- Sustainable goals include improving people's well-being, health, and equity.
- As companies transform, they need to bring employees along through reskilling and upskilling.
- This article is part of the "Financing a Sustainable Future" series exploring how companies take steps to set and fund sustainable goals.
These days, "power to the people" is more than a political or cultural slogan. It describes how companies are prioritizing employee needs and focusing on "people" goals. That includes investing in everything from fair wages to reskilling and upskilling; health and safety; diversity, equity, and inclusion; gender equality; and fair hiring practices.
Focusing on well-being is a major component of sustainability, as codified in the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals through five targets:
- Goal 1: No poverty
- Goal 3: Good health and well-being
- Goal 4: Quality education
- Goal 5: Gender equality
- Goal 10: Reduced inequalities
The COVID-19 pandemic elevated concerns about employee well-being for certain segments of the economy. In a recent Willis Towers Watson survey of 1,550 employers around the world, 92% of respondents said enhancing the employee experience would be an important priority over the next three years, compared with 52% before the pandemic.
While the move from exclusively production-related goals to the addition of people-based targets predates the pandemic, the global health crisis amplified the increased competition for talent, said Christy Pruitt-Haynes, a human-resources expert and consultant at NeuroLeadership Institute, a global neuroscience-backed consultancy.
"One of the biggest reasons for the new focus is the entrants of Gen Z to the workplace," she added. Past generations like baby boomers craved stability, giving companies a distinct advantage.
Gen Z doesn't prioritize long-term stability in the same way, she said, adding: "They see job hopping as an acceptable way to move up quickly and create the life they want — so, to use a real-estate term, we've gone from a seller's market to a buyer's market."
She added that one way companies could retain employees over the long haul was by prioritizing their growth and development and acknowledging the efforts and activities of each person.
"Participants in today's job market are no longer focused exclusively on how the company is performing but are more concerned with how they are performing and growing within that company," she said. "The pandemic caused everyone to examine their priorities, so for many that meant their natural tendency of wanting a company to focus on their growth was amplified."
A wide range of programs
So how are companies investing in these people-centric priorities? Qumu Corp., an enterprise video platform with 150 employees, has invested heavily in a "work from wherever" model since the beginning of the pandemic, Mercy Noah, its global vice president of human capital, said.
That includes making sure employees have the tools and resources to work remotely and manage burnout, with benefits such as office stipends, access to wellness tools like the Calm app, and interactive health and wellness training. The company also focuses on upskilling with a digital-learning platform and live interactive sessions that cover everything from leadership and people development to specific technical skills.
"Our board of directors is especially invested in making sure that we have a strong focus and strategy around our people," she said. "I don't care how good your business model is, people are the No. 1 asset for any organization, and you cannot sustain or drive the business to the next level without them."
Qumu, she added, measures three employee-focused areas: participation, engagement, and retention. "These are all tangible data points that help us measure the success and impact we're having in these areas directly from our employees, through surveys and analytics," she said. "We also conduct regular skip-level sessions where employees share feedback directly with leadership in real time and can have an engaging conversation about these efforts."
For Horizon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company with 1,800 employees worldwide, a key priority around diversity, equity, and inclusion is pay equity.
"We have 100% pay equity at Horizon,'' said Irina Konstantinovsky, Horizon's executive vice president, chief human-resources officer, and chief diversity officer. "We also have a very competitive pay and benefit offering, and equity is a driving force in how we design our programs, including stock grants, on-site daycare, mentorship, and employee-development programs."
The company also guarantees funding for these programs. "This has always been part of our investment in the business today and into the future," she said. "We continue to put a premium on developing a bench of future enterprise leaders, with a strong focus on diverse talent."
The focus on people as a corporate priority will likely continue to flourish in the coming year and beyond, Pruitt-Haynes said: "We see several companies moving from output-related values and habits to people-related behaviors and goals — competition for top talent is stiff, and that won't be changing."