When we talk about sustainability in the corporate context, we often mean ecological sustainability. However, sustainability encompasses much more. ESG not only includes the “E” for environment, but also the “S” for social. With the CSRD reporting requirements, the social sustainability of companies is becoming massively more important. A unique opportunity for HR to give people issues and its own discipline greater strategic weight.
Social sustainability pays off. Companies with a socially sustainable strategy achieve their goals better and have long-term economic success on their side. Social sustainability and economic sustainability belong together. Companies which have credibly committed themselves to social sustainability reduce their risks and increase their opportunities.
On the one hand, they ensure livable conditions along their supply chains and in the communities with which they interact as corporate citizens. As a result, they do not face any reputational risks that could damage their business. Instead, they gain a good reputation as responsible players - among political decision-makers, business partners, customers and employees. On the other hand, they prove to be socially sustainable employers. A people-oriented HR policy is at the heart of their strategic risk and opportunity management. They avoid the risk of discouraging and demotivating employees who are critical to success with a gray working environment. Instead, they benefit from a committed workforce that turns their business plans into economic successes because people are treated responsibly as a “resource”.
However, embedding social sustainability in the corporate context, deriving the materially significant key issues and dovetailing them with the corporate strategy and management model requires a very company-specific approach. There also needs to be a common thread in external and internal communication: This is because complex regulation and reporting requirements such as CSRD, ESRS & Co. on the one hand and sometimes patchy and purely anecdotal “social reporting” by companies on the other make it all the more important to put the relevant topics in the shop window.
As social sustainability gains in importance, HR's time has come. Now it is not only a matter of collecting the necessary data to meet the growing reporting requirements. For HR, it is now all about seizing the opportunity to give HR work greater strategic weight.
Do you want to increase the visibility and effectiveness of your HR management by closely integrating it with sustainability management? Then our infographic on five key reasons why social sustainability is full of opportunities for HR might be a good place to start.
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