Human Sustainability
Creating sustainable, long-term value.
It's time to change the way we define and design work, interact with others and consider how work itself impacts employees, their families, their communities, and ultimately, the planet.
More and more organisations are starting to look at what policies and practices can be embedded into core business strategies, to help us achieve excellent wellbeing at work.
Workplaces that practice and place human sustainability as a core business prioritysee higher levels of wellbeing, workforce retention, increased productivity alongside meeting key regulations.
What is human sustainability?
Human sustainability sits at the intersection of purpose, inclusion, wellbeing, and physical and psychological safety. It works by holistically reconfiguring organisations, the value chain, and society to ensure that people can thrive.
It requires a shift in focus to a multi-stakeholder view of value creation which leads to sustainable, long-term value for everyone. That’s why it’s critical for businesses to take a holistic view of their workplace, and how they build their cultures and structure their organisations.
When workers’ needs and expectations are met, their concerns addressed and interests nurtured, they can focus on longer term goals, organisations can accelerate plans to address climate change, biodiversity loss and circularity.
James Owen Lewis
Human Sustainability Leader, Deloitte
The outcomes of using human sustainability-led practices are greater levels of happiness, a stronger sense of belonging and purpose among employees, and more equitable workplaces. Embedding human sustainability practices into business strategies can even help companies continue to gain access to talent and reduce attrition.
Taking a human sustainability-led approach and focusing efforts on the needs, interests, concerns, and expectations of the workforce means we must addressthe relevant drivers, challenges and actions and use data-driven insights to create organisations and economies where people can thrive.
Embracing this mindset means we must move away from benefits for people to improve themselves or build resilience, and manage the root causes of poor wellbeing, by balancing an organisation’s economic growth with environmental and social responsibilities. This helps people become more skilled, creates more equitable workplaces, and drives a sense of purpose and belonging: all hallmarks of a human sustainability-led organisation.
Are you ready to create sustainable, long-term value?
We can support you across four key pillars:
Get started with your human sustainability transformation
