Sustainability is a pressing concern that is spanning across industries worldwide. From consumers to employees, people are increasingly valuing sustainable practices from the organizations they interact with. According to a study, 70% of consumers want to know what the brands they support are doing to address social and environmental issues. Another study from the World Economic Forum found that 59% of employees leaving their jobs are leaving to join an organization more aligned with their values.
When we think about sustainability, we often associate it with the environment. However, these studies indicate that corporate sustainability has a far-reaching impact. It’s not only good for the planet, but also relevant to the health and prosperity of an organization. As such, a comprehensive corporate sustainability plan should address the three pillars of sustainability: people, planet, and profit.
The planet pillar of sustainability refers to an organization’s environmental efforts, while the people pillar refers to the work an organization does to promote the health and safety of their employees, customers, and communities. Lastly, the profit pillar refers to the optimization of the economic health of an organization to ensure it can thrive and make a positive impact.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the significance of each of these pillars and discuss how they can be implemented using Sodales’ one platform approach to employee relations and health and safety.
The Environmental Pillar – Planet
As people around the globe have become increasingly impacted by climate change, a spotlight has been placed on organizations to become more environmentally conscious. The good news is that businesses can benefit from improved corporate sustainability, all while doing what’s best for the planet. For example, overall sales revenues can increase up to 20% due to corporate responsibility practices and a 2021 IBM study found that 71% of employees view environmentally sustainable companies as more attractive employers.
With that in mind, let’s dive into how organizations can improve their environmental sustainability. One way to improve environmental sustainability is through pollution reduction and prevention. Pollution which occurs in air, water, or soil, can be damaging to groundwater sources, natural wetlands, air quality and ecosystems.
It is beneficial for organizations to prioritize pollution prevention because it reduces financial costs related to waste management and cleanup, employee health problems and environmental damage. Some organizations spend more time dealing with the paperwork that’s associated with reporting an environmental incident, than they do coming up with long-term solutions. Since organization’s are preoccupied with documentation, no real time or effort can be spent on mitigation strategies. Sodales provides organizations with the tools to report, manage, and investigate these environmental incidents effectively.
With Sodales, organizations are empowered with easy-to-understand reports and dashboards, and smooth workflows, giving them back the time they need to make well informed decisions for environmental strategy. This moves them out of a repetitive, reactive cycle, and into a proactive working culture that prioritizes improved environmental practices, contributing to a comprehensive sustainability plan.
The Social Pillar – People
To achieve sustainability, organizations need to not only contribute to a healthy planet, but also support the people and communities that inhabit it. This is the focus of the social/people pillar of sustainability. According to a study, 46% of people pay close attention to a brand’s social responsibility and sustainability efforts when they buy a product. Additionally, overall sales revenue can increase up to 20% due to corporate responsibility practices.
One of the many ways for an organization to achieve social sustainability starts with identifying the business impacts, both positive and negative, on customers, local communities, and employees. To improve their social sustainability, organizations should address any adverse impacts on human rights that may be related to their activities. Organizations should reframe their thinking to consider health and safety as a part of their sustainability efforts. Employees should be seen as vital and essential resources that can be protected through a proactive approach to health and safety.
Proactive safety is the practice of preventing an accident or incident before it occurs. Using Sodales, organizations can easily configure forms and workflows to manage inspections, audits, checklists, and more to establish a proactive safety culture. Sodales helps organizations in highly regulated industries streamline incident management and disability claims reporting, investigations, and root cause analysis based on incidents common in their industry.
Sodales also provides employers with a comprehensive integrated incident and disability management system to empower organizations with a compassionate solution for vulnerable employees.
Using Sodales, organizations can prioritize the rights of their employees. From filing grievances and discrimination complaints, Sodales provides employees with avenues to connect and communicate with their employers openly and honestly. Through transparent communication, organizations can ensure they are respecting the rights of their workers and maintaining a strong standard for safety. Sodales also tracks important metrics and KPI’s so employers can identify repeat offenders and revaluate their strategies as needed. From hazard and risk assessments to case management, Sodales offers organizations a comprehensive solution to proactively manage health and safety, which contributes to a holistic sustainability plan that encompasses human rights.
The Economic Pillar – Profit/Prosperity
Finally, economic sustainability refers to the implementation of socially and environmentally conscious practices that support long-term economic growth. To achieve environmental sustainability, organizations should avoid practices that contribute to climate change, such as excessive food waste, single-use plastic packaging and the burning of fossil fuels. While these methods may be profitable to businesses, they are detrimental to the environment, and therefore do not contribute to an economically sustainable approach. Economic sustainability places emphasis on the future of organizations rather than focusing on short term profits.
Using Sodales, organizations can improve both their environmental and social sustainability, as previously outlined, which results in improved long-term economic prosperity. For example, by increasing compliance through a proactive approach to health and safety, organizations can in turn reduce claim costs. Additionally, by using streamlined processes and workflows, organizations can reduce excessive use of labor and resources to support long-term economic growth. Organizations can also establish an effective sustainability plan to cut out old and outdated approaches that make poor use of an organizations time and money.
To learn more information about how Sodales can help your organization develop a comprehensive approach to sustainability, book a personalized demonstration today.
