Managing environmental knowledge in enterprises: the perspective of young employees

Ever-increasing industrial production and consumption are putting an increasing strain on the environment. Currently, the most unfavourable rates of greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation are recorded. Analysing these data, it is apparent that the political and regulatory measures taken are having insufficient effect. In building public awareness of this issue, it is important to create responsibility among the employees of enterprises, who have a direct impact on environmental protection with their everyday decisions. Very important in this process are the internal systems of companies, which should allow the creation of good environmental practices and solutions. But also the sharing of this knowledge and its implementation in the daily activities of employees. Based on the above premises, the aim of this study was to assess the status of environmental knowledge management processes in enterprises. A questionnaire survey was used to achieve the objective. The questionnaire contained open and closed questions and was distributed via the Internet. The target group of the survey was young employees of enterprises. The results obtained determined that those surveyed are characterised by a high awareness of environmental protection. However, most of them believe that they are not well informed about environmental protection principles when doing their job. Respondents also gave a low rating to the availability of knowledge in this area and the possibility of acquiring and improving it. In only about 2% of cases did the respondents receive training dedicated to environmental protection at their workplace. In contrast, as many as ca. 84% declared that there was no environmental training at their workplace. Respondents indicated knowledge gained individually on the Internet, TV, books and other resources as the main source of their knowledge. The identified state prompts actions to raise the profile and role of employee education and the implementation of knowledge management systems, which will be able to contribute to improving environmental performance on the part of enterprises. It is important to keep in mind that very often line operational staff have a very strong influence on environmental issues. They are the ones who separate waste, package products, use consumables, operate equipment, etc.