Jenny Hererra
CEO, Good Business Charter
Despite broader ESG awareness, businesses often equate sustainability solely with the environment, sidelining social factors that are equally vital to responsible corporate behaviour.
Our impact on the planet is so much more measurable, and it enables businesses to work with the plethora of specialist organisations out there to calculate benchmarks, set targets and measure improvements. Everyone likes tangible results to show the Board.
The business case for valuing your workforce
Yet, there are tangible benefits to truly valuing your workforce, too, including to your bottom line. That has been Julian Richer’s experience, building up his hi-fi chain, Richer Sounds, in an incredibly competitive sector. It is the experience of the 1,000+ Good Business Charter accredited organisations who find that treating their employees well results in greater productivity, better customer service and improved retention, with all the benefits that brings.
I must confess, I groan when I hear some businesses touted as the best. They may be doing incredible work in their local community, or on the journey to net zero, but they still do not pay the real living wage — the only independently calculated rate that actually takes into account the cost of living.
Big businesses would do
well to think about those
in their supply chain, too.
Championing the ‘S’ in ESG with action
If we want to see in-work poverty in this country decrease, it is high time we took that S in ESG and championed it through concrete actions. For the workforce, this includes paying the real living wage; providing secure hours and contracts; and ensuring genuine employee wellbeing, representation and inclusion. Businesses that do this are the kind of organisations people want to support with their hard-earned cash, or invest in or work for, as a growing body of research shows.
Big businesses would do well to think about those in their supply chain, too. They must ensure fair wages are paid there too, and that they pay those suppliers on time. Our vast small business network across the UK depends on it.
