Scandic involves 18,000 team members in developing company’s sustainability initiatives through Nordic hackathon

During the winter 2018, Scandic held a sustainability hackathon to challenge the company’s 18,000 team members to come up with the next sustainability initiatives to implement across the organization. Participation was extremely high and more than 400 ideas were submitted. Two winning ideas have now been chosen, one within Environmental sustainability and one in Social sustainability.

During the hackathon, Scandic’s team members had the opportunity to submit ideas on how the largest hotel company in the Nordic countries can operate even more sustainable. More than 200 workshops were held at Scandic’s hotels, leading to >400 ideas. The reason behind the hackathon was the company’s belief in the strength and creativity of its team members.

We’re extremely excited about our team members enthusiasm and we are humbled by the over 400 brilliant ideas we now have and can continue to work with. We will examine all of the ideas to see which ones are feasible in the company, starting with the winning ideas, says Vanessa Butani, Director Sustainable Business at Scandic Hotels.

Winning idea in Environmental Sustainability: Turn off the Tap

Scandic can save over 200 million liters of water per year* if the guests turn off the taps while they brush their teeth. That is 1.2 million bathtubs filled with water. Scandic will encourage guests to be more conscious of their water consumption when they stay and there is also a good chance they’ll bring the positive behavior home with them.

Winner in Social Sustainability: Holiday for All

Holiday for All is about giving people experiences. The idea is for Scandic to open its hotels to families that miss out on social experiences because of financial constraints. Scandic is now identifying potential partners in each country and will launch a pilot project for this idea at selected hotels during the year.

Involving employees in the company’s sustainability work isn’t new to Scandic: the company’s “Hang up your towel” initiative, which is now the industry standard around the world, originated from a Scandic employee and Scandic’s continued work to be more sustainable is built on the involvement of its team members.

We say we have 18,000 people working in our sustainability department. They inspire us to constantly improve and to become more sustainably all the time, continues Vanessa.

*Based on 50% of guests turning off the tap when they brush their teeth, brushing 2 times per day for 2 minutes each, consuming 1L of water each time.

For more information, please contact:

Anna-Klara Lindholm, PR Manager, Scandic Hotels Group
Email: anna-klara.lindholm@scandichotels.com
Phone: +46 709 73 52 31