Environmental sustainability and employee satisfaction

Given the increasing emphasis on environmental sustainability, we investigate whether firm pollution drives employee satisfaction and find that satisfaction is substantially lower in more polluting firms. We also show that more educated employees, employees aged between 30 and 40, and management employees are less satisfied when their firms pollute. Additionally, employees in heavy-polluting firms are less satisfied with their senior leadership, and are less likely to recommend their firms to their friends. Overall, employees care about environmental sustainability and reducing pollution seems essential to increasing employee satisfaction.