ______________________ Interviewer name: _________________________________ Signature: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________________________________

37

APPENDIX D – CODE TREES

40

APPENDIX E – DETAILED CODING MATRIX

41

73

Interview I - Jeremy - Job Crafter

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC Entrepreneurial Mindset 23 And right now, I am working on my own startup […].

Proactive

377 ff.

Ju: So, your role in this process - as I understood - is that you become more active and that you need to proactively need to drive this change to become more freedom for your choices - correct? Je: Jab!

Sustainability

40 f. 43 f.

[…] the feeling that you have done something good for the people or the planet around you - then you are kind of sustainable. But for me it is more environmental oriented - not so much social

Hapiness as outcome

58 ff.

66 ff.

[…], I think I feel happy when I can give people something when I can help them and I also feel the same when I think about the environment. I think that reflecting on it - in the end, it mainly has to do with my own I think happiness and acceptance of who I am. And when I act sustainable - I am happy with myself, I can accept my choices and if not - then I feel the other way.

Mission

51 f. 355

And now I came to the age and knowledge that I also think that I can make a difference To make ING paperless, that is my mission.

Importance of skills

144 396 ff.

Yeah, I really like innovation. So, I know a lot about technology, I know how to digitize things and so I can turn old processes into old ones and make sure that no more paper is used. This is really my thing at the moment. And I think it is really important that you do what you like and in your field of interest - that is close to your field of interest. And that I think is the most important thing.

Sustainability motivation

19 f.

49

I wanted to do more than just safe costs, and that is when I were looking for something extra […]. I think my mum raised me making sure that I understand how important it is for our planet […].

Job motivation

185 ff. EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Sustainability

77 f.

92 f.

[…] the job satisfaction, making sure you are happy with the choices you have made. So, I think if I can do some work without sustainability being involved that if fine but on the long run, I would think - I think that would not satisfy me.

I would say they are very ambitious and they are putting a lot of effort into it. And on the outside, there is only sustainable marketing - I would not say it is greenwashing, but I think of course ING is not a core sustainable business. I think it is really, really one of the big toppings within ING. And I think that because of that they have their priorities set correctly.

42

Startegy

93 ff. 103

Of course, they have to make profit, but they act on sustainability and they want - a really important topic for the bank is making sure that - […] - but it is „know your customer“. So, on different levels different kinds of strategies.

Gap - outside to inside

73 ff. 76

On the other side I am also working there so I can see the difference in how they are showing to the outside world how good and responsible they are acting - but on the daily job things go a bit different. I would not say that the outside is different from the inside […].

Priorities

76 f.

[…] but when things have to get done, I think sometimes unsustainable choices have to be made.

Barriers

84 ff.

[…] if they would spend 10 more million on sustainability - things would go faster. And that choice is not made.

Communication channel used

91 f. 96 f.

I think yeah, also looking at the amount of e-mails I receive from higher management about the importance of sustainability […] sustainability is one of it also mentioned in every newsletter […].

Intrapreneurship

162 ff.

And I thing within ING you also get the freedom to do some entrepreneurship - actually some people call this intrapreneurship - where you can do entrepreneurial things within a large firm.

Freedom

164 f.

And this also gives me the freedom, what I think is important.

Organization Structure

33 f.

266 f.

So, we work in agile teams, which are basically small […]. […] I think we do not really have managers, like old school managers, but we have people that are looking if we are doing the right things and blah, blah, blah.

Team focus

281 f.

[…] within ING there is I think nothing that you can do by yourself, so you have to always get support and help from people

Culture as success factor

199 ff.

189 f.

291 ff.

[…] I think that is also why ING gives this freedom so that you can […] shine. […] the way we work within ING gives everyone, every employee to do what he - gives every employee the opportunity to work how he or she wants to work. […] the slogans when you enter the building is: "Do your thing". So, I think ING supports everyone’s way of working if you are sustainable minded yes or no, I think that they believe in the power of people and their own gut feeling.

JOB TASKS & CHANGES Intro

32

So, my official title is Customer Journey Expert […].

43

Compliance

137 ff.

So, our customers - our internal customers, I have to make sure that we are building the right things, that we are selling them, mhm that they meet all the requirements and I am constantly between business and my squad.

Limitations regardings sustainability

173 ff.

159 f.

298 ff.

So, we are a very important department within ING. And that also limits my ability to do stuff regarding sustainability, thus it has to be document related because that is the department I work for. Because I think in my job description there is nothing mentioned about sustainability […]. […] I know that from my skill and below you get all the freedom but if you work for example at the client service I know it is a very different situation where they don’t really give you that amount of freedom.

IT

34 f.

I work in the squad with some IT people and we make a product […].

Reaction co-worker

239 ff.

[…] sometimes people they, of course, they make a joke. Because they sometimes that I want to save the trees and that I am a hippie blah, blah, blah, But I think that is only a joke. And I do not think people are really against it.

Trade-off - economic vs. sustainability

118 ff.

255 ff.

342 ff.

349 f.

But on the other side sometimes if you want to improve something, make it more sustainable, but that would make the cost higher - then I think it could be a trade-off. I don’t know which choice would be made. […] I can imagine that there is one situation where you have to make a trade-off so you can improve one specific process. Or at one point and I - where you do something that will make it more efficient, that would save you a lot of costs, but will make the process less sustainable because for example, you have to use more cars to transfer something […]. And so, then you have to make a choice and then I can imagine to defend the sustainable choice of the other option saves a lot of money. […] if ING sets more of a priority list from higher management saying that it is important that we do sustainability before cost reduction that would really help. But on the other side if that would be the best for ING at the end of the year or at the end of the 2030. That is difficult. Yeah, I don’t know if you only make sustainable choices then at one point it could mean that you are losing a lot of financial gains.

Sustainability as by product

174 ff.

And most of the time it is just making sure, that we do not have to send paper documents or receive paper documents, but we can make it digital. And with that, we can also make a sustainable impact.

Priorities & Goals

114 ff.

146 ff.

306 ff.

Sometimes we want to digitize as much as possible for many reasons, but one of them is of course because it saves a lot of costs. But on the other side, it is also sustainable. […] well sometimes we can save a lot of money and sometimes we can truly improve the time of a process. And I think that is the best thing about the job. Because of course, we have a lot of things to do and a lot of them are just, yeah day to day business, or we have to achieve some goal before the end of the year, or we have to make sure that a new business partner is working together with us

44

308 f. And most of the time other things have priorities.

Downsides of job

153 f.

[…] administrations. Documentation, sending e-mails, all I think all things that I really have to sit being my laptop and start typing text.

JOB CRAFTING Personal branding

160 f.

[…] but if you ask around at ING, a lot of people if you ask them: Can you describe Jeremy? - They will mention sustainability.

Value for ING

199

I think yes, it is because if I am satisfied I work harder, I work better […].

Creating opportunities

318 f.

I can make sure that I can sell it to my team or to my department by explaining how important it is. And so, it is all little bit of politics as well.

Intrinsic power

274

I like doing my own thing and I do not really care if other people like it or not. But of course, like it when they like it.

Business case

320 ff.

But of course, if I do not have good arguments my team will never buy it. So, I really have to make a good business case - tell them why this is important and not only from a sustainability perspective but also money-wise and with regard to the customer. And if I sell it then, then we will do it. So that is how I can influence it.

Rational decisions

405 f.

I think it is very important that you (….) that in the eyes of the colleagues you are a rational thinker and you think that sustainability is important in the long run. And that you do not act sustainably from more of a let’s say (I don’t like using that word, but) hippie perspective. Because then I think you will not be taken seriously.

Team dependence

298 f.

So, these things have priority and I well, that the sustainability work I want to do can only be done of the whole team agrees to do it.

Alternartive outlet

209 f.

216 f.

I need to get this satisfaction from somewhere else so maybe from my own company or maybe by doing something in my free time. I don’t know I can work for a company that does not offer that much freedom.

Spread interest

222 f.

[…] I actually can make a lot of people interested in sustainability by just talking about it.

CO-CREATION Need for goal achievement

363 f.

Time and support and maybe a higher position within ING to make, so that I am able to make hard decisions.

Middle Management

267 f.

And if I think if they would not support this mentality it would be difficult, more difficult to perform sustainability in my work

Feedback

280 f.

I think that just by acknowledging that I am doing good work, which gives me energy to do more.

45

232 ff. RECOMMENDATIONS TOWARDS OPPORTUNITIES

Team dependent

282 ff.

But every kind of work you do if it is sustainable or not is dependent on people. So, when they support the initiative you are working on then you can make progress. Otherwise, it will be very difficult

CONTEXT Sustainability interest in ING

139 ff. 231

[…] these people may already have some small interest in sustainability. So that is one group and the other group, of course, there is one group that is already interested, they are doing their own things - they are kind of like me maybe. And then you do of course have a final group that does not care. As far as I know, it is spread through the company. […] throughout the company, there are, on every department there should be people who are interested for sustainability, but they do not work for the sustainability department.

Alingned internal investments Direct point of support

Decison makin support

Clear priority alignment

127 f.

328 ff.

389 ff. 337 ff.

386 ff.

[…] I would maybe spend more money on sustainability and less on whatever we were working on. I don’t know if ING has some kind of support department, where for example the sustainability department offers you help if you have some kind of sustainability improvement project. I think that would really be nice. So, for example, if I have an idea that I need to make sure that my team is also on my side, that I could ask for help from the sustainability department. That I think would be very nice! And many set up some bard with like I mentioned some sustainability help. So, if you have a sustainability case you need to make a choice - they help you to make the right one. That would be very helpful! And that is something the ING should offer as a firm towards employees. I think it would help if ING sets some priority from higher management because right now for example, we only have 8 people in our team and we can let's say 3 things every week. And we have to do the daily thing and we have to do the project and then there is room for one more thing. And if we can save for example 200.000 Euros by doing one thing or we could improve a little bit of sustainability with the other thing - I think a lot of people would make the choice to save the 200.000, but if ING sets more of a priority list from higher management saying that it is important that we do sustainability before cost reduction that would really help. I think again making sure that the priorities are known within the firm, but also how they relate to each other - if you have to make a choice which one to choose.

46

Interview II - Walter - Job Crafter

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC Sustainability

67 ff. 69 f.

72 ff.

I mean sustainability is a synonym for durability […]. And we know it now as sustainability but we used to know it before for a long time, and also for example in the production industry as durability or quality. For me, sustainability is something that is future proof. Sustainability is something that we think: Okay, what are we doing right now - and is that future proof? And yes. And as we probably know, many things that we are doing right now are not future proof, because we are destroying the planet. The planet earth, […], it is also not only about nature it is also about the way we use it together - almost that sustainability is in social sustainability and in environmental sustainability

Decision making

77 f.

Making the right decisions to still have like a good livable world together with other people in the future.

Mindset

88 ff.

Sustainability is really for me something that is the basic of life. Like everything we do - we should always think: Okay, is this sustainable? Is this future proof? So, sustainability is a part of life for me. You always have to think about sustainability.

Pride for employer

98 ff.

[…] but in the financial industry, you would not see that many banks tanking even about sustainability - but ING is doing that and I am proud of that.

Job motivation

205 ff.

Most satisfying is - mhm - is working with people yeah. And making sure that we work together in harmony, because every project - if there is no, no coordination, then it is very easy to go int chaos. So, the most satisfaction is that I can talk to people bring them together and together we create harmony as a team.

Important Skills

375 ff.

But in the end, I mean we are doing most of the work just by ourselves. We have experience in the area and we people all have organized events in the past. So, we are doing this just together.

EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Sustainability

38 f.

44 f.

52 ff.

Because ING does do a lot about sustainability - probably you have heard it from Dorian, they have the sustainability department […], and the sustainable finance department. Sustainability is an important topic; it is also getting more and more important for corporates - also for ING. So, sustainability in the sense that it is better for nature and also sustainability as it is better for human-kind. So, to create a social building.

Sustainable buildings

47 f.

Because the new headquarters of ING just finished at the end of 2019. And it is now one of the most sustainable buildings in The Netherlands.

47

Barrier in knowledge 94 f.

119 f.

I think Dorian is, for example, more aware of what is currently happening at ING. I know only a few things. Yah so, that is one practical thing that they are doing besides that there are some other things they are doing, but I am not completely aware of it.

Internal sustainability

49 f.

152 ff.

156 ff.

181 ff.

But if you look at what sustainability means for let’s say for the general or regular employee at ING, I think most employees don’t know that much about it yet. They say: We want to become sustainable. Invest in more sustainable things. So, they are also promoting it inside. But it is a small process, of course, it needs time. J: Could you pinpoint any effect that these goals had on your direct workflow? W: Nothing! But that is mainly - these people, most of the people that work at ING have no relationship to sustainability in their daily jobs so, it is mainly to create more awareness at those people as an employee […].

Outside world communication

96 f.

So, towards the outside world ING is being very kind of a leader in the sense of sustainability I would say especially in the financial industry.

Trade-off

101 ff.

If we talk about what they are, what we are doing besides promoting that is very, very hard to say. I mean like many other banks they want to be profitable and they are, they still have still a lot of investments in oil and gas - but I know that there will be - it is not easy to have new investment in oil for example, in fossil fuels.

Communication channels

137 f.

50 ff.

I mean sometimes on the news in the intranet […]. But it is growing because we have also a video by the management board that is published every quarter - to share the results of every quarter and every time for the past four, five or six quarters, every time they start with sustainability.

Limitations

140 ff.

So, I think they are doing stuff but most of those things - of course, stay within the sustainability department and sustainable financing.

Strategy development

43 ff.

I know more sustainability people and the research they are doing. They look into what is the risk of global change and climate change and global warming. In our portfolio, they are selecting certain companies for our portfolio - the pick the companies to give loans to and certain companies not.

Role towards employees

285 ff.

I think it is important for the firm to allow its employees to always have some time to do things they are interested in. Whether it is related to the company or not. And that can be everything - I mean that can be photography, that can be self-development, presentation skills or whatsoever. So, I do not think that it should be sustainability in particular. I think that it should be whatever you are interested in or want to develop yourself more in or where you want to achieve a certain goal. For a company, it is really important that a company allows you to do that.

48

Gaps in alignment

437 ff.

I know for example they are cutting the budget on the RING, on the association for young people at ING, so this cut is not specifically related to the sustainability committee but all the committees - so they are cutting the budget which limits the possibility for organizing the events.

JOB TASKS & CHANGES Description

20 ff.

What I do is, I work in wholesale banking financial markets. That is the yeah financial market and group treasury in the department of ING were equity statistics are traded for clients, all over the world […].

Compliance & Regulations

23 25

What I do is, I work in compliance […]. We monitor people that are working at ING and we are kind of the secret police (laughs), […].

IT & Compliance

27 ff.

I have an IT team that works on putting the system worldwide and I have a compliance team that analyzes those potential frauds.

Priorities & Goals

34 ff.

196 ff.

258 ff.

And when I started working at ING in my job you can imagine, or as I just told you - there is not much - sustainability is not a big topic. It is not our topic, we do not consider it, because there is also not really much portion or what so ever or there is not a direct relation to it. Of course, there is always a relationship but with sustainability I mean there is not a direct one. I am hired to, to make sure that - to coordinate a team, to bring structure to a team, to make sure that the deliveries we agreed upon with the senior stakeholders and the management and with the regulator - that we meet those deadlines. So, I can’t just say: Hey, my manager gives me more time for this - this is not possible. There is a delivery and I have to deliver it.

No space for sustainability

164 ff.

218 f.

But the thing is - it is also not possible […]. But if someone[…] is working on making sure that the questions on the website are answered correctly there is very, very little relation to sustainability. And the same goes to other corporates. And unfortunately, my job has no relation to sustainability. Look as I said before - within my job itself it is very, very - there is no relation to sustainability.

JOB CRAFTING Value for ING

38

So, I thought: How can I add to sustainability in a way that ING can profit from it?

Motivation for Committee

181 ff.

296 ff.

[…] it is mainly to create more awareness at those people as an employee and how they can take it then to their homes, to their wives, children, partners, friends, parents what so ever. And but that is what I am doing with the committee I started with a few colleagues - to raise more awareness internally. The committee is to create more awareness within the young employees at ING - those who will be the leaders of the future, probably within ING, maybe outside of ING, but probably a lot of people will also stay within ING.

Intrisic Motivation

375 f.

But in the end, I mean we are doing most of the work just by ourselves.

49

381 ff. 397 f.

Look we started this because we are all very, very motivated and we want to do this and we went for it. […] But if that motivation would be not that strong then I am sure it would have been more difficult. If you are not super, super motivated then maybe we would have like stopped.

Own voluntary sustainable project

41 ff. 246 ff.

468 ff.

What I did together with a few colleagues that are also interested in sustainability: We founded the sustainability committee within RING and RING is the association for young people for ING (until 35 years old). The sustainability committee? […] Yeah. It is on a voluntary basis, yes. So, I am part of the committee of four people that is part of this and it was actually an idea of me and one collogue and we founded it but our goal is to just - yeah reach as many people as possible - yeah.

Extra hours for sustainability

254 ff.

260 f.

So, we get some time at ING for self-development. It’s not fixed, it is something you can agree on with your manager - how many hours you can spend on that and when that is possible. So, everything I do for sustainability for example is extra. It is outside these working hours.

Business Case

235 ff.

And sometimes you can convince people by talking also about big numbers, also the economics behind it - tell them okay: You are using 7 cups extra per day, but if everyone at ING does that it means that we are using maybe 100,000 extra per day or more maybe 500,000. And that is per week that is more than 3 million per week. Like you know what dose cups cost as well? This, that money can also go to nice events or whatsoever and then they get more convinced.

Creating awareness

45 f.

61 f.

Let’s organize activities and events to create more awareness within the young generation, the young professionals at ING. […] for young people working at these corporates to talk about sustainability - again the topic to create more awareness.

Briding INGs communication 47 f.

177 ff.

It feels quite successful - it was about the new building of ING. What Would I even add to the things they are already doing is create even more awareness and give more information internally. […] And but that is what I am doing with the committee I started with a few colleagues - to raise more awareness internally.

Goal of project

299 ff. 455 ff.

I think if we create more awareness within them by providing information, by organizing workshops, by holding presentations, going on excursions and showing them what sustainability means and why it is so important to always take this into account - I think it helps them to develop that knowledge let them experience it more, and sometimes they are not interested in it and then you get their interest and once they come at certain management positions I hope that it helps them to make the right decisions. So, our goal is to create more awareness and make sure that people are well informed about sustainability. What is it? What does it mean? And why is it so important? So that they are informed. Then the next step is to convince them so that they are convinced. Then they have like an incentive - they understand really why it is so important that they act really. And then this step is that they would really do something about it.

50

Expanding network for ING

58 ff.

It is an event with a lot of other companies, now we are talking with Wattenfall (this is an energy company, which used to be Nurial) and we are also talking to Unilever - they are both very interested and they will be our partners in this event - so it will be a big inter-company event […].

Social layer as solution

223 f.

424 ff.

427 f.

459 f.

The alteration, what I can do, and what I am doing is -[…]: just talk about it sometimes with colleagues. I mean, I think even if your company itself has nothing to do with sustainability, you can always like talk to your colleagues and spread the word and spread the awareness. We are all part of this world, right? So, if they cannot do anything within their jobs, they can take it home. Talk to their family, friends, whatever and they can still do something. And most of the time it is difficult to do something about it within the company - but they could also do something about it in their personal life and that is what we are focusing on actually.

Small changes

224 f.

It is sometimes the small conversations and the small arguments that can make a big difference.

Snowball-effect = reward

409 ff.

414 ff.

503 ff.

[…] because I told my manager this - he told me: Oh I thought that we could also participate with the organization Plastic Wale, which is an organization in Amsterdam, they go on the canals, with boats created from plastic that is caught from the canals in Amsterdam. And what they still do is go on the boats in the canals of Amsterdam and they collect plastic from the canals. And he said to me like: Wow, actually it is nice. So, actually he was very supportive and he got even new ideas to even do himself and organize for the department something related to sustainability as well. But he bought a bottle and he was thanking me for a whole week actually: Oh, this is so much easier to use the bottle, even if it falls you do not have water on your laptop and things and it is so much easier. And now he is using the bottle for about a year or something. So that is a funny thing of a traditional person that was actually always a very critical in sustainability and some things but he found out to some point that he can also be a bit more sustainable, not only because it is better for nature or whole human-kind but often it is better for yourself as well.

External outlet as escape

267 270

475 ff. 483 ff.

[…] if that would be not possible, I would be looking for things that I could do outside. For example, I was active at a political party last year. And that says it very focused on sustainability. So, if something is not possible at ING, I like to look for it outside. Yes, and that is don’t - look if you can implement it into your job - but if you come to the conclusion that it is difficult, don’t continue looking for that. Start looking, how you can implement it, or start something outside of your job. It is not always needed to do that within your job. I mean if you cannot do anything within your job because your job is not related or your company does not give you the time or possibility to do it - it is not the end of the world. It is not the end of the dream. You can still achieve your dream or your goal by looking for solutions outside of your job or outside of your team or outside of your company. There are so many possibilities - don’t give up.

51

Middle Management 406 ff. But my own manager - our department manager yeah, he is very supportive. He is like: Wow, really great work. Great that you are doing that. And it is good, I totally support that. And my previous manager did as well. So, yeah, they are very positive.

CO-CREATION Middle Management

254 ff.

So, we get some time at ING for self-development. It’s not fixed, it is something you can agree on with your manager - how many hours you can spend on that and when that is possible.

Understanding

344 ff.

I prefer to not get angry but instead talk to those people to understand why they are so hm, and why they are so annoyed. And I am most of the time I am also sure that they are misleading or misinformed.

Freedom of choice

354 ff.

And I think a lot of governments and companies are still not making the right decisions in this area. They are making it difficult for people. So, I totally get it from his point of view but I always try to explain: Yes, let’s not make that topic a topic because a few people at the local government make the wrong decisions. And we shouldn't - it does not mean that sustainability in its deepest sense - in its core is a bad topic.

Positive feedback

385 ff.

So yeah more - giving the feeling that it is indeed important, that it is something that can be done even better. It is - this is actually good but this can be done better.

High relevance of teams

392 f.

Yeah, I think if you have an idea and you want to start something it is good that there is a lot of motivation form other - from these important teams.

Time entrance barrier

442 ff.

And I think something else that is happening a lot from these is that you are so busy with your daily job, and you see there is an event on whatever topic […] most people really need to make time to go to these events. It is not like oh okay there is an event, let’s try it. It is not like you are a student for example - you have a job that you need to finish and most people are also a little bit older, they have a family to take care of, so they can also not stay to nine or ten o’clock in the evening.

CONTEXT External collaboration

271 ff.

310 ff.

I am part of a delegation from ING towards a national Think Tank it is called Finance and the Common Good from the Sustainable Finance Lab and they created a program - a 2-year program - where for which they invited people from all the banks, all the Dutch, all the banks Deutsche Bank as well and the divided 4, 5, 6 people from each bank and we come together every 2 - 3 month and we talk about topics that are related to sustainability. They learn also from us. And we get very inspired and the goal actually of this program is to finally create a document together in the name of all those banks and give it as an advice to our management.

External learning

305 ff.

The other one, the Sustainable Finance Lab is for us the people that are part of the program - we come together, we share experiences with people from other banks. Some banks like Triodos Bank is really, really focussed on sustainability - we learn a lot from them.

52


Similar projects

322 ff.

373 ff.

If I look - okay we are not the only committee for example for organizing sustainable events. There is also another committee that organizes sustainable events for all the - for everyone, everybody is welcome and they were even before us and they are really successful. And we are doing this also in the name of RING, the association for young people at ING, yeah, yes, the RING is important and other committees are helping us as well.

Support by Sustainability Department

369 ff.

[…] the sustainability department is supporting us. We are talking about sharing experiences, giving feedback, giving us tips, making some calls for us sometimes. Sometimes also sponsoring - which did not happen yet, but we are talking about an expansion of is to facilitate events.

Interest in sustainability

326 ff.

335 ff.

So, I think sustainability is booming - it is being promoted more and more. So, I think there is definitely wider interest yeah. But how big this interest exactly is - I don’t know. […] we just organized it together with Dorian a sustainability game. […] And within this sustainability game, you learn what happens in real life if you are talking about sustainability, if you are talking about loans, if you are talking about community or regulator etcetera. And many people were very interested, to be honest. I think like 80 to 90 % of the people of I guess we were a group for 50 - 40 people. Let’s say at least 30 people where very interested and there were like 5, 6, 7, 8 people - so the minority - that was really critical.

Uninterested group

334

There are also a lot of people that are not interested. And were like: Sustainability oh good again? And this, and you know what they say. So yeah there are also a lot of people who dislike it.

Cross learning

176 ff.

I would like to - there is a department called sustainable financing. I would like to, I am definitely interested in what is happening exactly there. How do they talk to their clients? What are the clients that want to borrow money? What are they saying? How do we convince them? It would be cool to get experience there.

Awareness creation & information

180 f.

What would I even add to the things they are already doing is create even more awareness and give more information internally.

Feeling of importance

385 ff.

So yeah more - giving the feeling that it is indeed important, that it is something that can be done even better. It is - this is actually good but this can be done better.

Collaboration with other committees

384 f.

And then it would be nice if there was more acceptance form all the communities, if there was more help, if there was more push to, to organize these kinds of events.

Mental Support

397 ff.

But if I really think like: Okay, what can be done better? If you are not super, super motivated then maybe we would have like stopped. So yeah, even more support would have helped.

Decrease entrance barrier

449 f.

So, something that could be improved and I think this is at a lot of companies is to give people specifically more time to join this kind of events.

54

Interview III - Damian - Job Crafter

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC Sustainability definition

39 ff.

From my perspective I always when I hear sustainability, I always think about three things: environment, society, and the money perspective or economics. And in order to have some business model to be sustainable, you should have the right balance between these three layers or different aspects.

Motivation

73 ff.

And I am quite concerned about the inequality in the world and that is why I think I see if from a societal perspective and try to also minimize the impact for the environment as much as possible, by consuming less.

Pride for employee

98

I think it is very well - I really appreciate that.

Intrinsic motivation - learning

222 f.

This is how I manage and how I make sure that I learn about sustainability. I do something about it and I get motivated to do it.

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Personally, I have been always free-minded or free-spirited let’s say. If it is not allowed then I would go against it and trying to change it. That is the way I see how we can progress everything and a company as well because if something is set and something cannot be changed that there is a problem.

EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Path dependency

42 ff.

And that is quite hard because most of the companies are already build on one aspect which it most just the profit-maximization and that is what we have been taught also in our university, in our economic courses.

Gap - internal communication

61 f.

263 ff.

Because ING is already doing much but that was not - at the beginning that was not shared very well or it was not very well known by the employees. The first one is creating awareness amongst all the employees, because ING is already doing quite a lot for sustainability but not - but not all the employees are aware of it […].

Knowledge about sustainability

80 ff.

As far as I know, ING is focusing on two Sustainable Development Goals because on number 8 - is for the economic growth and number 12 is the one for sustainable production and circular economy.

Trade-off

82 f.

I think ING is trying to balance - find a good balance between its investments in the environment and the society.

Imapct measurement = barrier

83 ff.

But at this point of time, the environment weighs because the turn on the environment investments are much more tangible. And for a financial institution, I think it is more - It makes probably more sense to focus on the environment with like green financing and green bonds - all those things.

55

Pioneer position

99 ff.

ING is one of the first banks to implement the new methodology called Terra Approach - actually is the one who builds it and now trying to share it with other banks to make it more impactful for the world. I think that part is very valuable and very strong and what ING can do in my opinion is to also find other ways to invest and yeah trying other ways to invest and create a positive impact for the society as a whole.

Communication channels

116 ff.

I - hm, as far as I know, ING already put some goals to achieve in 2015 for 2020 and they published an article or research saying that they already all achieved our goals and now they are setting new goals.

Impact beyond the company

122 ff.

But at the same time, I feel like since ING is not a production company our impact on the environment is already limited - it is still something, yeah, but our impact I think the biggest impact we can make is through our clients by advising them and showing them the right direction and over time I think we will make a bigger impact.

Goal alignment Gap

138 ff.

Like in my department, I rarely hear about sustainability and I see a gap between the goals the higher goals of senior managers or the management board and a bit lower-level manager.

Mission

147 ff.

Actually, when I think about INGs mission it is basically: Empower people a step ahead in life and in business. So, it is a very broad mission statement and it really depends from which perspective you look at it.

Organization structure

217 ff.

And in ING we are quite flexible, so we are working in agile and I don’t know even if I have a manager. There is no one questioning me - okay why are you doing this? And why not this and right now.

Responsibility towards employee

233 ff.

407 ff.

I think at this time it is very important to make sure that all the employees have a possibility to have - to work on their interests as well. In my case, I am interest in sustainability and my company ING allows me to spend some time on this and also provides me with some opportunities. I think INGs role is to give us the right - to help us to find the right trainers or speakers, to give us the budget, to help us to make it more may be structured. Like an adviser role I see from the sustainability department and at the end maybe help us with communication and at some point, making this on a long term - making this like a continuous training.


32 ff.

I am in my fixed position for a year now in wholesale banking as a Customer Journey Expert. I am focused on building customer journeys for authentication. […] They are wholesale banking clients who use our online banking platform for payments and reporting.

No space for sustainability

54 ff.

My relationship with sustainability is quite limited I can say because I am working in a department which is not related to sustainability and where you cannot find easy opportunities for sustainability.

56

IT vs. sustainabiity

56 ff.

308 f.

I am working in IT, where we build applications for the online banking platform and we don’t have a direct relationship or a direct impact on sustainability on either environment or society. So yeah, I think it depends on the environment that you are located in. Now I am in IT and it is quite different than being or working in a sustainability department itself.

Sustainability impact

130 f.

132 f.

I think yeah, the sustainability of all of ING has a minimal impact I would say on my current day to day work. It has some impact for instance - as I mentioned I not using paper or other waste materials from a facility management perspective.

Security focus & Trust

156 ff.

176 f. 179 ff.

I am responsible for the - for building new applications and making sure we have easy and secure solutions for our wholesale banking clients […]. What I like most about my job is the part where I try to build - where I try to find the right balance between security and convenience. Which is sometimes quite tricky. So our users or clients they need to trust our bank because they are giving their data and we are responsible for protecting their data and also they need to trust us to keep their money safe and my responsibility is to make sure that we build an application that is as secure as possible but at the same time is easy for the users to use.

Customer focus

157 ff.

[…] I am responsible for the communication of any changes to these applications to the clients - making sure that our communication is clear, precise and they have the right information at the right time.

Sustainability as by product

165 f.

But also, at the same time, we decrease the costs for our operations and eventually also less impact on the environment - which I see as a nice addition for now to consider.

Future proof

194 f.

And this is something I quite find interesting and also like a future proof avenue - let’s say - for now.

Downside

200 f.

There are a couple of things, for instance, there are all the work or all the jobs have an administrative part that you have to carry, which are more repetitive.

Sustainability after priorities

220 ff.

So, my schedule is very flexible and as long as I deliver what is expected from my side, I always have an additional time for sustainability and doing all these things that matter to me.

JOB CRAFTING Own sustainability project

58 ff.

So, and also yeah that is why I think my impact is very limited but voluntarily I build a community within ING together with other trainees […].

Voluntary extra hours

215 ff.

I did not alter the - my job responsibilities per se in my current department. But in my spare time - not even in my workday or workweek I take some time off, for instance, organizing a lecture or a presentation or a penal-discussion or any kind of event for sustainability

57

Social Sphere 269 391 ff.

415 ff.

[…] we have an important job with our community […]. Yeah, that could save us some time and that could also create a better impact because then we would have a bigger group of people independently bringing these initiatives to their departments. I think first of all, it starts with checking what is already being done within ING - it can be checking the intranet pages, it can be checking the communities for sustainability, it can be attending the sessions that are organized, maybe if there is a training, go and attend the training.

Lower entrance barrier

370 ff.

Up until now what they - what I heard is - since we are a young group of people and are trainees people find it more likely to join our events rather than a bigger and formal department approaching them, because the say if it is a formal department, then people expect much more like maybe some fees or some budget - all those official things.

Value for ING

283 ff. 386 ff.

I think over the time when we get more and more outside information and knowledge, we can also bring the company further because I don’t think currently INGs sustainability is perfect - that cannot be. If it would be then maybe we would be considered as Patagonia or you know (laughs). Well, the outcome would look like having some people outside our group already challenging their departments and bringing the knowledge that they gather in our sessions back to their departments.

Internal ambassadors for ING

396 ff.

So, what we are currently working on, for instance, is to customize - is to build a customized training for the young people within ING it is called Sustainability Plus Program at is already done within different countries and now we try to make a younger version and a shorter version for this and trough this training I see we can add great value when we have at the end of the training - we can have some ambassadors that can go back to their own business units and ideally implement some of the new projects into their work.

Advising in alignment with ING

388 ff.

And already starting some projects by themselves by relying on communities like this to arrange or organize but they are active themselves that could also put us in a different situation a different position where are an advising party and not an organizing party.

Enhancing INGs communication

60 f.

61 f.

62 ff.

263 ff.

[…] we try to […] promote what ING is already doing for sustainability for all employees. Because ING is already doing much but that was not - at the beginning that was not shared very well or it was not very well known by the employees. It was our goal to through some lectures, some penal-discussions - we could at least inform all the employees. The first one is creating awareness amongst all the employees, because ING is already doing quite a lot for sustainability but not - but not all the employees are aware of it and whenever there is a question coming from our outside, from a client or from a friend or your family at least you should know some stuff that you can share and you could at least show that ING is doing these things for sustainability.

58

278 ff.

[…] form an employee engagement perspective we have an important job with our community and we are helping the global sustainability department in that sense, in which we focus on yeah on people, the employees and our trainees within the company, […].

Challenging ING

64 f.

95 f.

257 ff.

283 ff.

And then in the second year, we moved to as a differed level, where we also tried to challenge ING to move forward. I think or I should not say it is sufficient. They should always be growing and there should always be a next level of what they are currently doing. That is why I think I would go against it and I would find some tangible reasoning for why we should change and why we should, for instance, get into all these sustainability initiatives for the company. I think our second job is to challenge INGs sustainability department or all different managers in different departments to think from - to think sustainability form an opportunity perspective not only from the risk perspective.

Learning as motivator

65 65 ff.

And also learn as a group. So, we ware 7 people now and each of the group members has a different expertise in sustainability - some of the studied sustainability (like you do) or some of us did a master thesis, some of us joined some of the conferences about sustainability. And we kind of organized all the sharing session so that we can also grow personally.

Support

330 ff.

I think if we don’t have - if I don’t have the support that I currently have it would be much more difficult and much more challenging and it maybe it would make me demotivated and not take this voluntary initiative to make it happen.

Limitation

336 ff.

I think the biggest limit I am experiencing is the time limit. Because I have a full-time job for my department and sometimes, I might be too busy with all the work going on with some important projects so I cannot spare enough time for my community or for my sustainability team. I think that is the biggest limitation I currently - I sometimes face.

Drawbacks from project

350 ff.

But at this time I - I don’t get that vibe from my managers and that is why I stopped sharing all these things I am doing for sustainability and because that affect my performance, and you know my promotion that should be relevant for my department and also my manager to some extent.

Enhancing Network in own interest

446 ff.

[…] I had the opportunity to give a speech, a presentation to the new trainees, which are around like 150 people. It was the biggest event for me to speak to. So, it was - I felt really proud and I felt also really lucky to have that kind of change without having the community I would probably not have that kind of experience. And nobody would approach me. So, this is the biggest impact I see, with this group I can achieve much more than just simply working on my daily work.

CO-CREATION

59

Freedom of choice

239 ff.

Not everyone should be working on sustainability because if they do not have an interest - an intrinsic motivation for that, then the outcome will not be good enough because then they would be forced to do it.

Intrinsic motivation

242 ff. 244 ff.

We are a small group of people and we only - what we only look at is, if someone is really into making something with sustainability and we do not get everyone for nothing - let’s say. And that also does not work. […] we had a few group members who were not really into sustainability but they were looking for some experience - so for us that did not work, because that also created unnecessary discussions or arguments within our group, instead of on focusing on the goal and on the motivation of doing something.

Opportunity creation

248

283 ff.

I think overall it is very important that a company creates these kinds of opportunities. I think our second job is to challenge INGs sustainability department or all different managers in different departments to think from - to think sustainability form an opportunity perspective not only from the risk perspective.

Middle Management Support

302 ff.

248 ff.

And yeah, […] my manager joined one of the sessions. He gave me positive feedback in the end. He said: Very nice an a very professional organization. It is very important that you are doing this work. Making sure that my manager also is a good supporter. Whenever I am explaining what I am currently doing I should also receive a positive vibe from him so that I can continue sharing with him.

Co-worker uninterested

306 ff.

But the co-workers up until now around me they were not interested in my sustainable endeavor, yeah, they did not know about sustainability or their world is so different from how I see it. So yeah, I think it depends on the environment that you are located in.

Sharing knowledge between departments

368 ff.

There are some departments focusing on external collaborations or public relations and all these different departments. They already have experienced so maybe when we reach out to them, they could somehow could try to help us out. And maybe guide us through the process on how to do it.

CONTEXT Interest in sustainability

273 ff.

[…] there is a no difference between seniors and juniors which is interesting because we thought that only young people care about the environment or the society but that is not the reality. There are also very - there is a good, big group of senior people who also cares maybe they care about the future generation, maybe they care about their Kids - they also want to join and contribute to these sessions.

Positive feedback

290 ff.

Yes, so it has been two years now I - we have not received negative feedback so far in general people are very positive and they really appreciate that we take the initiative voluntarily and we take some extra time to make it happen.

60


Constructive Feedback

292 ff.

There have been and there will be always some feedback, but constructive feedback I would say or some critical feedback on how we can further improve for instance the sessions of that we are currently organizing

Support from co-worker

294 ff.

But apart from that everyone or all the trainees or senior colleagues, they are really supportive and they are always looking for ways to also contribute and to help us out with our initiatives.

Communication & Understanding

418 ff.

So, form the inside perspective and reaching out to these communities is also very valuable because, for instance, from my experience, we can share already some knowledge because what we see is people all start within, we already started within - why do we have these paper cups? Why does not everyone has a mug? And then you realize why people choose paper cups.

Sustainability Department

[…] up until now it has been for us a very small amount of budget because we organize only internal events. And that was coming from the sustainability department so that is also another big problem for now.

Internal collaboration within community

322 ff.

We need also other collaboration with other communities. We need to share this, these events or these upcoming trainings, we need to reach out to a bigger audience also we have an already established audience or target group for our community. And still, there are some bigger groups or old established groups that we are within ING.

Capital - investment

318

So, we need people and so the second one is we need budget.

Budget

319 ff.

We need a budget form an internal department and up until now it has been for us a very small amount of budget because we organize only internal events.

Clear guidance

345 ff.

I know some colleagues can take a day off or half a day off per week or per month (I am not sure about that) to do some voluntary work - maybe these kinds of community and committees that we are running could be considered as a community work.

61

Interview IV - Esther - Job Crafter

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC Sustainability interest

20 f. I always had a very high interest in animal welfare, nature, landscapes, and also sustainability.

Motivation

Intrinsic

64 ff.

70 f.

The Netherlands - are below the sea level and I am from a part that is very close to the shore, so I think my family as always been very aware that when something happens within the sea - which is just a few miles that way (points in one direction). So, I think it started at a very young age already. And after that, I just became more and more interested, I think.

Sustainability definition

Sustainability & Choices

Sustainability & long-term

44 ff.

46 ff.

49 f.

52 ff.

Oh, that is a very bought topic of course and that is also a bit dangerous because you never know what does someone really means with it. […] the divisions you have are social sustainability and green sustainability. Personally, my preference goes to green sustainability. So, I think environmentally and animal well-fare and nature preservation. And for me it actually just means trying to make choices on a daily basis that will help our future generations and also that will help […]. Either short-term or long-term like they try to make decisions that are effective in the long term - that for me is sustainability.

Proud of employer

104 f.

But I am still very proud that the water ambitions are actually preceding because then you see that the programs that you see are working.

Thinking global impact

114 ff.

So, it might be a bit of a word way of saying it, but I think you have to make a choice in how much Co2 are we able to reduce to still have a decent running company - a global company with 40 million customers around the globe

Solution oriented

177 ff.

I can say that it is quite fun because you always have to think: What is the worst that can happen and how can we solve it? And that has a big impact on how fast you can implement changes within our department.

Internal conflict

241 ff.

I always have this internal dialogue - a dilemma within myself. Saying: Oh, is this really what I want? Am I really happy with this type of work? So, if I was not able to do something with sustainability this dilemma would become bigger and bigger and it would might be that I would have to leave ING because I still want to do something positive for the world. I want to do something with sustainability.

62

Goal & Motivation

401 ff. EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Goals not memorable

77 ff.

Yeah, I think you would need a lot of awareness from all co-workers and also motivation to make that change. So, they would have to realize: What I am doing today has an effect on our world tomorrow. And that is not easy, I think, to implement that. Because it is something that needs to stick to your mind and if you - yeah if you don’t think about it on a daily level, those changes don’t occur. How do you get people to realize that if you are printing something it does not only cost money but also costs a tree? So, those changes are, I think, quite hard. But I think we have to keep pushing.

but ING has set some very clear ambitions within green sustainability but also within social sustainability but for social I don’t really know them by heart.

Green sustainability focus

79 ff.

But the ones for the green sustainability focus on less water, less electricity, being fully green electricity - so only using some solar panels or green energy. Waste is a very important topic - we are currently decreasing our waste - and I think this is a really hard one actually for our buildings to cope with. And I think Co2 in general, so how can we lower our Co2 in our buildings? But also, how can we lower our C02 from people that drive in a car to work every day - how can we reduce that?

Gap internal communication

85 ff.

88 ff.

273 ff. 301 ff.

Personally, I think there are a lot of big steps already taken but there are not really communicated well to the outside world, to the customers and they are not really communicated to the internal ING colleagues. […] it definitely feels like something that should be pushed more, because when I talk to people about it everyone is like: Oh, that is really interesting. I did not know that. And people like to know more about it and then they would also like to reduce their waste or they would like to help to reduce the Co2, but the fact that it is not really communicated a lot does not really do them any justice because there are a lot of things that they have already accomplished along the last 5, 6 years. So, I would prefer it if it was more communicated. […] more positive in the light of sustainability because there is already been done quite a lot but not everyone knows it - so yeah. […] but all of the people I spoke with are very interested and also curious and also sometimes really honestly saying: Oh, I did not know ING was performing this ambitious plan regarding waste, electricity and water. But now that I know I will try to do my best to help.

Lack of information

156 ff.

158 f.

I do not have any information about it and I would like to know more about how are they proceeding with those policies. So, that would for me be a – yes, a big question mark. That is what they can do more.

Flexible working hours

234

Furthermore, it is doable because I am very flexible and I can choose how many hours I am working each day and so far, it is going okay.

63

Employee key

377 ff.

466 ff.

Well, within ING Netherlands there is a social corporates organization theme and they focus on social sustainability and on green sustainability. And the part of that team that is working on green sustainability in one person. So that is one person on that for whole ING Netherlands. I don’t think that there was something except something that personally for me was quite interesting is that there is just only one person within ING Netherlands whose actual job title it is to be working on sustainability. So, that is one person in a company within the Netherlands where 10,000 employees are working, that is was too little if you ask me.

Culture

457 ff.

But there is not a very strict procedure for something like this. So, if you are new and you have a great idea, just try it and make it happen. That is also very ING philosophy - just do it and make it happen and see how it goes.

Unalignment

472 ff.

That was my big: Oh, that is weird. On the other hand, I know ING is very hard working on those projects of trying to get more engagement of the people who are trying to work within the department. So maybe you don’t need more people with an actual sustainability job title but for me, it was a bit question mark. For a company that really wants to be sustainable, then why do you only have one person working in the Dutch sustainability? That was for me quite wired.

JOB TASKS & CHANGES IT IT vs. sustainability

132 ff.

[…] I went back to my original department, which has a focus on IT. But I also, I don’t know in what way our department can be sustainable more than we are right now, because we are an IT related department - so how much more can you really do?

Regular job first

34 ff.

And I think you know Jeremy as well and we are co-workers within our department and we have some visions on how we would like sustainability within our own department but as we have a lot of do- to stuff still to do for our regular job this is always put a bit on the side for now as you can see.

Sustainability no priority

127 f.

135 ff.

139 ff.

In my department, it is - there is not an ambition to be sustainable. But there is never, like a very sense of trying to create more sustainable options in our own department - I have to say. […] did sustainability have any effect on your job tasks? E: (very quiet) No. I do not think so. No. No, no there is never a goal or something that would limit you to do something - no.

Goal - cost-efficient

129 ff.

There is an ambition to reduce waste because it costs us money. There is an ambition to become digital instead of printing out paper because that is also cost-efficient. So, the end result is the same but the same is never to be sustainable - the goal is to be cost-efficient.

Sustainability by-product

131 ff.

So, even though we are still reaching a certain level of sustainability, the goal itself was never to be sustainable.

Description

169

Okay it is Risk Manager […].

64

172 ff.

[…] I have to be the eyes and the ears of the departments and that I am looking or trying to see as many problems as possible to analyze all different problems or risks that may occur after proceeding a certain road map of implementing IT-Systems or changing a system.

Internal compliance

187 f.

191

I am usually trying to get everything organized in detail so that we don’t miss out any steps. Trying to keep everything detailed so that we can follow the right procedure yeah.

JOB CRAFTING Social Sphere

26 ff.

269 f.

And the passion or love for sustainability never faded, so it always stayed with me and this is also one of the reasons I am in touch with co-worker within ING who are working for sustainability. And that also has then small effects, everything is very small because they will discuss it with their own co-workers, their friends or family […].

Reserving hours for sustainability

204 f.

No - not in my daily job but I do - I am allowed to reserve a few hours a month or a week to focus on sustainability […].

Middle Management

205 ff.

[…] because my manager knows this is a passion of mine and anything that I can do that is positive for the company and for me if of course always a good idea.

No direct opportunity for job crafting

207 ff.

I have a few hours reserved every month to spend on sustainability and I don’t do that within my personal job - because I don’t know- how. I don’t see a single way. And so, I do it on a different way. So, I still do it but just not on my personal job.

Sustainable side project

214 ff.

222 ff.

In these extra hours I - there is a youth association, which is at the group young ING -so everyone that is below the age of 36. You are automatically joining this youth association group of ING and there are several committees who organize activities, who organize knowledge challenges etcetera. And recently - as of last year 2019 we started with the sustainability committee and we are trying to organize sustainability topics, activities, knowledge sessions, presentations, conferences, and stuff like that.

Awareness for sustainability within ING

225 ff.

And those are the hours that I have extra to spend on sustainability. I spend them now on the project of the suitability committee to organize events and to organize awareness around the topic of sustainability within ING.

Happiness as outcome

253 ff.

262 f.

But for me this is a really positive thing because it allows you to develop your personal hobbies or your personal passions and that always has a positive effect on how you do your daily job because of you are happy at your work, you do your job al lot better. So, it has a positive effect. I am very sure about that, yeah. Well, I think yeah, the benefits it is so small of course, because it comes down to me being a happy employee, so that I do my job well.

65

Snowball effect

263 f.

And that effect a little bit of - also the people around me, who I help with my job. So, it is a little bit, little bit, little bit and that all comes together.

Value not tangible

265 f.

But it is not really something tangible that I can say or something that I can augment with numbers or figures.

Enhancing INGs communication

266 ff.

269 ff.

I just think if you are happy and you do your job well if affects everyone around you and if the think that we are doing now in the sustainability committee - that we are trying to reach a big group of ING co-workers - so they also get a positive feeling about what ING is doing for sustainability. And that also has then small effects, everything is very small because they will discuss it with their own co-workers, their friends or family - so the reputation of ING will become better and better. And yeah maybe it will also be better if I don’t do this but I feel like I am participating just for a little bit to help ING to become more (laughs) yeah - more positive in the light of sustainability because there is already been done quite a lot but not everyone knows it - so yeah.

Proactive

448 ff.

455 ff.

I would advise them to see what can you do within your daily job. Are you working in a branch, are you working in a back-office, are you working being a desk - what can you do? If it is just those little small things - but what can you do to help your other co-workers? Or do you have an amazing idea that can help us? But if you have a good idea just start it, because there are more people interested in it than you know and you will probably get a lot of positive feedback from people all around you.

Keep it small

451 ff.

And just keep it small. Start by keeping it small and then just see how it will go. Because, the large, the large ideas are very easy to be put back because it takes too much time or money. And if it is just a small idea you can do it by yourself you just have to have the allowance from your manager and you can start small and maybe it will grow from there.

66

CO-CREATION Starting a dialogue

285 ff.

So, that is very positive and it is also sort of nice feedback of: Okay we should be doing this because people want to know more and they will reach out to this information when we start it.

Middle Management

Fostering opportunities

309 ff. 311 ff.

317 ff.

Well, if it would be my daily job or if I would like to implement a sustainability task into my daily job - it would be my manager and she is very supportive of me doing anything with sustainability. And she also saying to me - try to think of something that you can do to create awareness within our own department or do something with sustainability and that is why I had this presentation a few months ago so she is trying to force me a little bit of what can we do as a department regarding sustainability - but it is quite hard (laughs). That was something for me to start with and I will try to see if I can come up with more and if it is something within our own department - it is my manager or my department lead.

Poitive feedback

412 ff.

I try to be, I try to give positive feedback because it is usually - around sustainability the feedback is usually quite negative - but I try to give positive feedback regarding how we handle our own waste in our department or how we handle the use of paper in our department.

Role of ING

426 ff.

430 ff.

432 ff.

440 ff.

I think their role should be a bit bigger. I think they should communicate more on what I can do as a simple employee? What can I do? Which choices can I do on a daily basis that does not only help our department but also our company and also to create a better future in general? I feel like they should be more promoting everything that we do, and they should promote the options or tips or positive feedback on how we could change. Because I feel like they don’t do that enough at this moment. I feel like they also should be more open for suggestions (laughs) because there is not always time and money for them to create those suggestions. […] I think on the one hand it is more promoting so, communicating and on the hand, it is creating ideas that can actually help. And I think ING as a company should be able to proceed with that but that is not always done.

CONTEXT Youth association

280 ff.

[…] before that I made a newsletter that is going to the youth association - that is 4,000 co-workers in The Netherlands and that was all dedicated about articles sustainability. I wrote all the articles by myself and I got a lot of positive feedback on that.

Interest in sustainability

284 f.

So, there are a lot of people who are interested in sustainability, especially on the younger generation of ING.

41


Co-worker

287 ff.

I think a few month ago I also did a presentation within my home- department which is mostly older co-workers and I was really excited to see what their response would be. Because they are working 30 - 40 year already for ING so, how much would they still able to stir a new topic and they were really interested. So, it showed me that there are a lot of people who are very eager to know more about this topic, but they don’t know where to get that information from.

Uninterested people

297 ff.

But, of course, there are people, there will always be people that are not interested in in or who might be like, it is not interesting for me or just don’t have that much of a feeling with it.

Internal stakeholder

352 f.

Because you have a good idea but the person responsible for it wants not to execute the actions. So, yeah then you are blocked That would be - if you want to make a big change within ING there is a lot of different departments that you need and sometimes the department does not want to help with the change because it will cost money or it would have a big effect on their efforts or something.

Lack of time

326 f.

360 ff.

Nah, I just need more time. (Laughs) The daily jobs are so busy that there is hardly any time to really think about a good project or process. Well, yeah if you push long and hard enough, of course, you will get a different answer may be in the end. But I don’t have the time or job to do those kinds of changes. So, no. For me personally, no.

Boost Program // Budget

330 ff.

And you would have to have a certain back-up from your manager that you are allowed to proceed with this project, because after the first 3 days it will take you more time to proceed afterwards, you need to have this time available from your manager. And I think that is a program that has been a couple of times now in the Netherlands and there where, there was costs involved to develop the training material and with the people who give that presentations. So, then it would come down to time and money and I think now that the costs of the program are getting cut back to a very low amount of money so now it really just comes down to time.

More strategical positioning of sustainability committees

366 ff.

I think so, because what I am now doing with the sustainability committee is focusing on our youth association, because I am still in the garnet group of age below 36 but what we see is that there is a brought audience that is interested in these kinds of activities. And I do see small groups or project groups trying to organize something but I think that it should be on a much higher level and it should be available to all of INGs co-workers and not just only the people that we are reaching out to. So, I think it should be carried on a much higher level.

42

Collective awareness

391 ff.

And I would - and what I would really like if people would be aware of what they are doing and how that affects our daily operations. So, if you turn on the heat in the morning - turn it down when you go away from the office in the evening - something like that. And if you leave the water running - yeah it is no problem for you but if there are 10,000 people leaving the water running in our own company it is a lot. Just making those small adjustments that would be - yeah that would be very beneficial for our company in my opinion and for sustainability as a whole.

43

402 f. 405 f.

Interview V - Dorian - Global Sustainability Management

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC Intrsinsic drive

281f. Because they are just so driven by it and that is just really, really impressive.

Different motivations

286 ff.

[…] people like to get involved in sustainability in different ways. So, some people really like to do the personal element where at home they are recycling and you know, maybe they have a beehive and this is that purpose element, that they like to have themselves to be sustainable. And they can follow that through into the work, by bringing their own recyclable cups or how they take the transport to work. So, there are people who really like that - that’s the element that they enjoy. For other people, they really like the community side of things, so if it is a group volunteering or an ability working together with others on a project, that is something really important to a certain group.

Emotional investment

310

And it is a challenge I guess because these topics are often very personal to people.

Proactive communication

374 ff.

I would say: Don’t be silent of you are interested in it. Tell your manager, try to have it be part of your goals. You know, probably you can’t make your whole role about sustainability, well maybe not to start with - eventually, you can (laughs).

Startegic thinking

377 ff. Consistency

Adaptability EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Supporter

48 ff.

[…] it is about introducing it in a way that works. Let’s say you have 4 goals and a stretch goal can you make one of your goals about sustainability? Can you make your stretch goal about sustainability? How do you start introducing it? Yeah, commitment is important, structure is important and these things are hard because people move roles and they move throughout the bank […]. So, I guess it is important to be adaptable as well.

Where I also see that I think we have a responsibility if we give a home loan to someone if we give a credit card. That should be our role in helping them with those things in a responsible way.

Employee engagement

57 ff.

And then on the other half of my role focusses on employee empowerment - I guess. So, we are running lots of training programs, manage digital communities, all kinds of things to let people across ING - I guess yeah.

Facilitator

61 f.

63 ff.

So, we give them the tools and the opportunities to get involved an create their own projects and lead sustainability within the business. So, in the other half, my role focusses on that, facilitating trainings, organizing workshops, yeah lots of speaking to internal audiences and trying to get them excited and taking action.

44

Catalyst in society

75 ff.

96 ff.

98 ff.

And the reason I say a world that is sustainable is because banks are obviously part of that system, we are one kind of industry, one kind of business, but we are also a really strategic one because through us lots of other industries can get financing. Lots of other industries can get guidance and direction so we see ourselves as having a really great role in order to help our clients to help build this new world and thereby because we have that role as a partner for them we can also use the thought leadership and can try to influence them towards good things. And then the last one is a bit a brought thing, that is we don’t operate independently we are always part of the society so, of course, we can help our clients and our customers, but there are also people in the society who are not our customers, for some reason or another […]. So, we see that we all have a role in the community and a big part of that is obviously managing contributions of ING, whether it is making donations, whether it is start volunteering at home […].

Customer focus

91 f.

And the key role we have is with our clients and our customers.

Internal & external alignment / consistent image

458 ff.

And maybe I think, the importance of having consistency both inside and outside the business. Because these days there is no difference internal and external - you have to have the same approach and the same authenticity and transparency, both inside and outside. And so, that is important, because for sustainability you can’t have a brand that tries to be sustainable outside and then inside, we are doing something very different. You have to have the same, the same purpose, and goals.

Gap internal & external image

469 ff.

474 ff.

And so, there is the perception of whether we are sustainable as ING is very strange because internationally, we are seen like that. Where here in The Netherlands it is not seen like that, and I feel very strange because actually we do a lot of very amazing things and I am not sure why we see in the Netherlands a different perception of ING, as the big bank and whatever. The Boost Training is one of those things and the more we talk to our staff about sustainability as well, so they can feel good about the things ING is doing as well. And, of course, you have the opportunity to challenge us and get us to move further but yeah there is actually quite a lot that we are doing well. And I would like to see that more known - yes because yes.

Actions more strategic Using skills more startegically

103

105 ff.

[…] more and more that is changing to be the quite strategic this. […] we use our skills in engineering and coding to help to build a new platform for a charity who is trying to solve a social problem. So, that kind of community bit is changing also to be a bit more strategic in terms of, how do we use our whole skills as a bank.

Financial empowerment & health

147 ff.

And then on the other side of the strategy - no direction, I have to make sure I use the correct term, is the area of financial help. And that is where a lot of my work comes in and financial health is, we have goal which is obviously to financially empower our customers. So, to make them feel financially empowered.

45

Struggle goal setting International complexity

150 ff. 156 ff.

But I think, we are looking for a better goal there. Because of course you can feel financial empowerment but that does not necessarily mean that you are financially empowered. You know, you can feel good about your savings or something bit maybe you don’t have a good plan for retirement. But in most counties where ING works, even in Turkey or in countries whose economies are not as strong as here in The Netherlands. Many, many people don’t like in poverty anymore so how do you, how do you set a new goal that is about helping people to establish a good financial empowerment.

Internal communication

198 f.

199 ff.

203 f.

205 ff.

207

208 f.

210 f. Call for communication

225 ff. Digital community

212 ff. Direct communication

214 f. Feedback channel to ING

117 ff.

222 ff. ING - SUSTAINABILITY ROADMAP

Well, we have different campaigns for different parts of the sustainability direction and also lots of different formats and channels. So, we run information campaigns which are let’s say: We are launching new environmental goals and then we share that information which e-mails going out to all staff, we have an intranet site where we put it on the front page with news article and more content and links where people can follow to find out more. […] normally what we do when we have those goals is, we develop kind of fun engagement campaigns where we have a lot more physical things. We have posters around the office, let’s say there is a coffee cup dispenser and we want people to use less coffee cups, we will put something around the machine to get people thinking about it. Signs on the stairs, so that people take the stairs, better because, less energy. […] also events where we invite people together for workshops, like lunch and learn events, where they come and eat their lunch and we talk to them. We give seminars, […]. […] different fun things as well like competitions between business units, where we get them to compete in, who can use the least paper? And then, I guess, the other was is that those campaigns are much more about sharing information with people and then sometimes there is a call to action, where we want them to do something, or the team to do something. But it is very much like a call for communication. […] we also have on the intranet, there we have like digital communities for people who are interested in sustainability and there is 7,000 or 8,000 members across the countries. […] from a global level, we talk directly to about 2,000 people. Making sure that we have a vocal point for sustainability that is also talking to other groups there. The Netherlands has quite the community, of course, a large group there. So, these communities are good because it means that it is not just us sharing and making sure that people can ask questions and challenge us: Why did you choose this and not that? And all what does this mean? And this is not good enough - I want to share my opinion. So, this is a good option for people to challenge it and they do - which in nice. Sometimes, that is good because it can be about information. Maybe we did not share the information in the right way, we share not enough information and then we can correct tha

46

Size of departmemt 59 f.

Well, I mean we have 15 people in our sustainability team, but that is relatively small and we have 45,000 staff […].

Sustainability everybodies job

Boost Program

Understanding opportunity

Challenge in program

Issue of scale

60 f.

242 ff.

317 f.

433 ff.

356 ff.

[…] I mean we have 15 people in our sustainability team, but that is relatively small and we have 54,000 staff and I guess the idea is that it is not our job to make ING sustainable but everybody’s. So, we about 3 years ago we started to develop a new thing, a new kind of format to engage with colleagues, which is called The Boost Program. […] And the aim is that sustainability should not be a top- down thing […]. So, basically what we did is, we developed this training program with a group of yourself, normally there are about 12 people within this training. And we kind of spend a full week with them, sharing information about sustainability and helping them brainstorm projects to kind of come up with projects that we then can bring to life. Yeah, and we started that in 2018 […]. Ehm, well, from the Boost Training we have had about 100 people now coming through those training programs, maybe a bit more about 120. The Boost Program, they start to understand that the impact they can have it has such a huge and awesome in their work, I would say that it is positive. And so, in the third program […] we included like an accelerator phase, like a 3-month project support phase. So, after you do the training and go back into your team, and then we introduce where we actually have a call with the Booster and their manager about two weeks after the training to get the manager to endorse the project. And we found that very useful because actually then there was good accountability, the manager had to say yes and if they said no, they also had to justify why they were saying no. And none of them said no, thankfully, which was good. But they - what that call did was really good, because it brought to the front if there where gonna be any challenges I mean that is very structured way to help them but, of course, we have a lot of staff and we don’t have enough Boost Trainings. Not yet - I am aiming to do 10 per year.

Direct overview imposible

228 ff.

In fact, it is impossible to know the function of every single member of the bank, you know, with 50,000 staff - I don’t know what this person in Poland does day today, and I don’t know what systems they have, I don’t know how the customer interaction is like. So, we can’t fully control and nor should we. We need to open it up to the people across the company in that.

Sustainability responsibility

82 ff.

Because you know, we have buildings, we have people, we have cars, we have business travel all of these things so it is about making sure that our own footprint is as sustainable as possible.

Going beyond the own firm

87 ff.

But because we are […] a bank does not have a very operational footprint - we do branches and we have a network of buildings but it is a comparably small physical presence if you compare it with something that is within the manufacturing sector like having other factories […]. I guess that is where we say: Okay, we need to go beyond our selves.

47

3 impact areas

108 f.

Yes, so I think, these three things. So, our clients, our own operations, and our society. That is probably where we see the sustainability impact from us in the world.

Integrated sustainability direction

114 ff.

122 f.

So, we have what we call a sustainability direction. And that is very specifically not a sustainability strategy because as a bank we have a strategy which is called the Think Forward Strategy, which is also part of it. And we want to make sure that sustainability is not a separate thing from the business strategy. So, our sustainability direction fades into the overall business strategy. And that is very intentional because we don’t want people to think we have a business strategy over here (points in one direction) and separately we have a sustainability strategy neatly integrated. So, that is a good step because it really brings sustainability closer to the core within the decision making.

Sustainability mission

188 ff.

I mean our purpose is that: We want to empower people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. And if you think about that, then it means that you also have to help the people to stay ahead of the challenges that they are facing. And if you think about these challenges, you know, the two key ones are climate change and can you feed you family; you know. So mhm, I think we say we want a healthy planet with proper people. And you know, all of the positive things that come with that.

2 sustainability goals

Climate change - green sustainability Social/ societal responsibility

123 f. 123

129 ff.

181 ff. 183 f.

When I look at the goal of that sustainability direction, then it is two major elements there. The first one is on climate change […]. And our goal is - we have said that our goal is to align or entire portfolio with the Paris Climate Agreement and that is on the client- side but we have also our goals improved on our own environmental footprint […]. But it is a bit harder because with climate change everybody knows these Agreements, less than 1,5 degrees. It is a science and a numeric value that you can put to it, which is agreed and there is consensus. Where in the social side is it not yet as concrete.

Pioneer role in banking sector

132 f. 135 ff.

[…] ING was the first global bank that would say: We will align or portfolio with the Paris Climate Agreement. I think ING, making that step also is making it easier for other banks to then come forward and do something similar, so there is a bit a - hm you see it in the way that when someone in the industry does take steps the other people also follow and want to be part of that movement.

Goal overachievement

139 ff.

With our own footprint the goals are actually have just been reset. So, our initial goals where until 2021 but we met those already this year. So, we had really good operational improvements. And that was nice because obviously, it is good when you are ahead of your plans, and then setting new goals also helps you to focus it.

JOB TASKS & CHANGES

48

Job role

43 ff.

57 f.

[…] I have a bit of a split portfolio and half of my time I have the purpose of financial help for retail customers. […] Really trying to find a responsible way of helping people to manage their money. And then on the other half of my role focusses on employee empowerment - I guess.

Coordinator

53 ff.

So, half of my job focusses on that and trying to I guess, not coordinate but planning a role in knowing all of the different things ING is doing in that space.

Transparency & Stakeholder management

55 ff.

Making sure there is a coherent strategy around it and there is a good - sharing information, being transparent about activities with people, so lots of stakeholder management on that topic.

Sustainability Department ≠ decision maker

Decisionpower in department

Gap in understanding power dynamic

258 ff.

261 ff. 264 ff.

There are lots of people who want to work in the sustainability department but the team is very small. So, you know, often when we are discussing with people this topic and what they can do, I think what is really helpful for people to understand: The sustainability department is not the decision-maker in the business. There is a Head of home loans, there is a Head of credit cards, you know different people who have various roles and it is fact those people who can make the decisions around making ING a sustainable business. So, often when I am speaking with people who are interested in this topic and in the boost trainings that we organize - I try to get them to understand, that the impact that they can have within their department is far, far, far bigger than the impact they could have by moving to a role that is like a role that I am in.

JOB CRAFTING Currently outside of their jobs Challenge to connect with job

279ff. 297 ff.

294 ff.

So, it is really nice to see this coming to live, where people are really outside of their regular jobs and go really above and beyond, you know to make this happen. Because often when people think about sustainability, they think about it as separate from what they normally do. They think of I do this, but I want to do sustainability, and they often don’t think about these two things together. So, how can I do sustainability and home loans together? So, that is a challenge. I guess the harder bit is where - and this is the challenge - the bit that will have the most impact; […] is actually the thing that is really, really close to what the people do in their day-job and so that is the challenge.

Regular job first

336 ff.

„Look, if your team is too busy right now, then let’s leave this project for now. Let’s come back to that project in one month’s where you should be less busy.“

Alingment with departments goals

358 ff.

One, look at where the priorities of your team are at. If you can suggest a project that integrates sustainability in the direction your team wants to take, then you gonna have more chance of winning.

49

Bulding a business case

Create your network

362 ff.

368 ff.

[…] you know there is a goal of your team is to help out costs within the operations. Now, if I am the sustainability mind, then my interest is in reducing our environmental footprint. But we also know that reducing our footprint can also help save costs. So, depending on how you think of the goal in which the direction of your team goes, whether it is in new products, customer engagement, cost-saving, growth, whatever the goal is. You can find a way of making sustainability relevant there. So, my second advice would be to join the network. If there is an intranet, and you put your name out there and say: „Hey everybody, my name is X and I am interested in this. Have you heard about anybody else who is talking about this? Or is interested?“ Always ask for advice for where you could find, because there could already be a team of people who are already working on what you are thinking about. Or you could find people who have tried is before and might have some advice for you on how to succeed this time.

Team involement & Management support

379 ff.

And I think if you also show that others in the team are also engaged by this, I never met a manager who doesn’t want their team engaged. They want people feeling positive, they want people feeling constructive, so if there is a group of staff who is interested in this topic, I have never seen a manager who was not supportive and willing to have them the space to work on it.

Diverse opportunities

407 ff.

I guess it is, well and if I think about the idea of what the things will focus on, I would say within sustainability there is a lot of different topics that you can focus on - you know - it could be water or the scarcity, it could be bio-diversity, tobacco (laughs). I mean there are so many issues that you can look at as part of sustainability.

50

CO-CREATION ING strategic knowledge

Employee operational knowledge

232 ff.

264 ff.

The Boost Program is really based on that - it was that we, we have the knowledge about the goal of the business, where we are going, what is the T’s around topics like climate change, like social well- being that we can bring to the staff. So, I think a big part of it is I guess helping people understand what sustainability is and how they can make an impact, where they can make an impact, and how they can access resources. But we also need the staff to bring their expertise in terms of their role within the business. It could be an engineer who is capable of building a new platform that tracks carbon credits for people in their transactions, or it could be somebody in the mortgages, the home loans team and you want to help build the green home loans for people who are trying to build a certain type of energy level A or A+. You could be in the back office of the finance team which is normally in a not that exciting role but you could help to calculate the cost of the carbon that you use in different operations.

ING stance towards employees

253 ff.

And so how would you then describe INGs stance towards the personal sustainability drive of its employees? D: Yeah, I would say very encouraged. So, we have them, lots and lots of people who are interested in the topic and that topic is growing. And we want to support all of them to be able to bring that to life in different ways.

Example of ideal co-creation project Ideal co-creation

268 ff. 318 ff.

389 f.

415 ff.

So, lots of young people are joining ING from universities and colleges and about two years ago there was a group of these trainees who had a meeting with me and said: Look Dorian, we are very interested in sustainability and it is not - it was not at that point - not one training on sustainability until like the second year of training. And they said: „Look, that is nice but that is not enough. Lots of young people join the business and are interested in this topic and we would also like to get involved in projects, what can we do? Can we do something together?“ So, it was about 5 or 6 of these Trainees, we worked with them and now sustainability is in the Trainee program in year 1, year 2, year 3, different elements each time. And they also set up a group called the Orange Grouper, which is like orange because it is ING. And now, they are also ensuring Trainees who want to do projects in that space, about what they can do, we set project with them every 6 months. And now this year in fact one of the Boost Programs is in fact specifically for this target audience. So, it is really nice to see this coming to live, where people are really outside of their regular jobs and go really above and beyond, you know to make this happen. And I am definitely seeing that people who, people who are successful in reaching their project goals are the ones who can negotiate with their managers and they are really formally endorsed. So, they can have it included into their KPIs, they can have as a stretch goal, maybe something like that The ideal thing would be that after // That the sustainability element is still there after the people stop the project I think when you have personal drive, you have support from their team and you have a contribution to the goal, those 3 linked together is really where I see the biggest assents.

51

Startegic alignment

Department & Team alignment Personal alignment

Negative example

Integration

Department involvement

Awareness not enough

Lasting impact

410 ff.

413 f.

414 f.

390 f.

429 ff.

431 f.

392 f.

394 ff.

[…] the very, very ideal is one where A) it aligns with the topic of climate change or financial health because this is the areas where we can have the biggest impact. B) it aligns with the team-goals so that the manager and the resource around the persons are also able to support them well […]. C) the third links to their personal drive. So, what is the issue or what are they really passionate about themselves? I would, it would not be ideal if the project would be just - I mean it would be okay but, I mean - let’s say their project is just to organize a few events or some awareness on sustainability and then the actually stop. […] it should not be something that they escape away to. Often people want to have it over here as their next career move or something else in something very different. But the best impact is where they can bring it to life within their department. So, for me that is like, it is a good first step raising awareness, creating the awareness but it does not lead to an actual change. And what I mean by real is: Were you actually able to inch a policy or procedure or product that then had a real-world sustainability impact. So, did you get people to use the stairs more? Did you get a new product designed that the customers are now using? Did you yeah, so some real-world impact is the ideal situation. Where a lot of the time actually what happens is you know, I can see people - and they start with that idea where you get engagement and awareness and then sometimes well, also because these things to deliver. It is easier to organize a workshop, seminars but then when it comes to building something yeah…. That kind of changes but it does take time.

Overcomming disagreements

300 ff.

What is a challenge is, if someone has a point of view that is very different from INGs. […] So, you might have staff at ING that might disagree with that position. Now is that okay to disagree? Yes. Is that okay, that there is a disagreement? Yes, of course! But in the end, the business has made the decision that we are not going to invest I those companies. So, there comes a point where you want to encourage people to be advocates for sustainability in general but if - I guess it is always about having that discussion in a constructive way. So, why have we chosen to not invest into those companies?

Middle Management

Key gatekeeper role

340 ff.

343 ff.

[…] my assumption was, that the manager was kind of like the block - you know. Sometimes you got too much work and the manager just gets you to do the work and find time to this or that, but actually what we found in those calls: They just were very supportive and they were glad that somebody in their team was on. […] It is like they were afraid sometimes to talk to their manager about that, but then they were able to really go further with that right away. They really wanted to contribute and they really were glad to have someone in their team who and they would also normally say: „This is great and have you also thought about this? And can I also connect you with this person?“ So, the manager became like this really great standing board and also sharing networks and resources that the Booster would not have been able to access.

52


CONTEXT Government

Policy maker

134 f.

164 ff.

176 ff.

And that is quite the big step because it says we actually have to align with the goals the government has set and we will match that with our commercial perspective. Okay, governments have agreed that this is a good level of financial empowerment to guide and to make sure that all our customers reach that, the people in the communities where we work reach that. So, that one is a bit challenging for us […]. But the, I guess, policy community has not yet figured out what that is. Yeah, so we are trying to be a positive part of that discussion but mhm.

UN

[…], for example, the United Nations there is not yet a good base on that kind of goal.

Lack of benchmark

Setting new benchmark / industry standart

166 f. 167 ff.

176 ff.

So, that one is a bit challenging for us because we are working for a goal that we have set for ourselves But it is obviously easier and better to have goals that are shared amongst the industry and other stakeholders, that help us. So, we are starting to work on, well we worked on it for a number of years now. Working with other stakeholders to figure out if we have a good benchmark, a standard that we set. But the, I guess, policy community has not yet figured out what that is. Yeah, so we are trying to be a positive part of that discussion but mhm.

Business ecosystem

174 ff.

There is lots of different stakeholders that can really help people to achieve that level of social well-being. So, we would like to figure out what is our part in that and make sure we fill it.

Numeric consensus

But it is a bit harder because with climate change everybody knows these Agreements, less than 1,5 degrees. It is a science and a numeric value that you can put to it, which is agreed and there is consensus.

Business traveles

145 ff.

But I think, the main thing is our business travel where we can still approve, so a few areas where we have now set new goals, where we still need to take a lot of action.

Goal communication

422 ff. 426 f.

One, we need to make sure that everyone knows our two goals of climate and financial help and that they know them really well. Because often people can get confused. So, making sure people know about the key goals is very important.

Personal involvement with department

427 ff.

[…] I think, is a personal challenge to people who are interested in sustainability. That they think about how to make sustainability work within their team and department.

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Motivation 47 f. JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC

Interview VI - Hanna - Department Management

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability definition

45 ff.

For me personally it is to add in a way to make the smallest footprint we can get. And trying to help our environment to grow better because we are using a lot of our environment and I like to help to make that smaller.

Because I have children […] and I like to leave them an earth that is worth living on.

Look for the right fit - honesty

213 ff.

I would tell him: Look for an environment where you can work on the things you get the most energy from. Because when you can’t do what you want to do, in the end, it breaks up. And you will even possibly get sick from it. And I think you have to be in an environment where you can do what you want to do. So, I should help him to an environment where it will fit.

Tailored communication - social skills

239 ff.

And try to convince the person that it is really important by examples and again try to make the business case in a way it fits to the other person as well. Yes, and try to convince somebody with their own mindset. Because everybody has its own things in which you like to, I what is you preferred reaction to things and when you can communicate with such a person in a way that he likes mostly you will have a breakthrough in

245 ff. EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Development towards sustainability

52 ff.

a conversation.

Well, I think we are doing better, but we can still do better. Because there are still things we can do, I think. We are working on it a lot, especially a lot in the way of the physical mail. We worked a lot on the sustainability to use less paper […].

Customer focus

58 f. 89 f.

We can ask customers on how they want it and we are already doing that but still in some part we need to send it physically as well[…]. When it is good for our customers, then it is positive of course and we will embrace that.

Path dependent

60 f.

63 ff.

[…] but sometimes is because we are used to it. And we are working on in but till that it is very difficult for a company as ours. Because you not already know and we have customers for a very, very long time and it is not really easy to close the account.

Role of Sustainability department

127 ff. 130

A lot of my colleagues have been there for short time assignments, so you know a bit about this department. And they are really looking into what we can do as ING for the sustainability and be better every day. And they are trying to put it as a topic into the tribes - so that we don’ t forget.

Enabler role towards employees

151 ff. 156 ff.

I think in a big company as ours we have to be aware of our impact. And we have to use our impact for the right things. And one of that is sustainability because well, we all know it is needed. Well, I think ING should help the employees to realize what the impact is of the behavior of our employees in this. And should help them to do less.

54

Economic goal first = barrier for sustainability

188 ff.

So, it is really difficult I think in a brand as ours to pinpoint the sustainability we can improve. So, I think there is enough room but, if we are still working more looking to the financial profit.

Long process development

259 ff.

I think we are trying and doing our best within the really big organization. And that we have to small steps at a time to let it grow and when we have more insights in what it can bring us then it will start to flow.

JOB TASKS & CHANGES Lean processes

31 f.

When I liked working there very much, we did a lot in the processes in making the lean and means.

Customer focus

32 f.

So, we could help our customers, making the quicker and more (….) in one time fixed.

Position

36 ff.

[…] I am the Chapter Lead of the transforming of our tribe Documents and Content Services and we are the party within the ING Belgium and The Netherlands and are responsible for the incoming and outgoing customer communication. And next to that I am the Manager of the operational part of it, so of the mailing center and of the incoming mails of the customer.

JOB CRAFTING Dependent on the why

91 f.

When it is only for the employee, for themselves then it depends on the what and the why.

Collective action

100

[…] when it is from just one colleague it is not […].

Customer focus

101 f.

[…] when it is for our customer, okay, and it is for the end of sustainability okay - it is both ways - it is a lot of possibilities.

Support the department

111 ff.

When they try to help the sustainability out of their own perspective and it helps us to be better in these cases, then of course - yes.

Value for employee

Value for ING

118 ff. 122 f.

Yes, because they feel that they are important, that they are heard, that they are doing something with their input. And I think that is very important for all the things they are doing. Not only on sustainability but it is always inside the work. And I think empowered people are the most powerful strengths for the ING.

Business Case

186 f.

197 ff. 239 ff.

I don’t think it is limited but it is always a business case needed and a good underlay for things to be implemented […]. I think that everybody needs to know how to explain the value of this in the business case because many is not everything, quality is really important and sustainability is for our future also really important. And when you can underlie that really good with commerce that you can have your point taken. And everybody will listen to you. And try to convince the person that it is really important by examples and again try to make the business case in a way it fits to the other person as well.

Goal alignment

186 f.

And that is logical I think because it should have (….) it has to fit in our goals. And something it is affecting each other.

55

CO-CREATION Alignment with department

98 ff.

He had some ideas for the operations in the mailing center and we have used his ideas and implemented it. So, that I think it is a nice example that we like to help sustainability to a higher place.

Listening & understanding

120 ff.

205 ff.

We have to listen to our colleagues and the employees. Because they know what to do, they know what helps, they know what helps them to be engaged and empowered. Yes, listen, listen, listen, and ask about the why. And then you will hear what the drive is of the person and you have to use always the drive of persons, because that helps everybody. So, I think listen. So, that is one of the things managers should do always.

Support & Collective

138 ff.

And well we try to help the person to explain why it could help and well, that we would like to do it together and when there is something we can do to help ING to do be more sustainable and it is that small, that everybody should join. And well that is the only thing we can do at that time.

Snowball effect

141f.

Others, they don’t think about these things and they are they say: „Oh yeah. What a good point, I never thought about it.“

Mindset

231 ff. 238 ff.

245 ff.

Yes, I think so and I think when you, when your mindset is different it is difficult because you have to try […]. It is really difficult when you don’t have the same mindset to come together and to go the same path and I think that will well, that doesn’t help in working together. Well, I think in this case the person who wants to put sustainability more into the job has to think about how to bring it to the person who has not the same mindset. Yes, and try to convince somebody with their own mindset. Because everybody has its own things in which you like to, I what is you preferred reaction to things and when you can communicate with such a person in a way that he likes mostly you will have a breakthrough in a conversation.

Middle Management Mindset Enthusiastic

260 263 ff. 265 f.

Well, I think I can be a key player […]. That kind of thing we are doing here and it helps when you have a manager with a mindset for sustainability because otherwise, they are all saying: „Oh, it is not necessary. It is too much work.“ You have to be enthusiastic about this and well, try to help the people to be enthusiastic as well.

56

180 f. RECOMMENDATIONS TOWARDS OPPORTUNITIES

CONTEXT Sustainability reaction

142

So, there are always two reactions.

External threat

154 ff.

And now it the corona-time, we have learned to work from home together very good. And after this, I hope and I think we will do less movement and think twice before we drive 2 hours to Amsterdam for just meetings. So, I think it was happening already but I think that we needed this virus to speed up. This a pity.

Goals attached to actions

170 ff.

For now it’s okay to drive that much, but when they say: „We have to drive less, because of sustainability.“ Then they can give a max to the kilometers you drive per year. That is just one of the small examples that they could do and they are not doing yet.

Goal alignment from top to bottom

272 ff.

Yes, it helps when you can have your goals fitting into the goals of our bigger plan and when there is sustainability in the bigger plan you can pin into that goal and that is easier to everybody.

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66 ff. JOB CRAFTER - EMPLOYEE CHARECTERISTIC

Interview VI - Marielle - Consulting Agency

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability

Holistic approach

35 f.

54 ff.

57 ff.

63 f.

But I felt that sustainability was really my passion and that education, I find that important but not as important as sustainability. So, but for me it is basically about two things. At one side you have the climate, the ecological ceiling basically. Like if you look at the Doughnut Economy, for example, that is basically the model I use and that is very yeah practical. So, the social fundament that you don’t want to get under, so everybody needs to have enough food, everybody needs to be treated equally. So, for me, it is these two buckets, socially and climate-wise. Well, I think for me it is a way of living or it has become a way of living. So, for me, it was not something that my parents like taught me.

Motivation

And it all came together for me like: Why are we treating each other but also the planet - so both again social and climate-wise - why are we trading it in such a way? While we know […] that we can’t live like this for much longer. And we are really doing harm to each other and to the planet. And I was really puzzled by the fact that we know that but we don’t change our behavior.

Intrinsic motivation

185 f.

Which actually helps them to achieve this. Because they are intrinsically motivated to this.

Skills & Entrepreneurial Spirit

351 f.

413 ff.

417 ff.

I think it needs to, yeah it is described as a proactive and basically entrepreneurial skill and mindset. Or mind and skillset, in that order, I think. […] and looking backward I think I would advise differently now - I would make that a little bit stronger in the sense that I would say: You can already screen for these entrepreneurial skills and mindsets. And I think the succession rate of those projects - I think you could argue, that you can see that these are higher because they have the sense of a fighting mentality, especially within a corporate there is a lot of shit that basically hit you all the other KPIs you have to meet. So, you really need to have the mentality and I think that if you could screen for it, you could even make a bigger impact.

People in their power 373 ff. EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC Sustainability direction

101 f.

I really believe that you in everything in life basically, that you need to put people into their power and that you need to let the people that are best at it - let them do these things if that makes sense.

ING like a couple of years ago launched the Sustainability Direction as you might know, so basically the sustainability strategy worldwide.

58

Sustainability goal 134 ff.

152 ff.

So basically, they also look at sustainability not only - nah, in the first step also climate and social and then within climate and social they have the different topics. So, Co2 reduction programs, when it comes to climate. The products they actually lend or offer their clients etcetera and the of course diversity and inclusion when it comes to social, and human rights etcetera. Then within such a company in such different counties etcetera, and I think with this program for me they proved that they care and that they also bring into other countries […].

Take responsibility for employees

147 ff.

[…] they care because they have invested a lot in for example, not only in creating a sustainability strategy that fits and communicating it internally as externally but especially you see that in the program that they developed and that they are still running within different offices.

Sustainaility inside out

154 f.

158 f.

[…] invest not only in carrying the message out externally but also trying to involve and drive the sustainability direction from the inside out. Yeah, I feel, that their actions prove that they care and that they want their employees to be involved in that topic.

Pioneer

155

And I feel in that sense that ING is a frontrunner, […].

Impact measurement difficult

156 f.

157 f.

239 ff.

[…] because it also costs money and it is not really as clear as with other KPIs what it actually delivers, what the impact is. It is harder to materialize it or it is harder to, well I think you know what I mean? To put numbers on it. I think the second hurdle, not really in organizing, but if you look at the impact and effect that the program has it is really hard to measure it. So, measuring the impact is hard, you can only measure in what degree the participants liked it, but what is the actual impact is hard.

Trust

237 ff.

I think what I really liked is that they really trusted us, so yeah that is not a hurdle, that is actually a positive thing that helped in realizing it.

Lack of budget

261 f.

That costs money and that is not always there - especially for sustainability.

Long-term vs. long-term focus

And I really believe and that is also not only for ING that - I don’t know if that is relevant for you, but that short-term benefits or costa are usually put over long-term outcomes. And in this case, it is really hard to measure the direct outcome. And in the short-term, it is cheaper to do it yourself, but if you look at the impact, I am quite convinced that ING would have never put a program in place that is 387 so engaging as ours basically.

59

PROJECT AT COMPANY Experiancing is more then knowing

105 ff.

117 ff.

And so, they basically already had a sense of, okay we want to build a program or a boot camp or a way in which everyone from all over the world can join and enter that program. And goes thought these phases of, not only knowing but also experiencing. So, for example, part of the program was an interactive museum around the pillars of the strategy, for example, a memory game around a certain, like the Terra Project and then people have to link sectors to every shift. And it is a little bit detailed but it as interactive was for participants to get to know them, yeah, all the know different projects and facets around the topic of the strategy.

Sustainability only if empowered to act independently

109 ff.

So, we designed the program and developed that program and run 3 editions in Amsterdam and redesigned it so it could be used in Belgium again. But so that Dorian and his team basically could run it themselves, and we would not be needed to also facilitate the program, because that is quite expensive. And at some point, the company has to do it themselves as well, because otherwise, it would not be sustainable again in that sense.

Partner

116

Like in a conversation kind of way and if he needs help, we help him.

International scale

125 f.

[…] but the idea was that the museum would be part then in The Netherlands and internationally.

Basic stucture

220 ff.

We had this design sessions with them in which we had all these practical stuffs that we needed to tick. So, we knew: It can’t be longer that one week, it can’t be more than this and this money, etcetera, but then it also needs to be international and everything needs to be in English, everyone should be able to join.

Lack of traget group

223 ff.

Which is quite hard to design such a program, because you don’t really have a target group.

Lack of scalability

263 f. 264

But it is crucial, I feel, is really making the change and that is what I think makes INGs project so good but also very costly and not really scalable. So still, low volumes of people that are being reached.

Co-creation process with external partner

357 ff.

Ehm well, I think about from the beginning till now, they went from not knowing to build an engaging program and facilitating it to maybe, still not knowing how to build it but facilitating, yes. And they are also the ones that are like without them the content of the program would not make any sense. They are crucial not only know in the facilitation work but also in the content part, making sure that participants get the right information, knowing which person they need to connect with. So, it is really a co-creation in the full line

60

JOB CRAFTING Business Case

87 ff.

And I was like, it does not make sense that we as that company that says: „We are the new generation, we can help you with that.”, doesn’t do anything about that. So, I said: „I want to be a team leader on that. And I want to see that it has both an economic but also environmental and social value. So, now basically I only do projects that concern sustainability.

Value for ING

172 ff.

301 ff.

They can add value or they are adding value because they, for example, know which solutions they can offer to clients. If you don’t know what you have you cannot offer it properly, so that is a very direct way. But not everyone can offer such direct value, because not everyone is directly involved in, for example, selling products. So, the people matrix goes up because also the sense of ownership, that is psychologically speaking again liked to happiness and commitment and I am sure there is a lot of literature about this as well. But I feel like that helps and that indirectly is linked again to performance of an individual but also as a team and in the bigger sense the company.

Shared Value

298 f.

So, like engagement goes up, happiness, employee happiness goes up, commitment, loyalty towards the employer goes up, […].

61

CO-CREATION Snowball effect

71 ff.

So, I was like: Okay, if I can change my behavior that is step one, and if that inspires others changing their behavior, that is step two. And I really believe it is like a snowball-effect and at some point, you reach a tipping point. And we know that it is also from theory that at 25 percent we reach that timing point.

Motivation for Project

103 ff.

And it really had a question about: How can we involve our 54,000 employees, all around the world in not only known what this strategy is about but also feeling what it means for them and actually being able to take action upon it?

Employee engagement difficult due to size

150 ff.

And I feel that it is really hard for a company of this size of ING to really involve employees in everything that is happening on that topic of sustainability.

Necssary understanding of goal alignment

170 ff.

[…] I think because they understand the strategy because they then know what all the different topics are because they can then comprehend the whole picture and can actually translate it to their daily jobs.

Connecting job & Company startegy

176 ff.

184 ff.

I think, is through their projects that we want them to start. Within the project they need to think: Do I like climate more or do I like social more? Oh, and okay I like climate more and my influence- sphere - like I have an influence within my job, within my job I can also influence the climate part and within climate what can I do? But within those different topics they drive INGs strategy, because what they do is, they think about not only about what do I like and what do I want to contribute? And what do I want to commit to?

Mini innovations

181 ff.

And then those projects the differ widely, because people can themselves decide, this is a good idea, it is kind of like an innovation, yeah a little Boot Camp within the program that they go through.

Best practice examples

192 ff.

As employee you have rights within a company and they are put together and there was a participant and she made sure that there was this sustainable housing screening that you could do. That normally costs money, that it would become available for free for all employees of ING. So, it is a really small thing that she has done, it is literally one sentence within this amount of paperwork, but it means that 54,000 employees all around the world are able to have their houses screened and see if they want to make their houses more sustainable. So that is a little small thing but with, I think a big impact that it had, adding value. And also, I think, bigger ones are that someone want to see if they can find human-trafficking via financial data.

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Internal Stakeholder slow decision process 233 ff. RECOMMENDATIONS TOWARDS OPPORTUNITIES

Discussion & Understadning & Learning

324 ff.

333 ff.

I think, let’s say on a Monday you see people that are let’s say further in their sustainability goals than others. And some people were still very skeptical compared to others and then via the program and via the interactions with the other people who offer their ideas or the other people who are not as far you create this common understanding: „Oh, you look at it like this. Oh, that is interesting, I never saw it like this. I look at it like this.“, „Oh, you really thought me something.“ […] and so even the ones that were further, they were inspired to getting insight from the ones that are less further because now they can actually talk better and understand their position and then they can use that and vice versa.

Chain of impact

341 ff.

And so, because they are being touched, they inspire others, they act differently, they have an effect both direct and indirect and both visible and not visible. And that makes the world a better place and that actually makes ING a better place not only to work for but also to, in the sense that it achieves its impact on society. So, I really see this chain of individual, team, organization, society. And then around everyone in this line is also again an environment of people and things that have been touched.

Dynamic of co-creation process

362 ff.

So, it is really a co-creation in the full line in which we go like this (showing with the dynamic with the left elbow high and the left-hand low, building a downward ramp) and them go like this (showing the opposite of the previous dynamic with the other arm, so that they cross). And we are if I put it in words, our involvement is big at the beginning and gets smaller over time and theirs is smaller in the beginning and gets bigger over time.

CONTEXT Overview to enlargen impact

186 ff.

But the employees talk to experts to see if this also being done? Or do I need to stir it a little bit so that it does fit? And those experts, they are much closer to the actual stagey execution so, they should be able to help them in that sense to make a bigger impact […].

Snowball effect

200 ff.

[…] I think the third thing is that they inspire others. So, their added value of inspiring other people cannot really be put in numbers I think but that is the Snowball-Effect I talked about earlier. And you don’t know what they did but I am pretty sure that the inspired others as well.

So, ING was very late - and they know this, this is not a secret - in basically all 3 editions. Because it is also costly and they needed to have internally to have all the stakeholders aligned etcetera.

Involve middle management Mindset - key factor

KPI holding management back

255

265 f.

268 ff.

266 ff.

Or a manager sees the potential of a talent […]. I think, which is an indirect effect, that middle management can be quite a show-stopper. […] think you already get it but, they depend in if they like suitability but that should not be a factor that influences the success of a program or project or whatever. So, the top is really (how do you say it), they know that it is important, the bottom really wants to go for it as well but middle management has like 100 KPIs that they are being held back by.

63

Need knowledge about strategy alignment Program for middle management

274 ff.

273 f.

They really want to have different information, they need a different approach, so I feel like getting them on board, is crucial in succeeding in your sustainability strategy. I think a program focused on middle management, because it is really a different layer and a target audience.

Select the right people

253 ff.

[…] and the people that have nothing with sustainability yet but do feel that they are enthusiastic about it and feel that they want to do something with it.

Better communication strategy Communication startegy is not up to date Tailored communication

257 ff. 380 ff.

278 f.

285 f.

290 ff.

[…] what I also think, and feel it is not only with ING but also other companies is the focus on the Know-part. „Oh we have this new strategy lets communicate about is.“ But that is well, okay maybe reach some people who are already primed or already involved in sustainability, but then if they really want to change, they need to experience it. Okay it is not really just about communication, because that is the traditional way of doing it, and in that sense, ING is also still quite traditional and so you get just this text of information, that sustainability is really important. Or you get that plain video, which is really boring and not engaging. You know what I mean, you get these traditional parts of how things work. And in that sense, you need a fresh force or a fresh mind or someone from the outside who says: „Hey, we know how this works. We also know how this works at other companies, we have experience. We know what works and let us help us create this in the best possible way.“ So, you say that you also need may be different ways of communication or different kinds of languages when you communicate with different parts of the company. Yes, and not only communicating but also approach. So, an approach I feel is broader than communicating. Communicating is sending and receiving and but it goes further than that. But is also means that a one-size-fits-all solution does not work. And that also communicating is not everything, you need to experience that for example: “Shit, my child is not going to grow up well.” - these things need to hit.

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Interview VIII - Charol - Co-worker

KEYNOTE

LINE

QUOTE

SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability definition 31 f. EMPLOYER CHARACTERISTIC

The limited resources that we have and how we deal with them in a good way, in the sense that we don’t consume everything or that we don’t consume things that we don’t really need.

Startegy is not known 47 f. That is hard for me to assess the things for example that ING does as a corporate in terms of their strategy or trading or something etcetera.

Effort visible

48 ff.

But looking at internally at just the day to day stuff I would say more than other companies I worked for. There is a focus on avoiding unnecessary travels, unnecessary waste, trying to focus on those aspects.

Better organizing possible

50 f.

But still, it is a big company and still, I see a lot of things that could be better organized.

Culture

Openness

Trust

72 ff.

101 f.

122 ff.

103 f

[…] I think there is a really positive vibe in ING to support those ideas. And it is yeah, I guess everyone is supportive of those ideas. So, if you look at it as a team, as a colleague who has an initiative, I think the environment is really friendly to shoot those ideas that you have. I think that is also within the Orange Code within ING. So, yeah and there are initiatives within ING, for example, some of my colleagues did a training or requested some time for (I forgot the name) but something with health. […] but I think (…) it is important - the trust has to be there, to talk about ideas that you have. And I think that is the most important aspect - yeah.

Supportin initiatives

91 f.

And I think that is the main thing that a company tries to help you if you have a good idea or you have and want to start a good initiative. That they try and start to help you, that is the most important.

Organization structure

99 ff.

118 f.

Well, I don’t think - well ING is not really hierarchical and so it is easy to get in touch with a manager that can do something for you if you have a good idea. I think it is because within ING the focus is really on small teams that have their own autonomy, of course up to a certain level.


20 ff.

[…] within ING, I primarily work with documents, the huge ambit of documents that come in the bank and I try to avoid a lot of manual labor. The simple repetitive work like reading a lot of letters and sending them to the correct department.

Goal - efficiency

22 ff.

I try to see if we can do that more automatic, automatically and process documents, content that comes into the bank more efficiently.

JOB CRAFTING

65

Implementation struggle

70 f.

In practice, of course, it does not always work or not everybody thinks it is a good idea but to put it into practice is sometimes a bit more difficult.

Impact in working environment

60 f.

61 ff.

Yeah, maybe really small tiny examples but like a lot of people are bringing their own cups for coffee, instead of using the paper cups. That is something and probably one of the things we do as a group because we work in a squad with eight people. And I think 4 of them are from Groningen, so we organize a carpool to avoid sitting all in one car each day, trying to do something. And I guess the initiative came from a collogue who found it really wasteful to be in separate cars. So, that is a small initiative and a small example of that.

No value visible

79 ff.

Yeah, I don’t know if they are really adding value to ING (laughs) or our department I don’t think they are really - for me at least - there are not really examples where somebody tried to optimize or tried to make ING processes more sustainable.

Social sphere

83 f.

232 ff.

It is more evolving sustainability in terms of the social life, like commuting to ING instead of for ING itself. So, it is pure - that is yeah stupid to be alone in your car and your colleagues as well. So, more for the environment but it is more fun to be together with your colleague’s etcetera.

Smaller = easier

110 f.

If it is something small, that does not affect the rest of the team course it is not an issue.

Frame CO-CREATION Team first point of contact

125 f. 119 ff.

149 ff.

[…] there is room for that do that, of course, but within a frame.

The thing is that the team, the colleagues that you work with - your equals, of course, they should be convinced that it is a good idea because otherwise, it will become more difficult. […] without communicating with the rest of the team, sending an email to the manager saying I don’t want meat in our cafeteria anymore, than it would be different then we had a talk within the team first.

Direct communication with the team Team priority

131 ff.

135 f.

[…] we work using an agile methodology hand we have retrospectives every other week and there is a room where we also like to discuss personal stuff you are dealing with. So, I guess that would be an appropriate time to talk about things like this because that is really a time not per se for the things you do in a job but also the stuff around it and the personal stuff you are struggling with and the ideas you have etcetera. So, a direct communication and also of course face-to-face with the entire team.

Communication = key

151 ff.

I guess it depends really on the way of how it is communicated but I guess - also it depends a little bit of the situation in how it affects the rest of the people but yeah.

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Communication & Understanding why

Consensus in team

189 ff. 197 ff.

175 ff.

That is about to communicate it really well. If you work in a team with 8 or 9 people it is really important to communicate things like this. To really talk about it and try to explain our values as best as you can to your colleagues. So that they can really understand it and I think that is the most important advice. That it is clear to everybody why you think about a certain topic the way you do. Well, I think that it should really, it should be clear to everybody that of course your point of view but also why. I guess there is always a story behind a certain idea that you have or a vision that you have so, I think that is the most important thing to really communicate about that. So that people really understand the way of your thinking. But again, I guess, if it is done within good communication if you reach certain consensus the I would not foresee any conflicts.

Learning & personal growth

164 ff.

Well, I guess, if you reach a certain consensus and it about so that everybody has an idea to do something or if you are convinced about the idea it is different because that you maybe can also experience a personal growth, new insights or a new way of thinking about certain topics. So, I guess it would be a good think to also learn from your colleagues and to discuss these kinds of topics.

Freedom of choice

173 ff.

[…] I guess problems would arrive if some ideas are forced to you or that you disagree on a certain level and then you have a severe conflict, of course, then it would have a negative impact.

Professional

182 f.

Of course, you have to work together and, of course, if you have a conflict it impacts it but I think we are all professional enough to set that aside.

CONTEXT Co-worker uninvolved yet

82 f,

180 ff.

But not - to be honest, I am not really involved in that. I think in the way that we work together and the things that we have to do for work is separated enough. Maybe there are some expenses where it would but in general, I think - no.

Snowball effect

214 f.

224 ff.

The most surprising - well not surprising but, I think that I noticed is that everybody really agreed on it and said: „Why didn’t we do that from day one?“ And this is also sometimes - sometimes you need a mirror and somebody who points out how to do it more efficiently and that it is clear to everybody.