The Hidden ROI of Operational Transparency: Aligning Culture and Data
Recently, I had a great conversation with a Lee Berry of Emerald Solutions that inspired some thought in me.
Emerald Solutions provides sustainability technology to businesses, using the business’s own data to provide insights into the measure of their impact on the environment, with a goal of making sustainability achievable for every company.
As we were talking about the environmental reports he provides to his clients, I caught a quick comment about how many times, he finds that the people who most value this report are the employees. So, naturally, it got me thinking – why is that?
As we continued exploring this space, I learned that in many cases, employees see this report as a signal to the company’s values – not just a statement on a website, but an actionable and tangible output showing they mean what they say. And it got me thinking about how companies can attract and retain employees by performing business actions that are both necessary, but also reflect their organizational values.
Do employees value company values?
More employees, particularly younger employees, are placing more emphasis on a company’s values as a factor on whether they work for them, and how long they stay.
Studies suggest that many employees, especially younger employees that form the most rapid-growing labor force today, prefer a workplace where they feel their values align. In fact, according to Deloitte’s 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, not only do at least 96% of Gen Z or Millennial employees (remember, anyone under the age of 42-45 belongs to one of these generations) say a sense of purpose is important, but about 40% have rejected potential employees based on their personal ethics.
This is reflected in the conversation I had, as I saw evidence of employees voluntarily reading the produced reports, and even sharing that they appreciated being able to see those insights. In an ideal scenario, the employees would be able to then take steps to improve their work in order to drive better results.
In many ways, it’s similar to a stock award-based compensation plan or an employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
The strategy behind equity is simple: give employees a tangible stake in the outcome, and they will drive better business results. The same logic applies here. When a trucking company, for example, shows its employees a carbon footprint report, those employees can actively explore better routes or supply chain changes to reduce emissions—which inherently saves gas and cuts costs for the business. But an even stronger result is the increased retention rates a company can see from this report, even when this was not the original intention.
What could be driving this?
Our world, and our organizations, are so interconnected nowadays that it makes sense something like an environmental impact report could have a downstream impact on retention.
Lee and Emerald Solutions noticed this trend from a specific product. But the underlying cause here appears to be a combination of corporate transparency and an alignment with employee concerns. What intrigued me here was that this wasn’t even Lee’s intention with the report – he wanted to provide a service to his customers that could provide useful information that can help leaders make decisions on how to run their operations, and a byproduct was increased employee engagement and retention.
What other examples do you have of an everyday business action that unexpectedly boosted employee morale or aligned with your values?
