Authors: Boudewijn Goossens (Future Focused Leadership)
Dr. Nicola Graham (Thoughtsmiths)
June 2024
The time of ”sustainability in silos” is over. No longer is it feasible for sustainability to be the responsibility of a sole manager or singular department. Globally, we are moving towards the realisation that sustainability is here to stay, that it will increase in complexity, and that it requires innovative leadership and a shared vision. Most organisations have been stuck in compliance-based sustainability and ESG reporting, but the next big challenge is embedding sustainability as part of the organisational culture, to be able to address it meaningfully. To make this transformation happen, Human Resources (HR) has a huge role to play in culture change.
Integration of Sustainability
One negative aspect of compliance-based “tick-box” sustainability methods is that staff members throughout the organisation are not able to see the bigger picture, the logic or the relevance of compliance efforts. It becomes an “extra thing to get done” – on top of business as usual. This is because we become focused on fulfilling requirements – and miss the point of them. We lose sight of the intended impact on people and the planet. In the tick-box approach, employees see ‘sustainability’ as an irritating hurdle to success, and this approach to sustainability has limited positive impact for the business and its operating environment.
The challenge is to shift the view of sustainability towards something that is positive, meaningful and impactful. When sustainability becomes part of an organisation’s strategy and process, new possibilities start to open up. A shifted organisational identity that takes sustainability seriously benefits from a much more integrated approach that can innovate around sustainability in systemic ways. For example – exploring new markets, new product lines, new processes and new opportunities to collaborate can benefit an organisation, rather than hamper it.
Heineken has unashamedly embraced real sustainability – leading to reconfigured procurement requirements, innovation in packaging and new partnerships across the planet. Needless to say, Heineken’s “Brew a Better World” has won many awards for being the best in the class in its industry. Developing a culture of sustainability is at the core of such a transition, and needs to go hand in hand with a review of systems and documents managed by the HR department. These include organisational policies, job descriptions, contracts, and appraisal processes.
Creating a ‘Culture of Sustainability’
Anyone who has been involved in culture change knows that it is neither a quick nor an easy task. Shifting culture meaningfully takes visionary leadership, sustained focus and intention, and a deep belief in the value that the new culture will bring – for the organisation and beyond.
Future-focused organisations are well aware that their impact on people and planet have positive or negative effects on public image and market appetite. By promoting a culture of sustainability, the implementation of a sustainability strategy becomes easier. The consequent culture shift delivers more enthusiasm, buy-in, and good for society projects. It will certainly provide the right content for compelling and high-quality ESG/sustainability reports.
While culture shift begins with the leaders of an organisation, the role of HR in facilitating and embedding that change is vital. Some processes that HR may implement in the system-wide adoption of sustainability include:
Reviewing documents
The HR department is the custodian of a range of policies and documents related to staff. Reviewing these to include sustainability aspects is an important articulation of culture change. As an example, if contracts include a clause on sustainable behaviour and KPIs with compulsory indicators linked to sustainability, this clause will bring the topic into the appraisal process. And as we know, we can change what we measure.
Often policies on social interactions and worker rights are in place, but these may lack environmental protections. Other HR policies that can be reviewed include policies around waste management while at work, reducing energy consumption and saving water.
Recruitment of new staff
Another role of HR is to guide the recruitment and onboarding of new staff members. To align with an organisational sustainability ambition, it is critical to employ new colleagues that are aligned and enthusiastic about contributing towards this ambition. Job descriptions can include this specification. When interviewing new employees, HR can make sustainability awareness and interest a requirement of the selection process. Including sustainability in the onboarding programme for new staff is a core element of embedding good practice. Research has shown that Millennial and Gen Z employees – who now make up the bulk of the workforce – place high value on working for organisations that have a strong positive social and environmental profile. A business that takes sustainability seriously has a recruitment advantage, and is more likely to retain younger staff.
Budgeting
Lastly, it is critical to budget for this transformation. In many organisations, the sustainability budget is overstretched and other departments don’t budget for sustainability related activities like training, workshops and coaching. They feel it must come from the sustainability budget. In our view, the sustainability budget should be allocated to wherever it is needed. HR deserves to have its own sustainability budget and plan, aligned with the rest of the organisation.
As the relationship with sustainability matures in an organisation, it naturally moves from a compliance stage, through a programmatic stage (when the business case is argued and a deeper commitment is galvanised) to a leader-led stage (where systemic barriers are identified and dealt with) to an integrated stage, where sustainability forms a core part of the strategy that creates business value.
Being intentional and focused about this process can speed it up, so that the business can begin to benefit from sustainability, rather than feeling hamstrung and hampered by the transition.
