Organisations are responding to the demands of all stakeholders to live up to their sustainability goals and demonstrate their credentials, with greater transparency. This has been accelerated due to ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) reporting standards. It has been easier to date to focus on the E within ESG, because environmental impacts and outcomes have been subject to standardised and comparable measures. But, increasingly, attention is turning to the S and the G in ESG. In our last article, Focusing on the Social in ESG, we looked at the external impacts that organisations make on society, and how they can evaluate that impact both qualitatively and quantitatively. Here we are looking at what organisations need to focus on when it comes to both social sustainability and their biggest asset as a segment of society – their own people.

Of course, employees are interested in how organisations live up to their stated values outside of the organisation – in their local communities and beyond – but they are rightly interested in how the business treats them as well. Studies including Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends Report show that employees, both current and prospective, want to see organisations taking responsibility for ESG progress and outcomes, and to have values that align with their own. Nearly two in five Gen Zs and Millennials rejected a job because it did not align with their values , and 64% of workers stated they would be more attracted to, and remain at, an organisation that creates value not just for shareholders, but also for workers as human beings – and greater society too. The report reaffirmed that features of human capital management, such as measures to increase diversity, pay off commercially as well, in terms of increased profitability or productivity.

Therefore, organisations have the opportunity to extend the sustainability focus within their own organisation to create Sustainable Work.

Embedding wellbeing and inclusion into the work, workforce and workplace

Sustainable Work is where wellbeing and inclusion are embedded into the work, workforce, workplace and wider ecosystem and are outcomes of doing this well. The focus is on worker growth, the meaning people get from work, feelings of trust and belonging within teams (e.g., inclusion and psychological safety), continuous growth, learning and appropriate reward and recognition. This results in people having the energy to focus on what matters to them most, both within and outside of the workplace and for organisations to tap into the potential of its people significantly.

Achieving this requires commitment and intrinsic motivation from leadership to act and behave like a Social Enterprise through listening to, investing in, and actively managing the trends that are shaping today’s world. Sustainable Work is one of these trends.

Delivering on the promise

What our research indicates is that organisations are missing out on the benefits that flow from prioritising Sustainable Work. There have been many pledges from organisations in this space, but the challenge is whether those promises are realised based on measurable outcomes.

Across the Atlantic, significant investments have already been made, with US organisations announcing 1,000 diversity, equity and inclusion commitments. More than US$210 billion has been spent. Likewise, it is reckoned that large organisations spend an average of US$10.5 million a year on wellbeing programmes – but with inconclusive results in absolute outcomes or in terms of business performance.

Furthermore, workplace mental health continues to be a challenge. Mental health and burnout are among the top reasons Millennials and Gen Zs left their employers over the past two years. But when it comes to what makes them choose an organisation to work for, good work/life balance and learning and development opportunities are their top priorities. On other demographics, women are more likely to be looking for a new role than they were a year ago, and burnout is the top driving factor (nearly 40% of women actively looking for a new employer cited it as the main reason).

The leadership gap is also something to be addressed. The Human Capital Trends Report highlighted that fewer than 15% of respondents believe their organisations have leaders who are ready to inclusively lead an expanding workforce – or to consider broader societal and environmental risks when making decisions. This has huge implications for Sustainable Work and should be considered as a critical-path dependency when organisations are considering what their first moves will be.

Given that there are positive and clear links between wellbeing, diversity, equity, inclusion and business outcomes — such as increased profitability, productivity and performance – it’s perhaps surprising that, organisations are struggling to truly embed these topics into the heart of their business.

Putting humans at the centre for a sustainable, inclusive and equitable future

More progressive organisations that take this topic seriously, design for Sustainable Work. This involves designing work so wellbeing and inclusion are experienced outcomes. Without such an approach, we cannot design the workplace and workforce models to drive a sustainable working experience. To further enhance this experience, workers need to be supported by the opportunities, relationships and structures to thrive while getting meaning from their work. This includes workers being empowered with learning and growth opportunities to remain ‘future ready’ with the relevant skills and capabilities to contribute in a meaningful way to the constantly changing business and work environments.

To make progress on Sustainable Work, it is recommended organisations focus on and answer critical questions such as:

The companies that score well against those questions have leaders who go beyond separate and superficial initiatives and look at the fundamentals of work design. One such example is Erasmus MC Sophia Kinderziekenhuis, a scientific university medical centre in the Netherlands, which looked to focus on raising job satisfaction for its core workforce – nurses. Working with nurses on solutions to add more human value to the care process, the focus was on eliminating bottlenecks and improving their sustainable employability. The organisation looked for gains and opportunities for improvement wherever it could, and this has paid off in terms of time saved and engagement.

Another example is Family Mart, a convenience store chain in Japan, which is experimenting with remote-controlled robots to stock shelves, enabling employees to work from anywhere using virtual reality (VR) goggles and controllers . A key fringe benefit of this solution is the ability to employee disabled people who lack the physical mobility to stock shelves without the assistance of robots.

What will be your first move?

It is important to just start where you are. The key is to understand your context and current situation and to paint an inspiring fit-for-purpose vision that can enable your business, sustainability and people strategy. In doing so, consider the worker-employer relationship you aspire to have. In more detail:

1. Spend time understanding the needs and preferences of your workforce, by gathering the right data points on a continuous basis and giving every person in your organisation a voice to establish your starting point and to monitor progress. This includes listening to the things you do not want to hear.
2. Evolve leadership, to thrive in tandem with the organisation and to adopt a new set of fundamentals to mobilise workers and teams against new outcomes. This involves getting leaders ready to inclusively lead an expanding workforce and to consider broader societal and environmental risks when making decisions.
3. Be clear on your vision and priority areas, to act as the guide for where to direct effort within a strategic programme of change that leads to the desired culture and operating environment for all workers. In doing so, it is important to not treat Sustainable Work as another HR pillar, integrate in your overall strategy, values and purpose of your organisation.
4. Establish and ensure the right level of ownership and accountability for Sustainable Work changes, by involving leadership, workers and multi-disciplinary teams, and playing to where the influential strengths lie within the organisation.
5. Communicate, and continually measure – a vision is ineffective if it is not executed, communicated (internally and externally), continually measured and adapted. Continuous communication is key to sustain momentum internally and build advocacy externally.
   

In practice, this will include assessment and measurement, linking wellbeing and inclusion to the core of the work (e.g., performance and rewards, talent, leadership), and designing it into the work itself. Wellbeing and inclusion should not be an add on. They need to be incorporated into work design, so they are part of the daily ways of working and experienced outcomes of it. This all contributes to making work better for humans, and humans better at work.