Every month, Procter & Gamble’s long-time head of sustainability, Virginie Helias, holds a 30-minute-long “Ask the CSO” session to field questions from the consumer products company’s 100,000-plus employees. She introduced the tradition during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspired by a communications strategy adopted by former Unilever CEO Alan Jope. Today, it’s one of several ongoing communications methods that P&G uses to keep its workforce abreast of progress related to the company’s environmental and social impact agenda. “Employees can be our best ambassadors, and it works both ways,” said Helias during the latest episode of Climate Pioneers, Trellis’ video leadership interview series. “If they are not convinced about what you do on sustainability, that’s a problem. Because if you can’t convince your own employees, how will you be able to convince consumers?” The most common question Helias joined P&G in 1988. She’s been involved with the company’s sustainability strategy since 2011 and became its first chief sustainability officer in 2016, reporting to the CEO. At the time, environmental management was handled in a silo. That changed in April 2018, when P&G made all employees accountable for the commitments set in its Ambition 2030 strategy. “We don’t hire for sustainability, we hire for the best finance people, the best marketers, the best legal people. We want to integrate [sustainability] as opposed to having it be a theoretical topic,” Helias said. “So, be the best at your trade and then you’ll make sustainability a part of it.” P&G’s environmental commitments include a plan to…
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