Employees are cynical about just how green their employers are, according to a new report from the Marlin Company.

As part of Marlin's 14th annual "Attitudes in the American Workplace" survey, the company asked U.S. workers questions about sustainability in the companies they work for. Approximately half (50.8 percent) of those workers responded that their employers have implemented a significant sustainability initiative.

But the reasons that employees think their employers have made green efforts are not promising:

• 24.1 percent say that companies want to save money
• 22 percent say that companies want the publicity associated with going green
• 14.1 percent say that companies just want to be politically correct
• 12.9 percent say that companies are attempting to counteract rising energy prices
• 17.4 percent say that companies are making an effort to be socially responsible

The pessimism doesn't end with the reasons employees believe that businesses are going green, either. Respondents were asked, "Who's greener, you or your company?" Their answers made it clear that most employees think that their companies are lagging in their own efforts to become sustainable: 63.4 percent of workers believe that they are greener than their employers.

One number is reassuring, though. More than three-fourths of US workers — 77.7 percent — say that working for a green employer is important to them. That sort of pressure may lead employers to go green, if only to keep employees happy.

There are options to employers who wish to work with their workers to make their companies more social responsible — and to make sure that employees are aware of the reasons for green changes. Most important is informing employees about such initiatives and the reasons behind them, as well as helping employees to become stakeholders in sustainability plans from the beginning.

According to Frank Kenna III, the CEO and President of the Marlin Company, companies need to show their employees a real commitment to green initiatives.  "Companies need to do more than talk about green initiatives." he said. "It takes more than high-profile ads to make it happen...Employees need to see that their company is serious about it. That means concrete actions, such as in-house programs for saving energy and recycling."

Employers must also work to connect the actions their workers take at home to workplace initiatives. If so many employees think that they're greener than the companies they work for, perhaps it's time for their employers to make use of all that green knowledge.

Kenna went on to emphasize that sustainable practices shouldn't stop when workers go home for the day: "Being green is an important part of may employees' lives and companies do a disservice to themselves and their employees by not acknowledging that."