Human Sustainability Management for greener companies

Probably no year before, has ever dealt so intensively with the matter sustainability, like 2021 did. Currently around 200 countries are debating in the context of the Conference of Parties 26 about much needed progress within international climate politics and other considerable improvements facing the Parisian climate agreement, but to reach the net zero aim by 2050, a lot of states are missing short term actions and long term sustainable measures.

The term sustainability has to and must be understood as a political, economic, social and ecological principle. Sustainability implies a principle of action for a use of resources that satisfies needs, by protecting simultaneously the natural recover ability of systems, like creatures or eco-systems.

While many in our society have the possibility to live more climate neutral in their private life, companies are facing more difficulties. A recent employee poll by the Bertelsmann Charity showed that 55 % of employees from the private sector would welcome more company actions towards climate protection and sustainability. Depending on which industry European companies belong to, they are challenged with various difficulties to install sustainable concepts within their own production and trading structure, along a fair and resource-friendly supply chain.

But the way towards a communal and successful realization of the European green deal, begins already with a reshape of internal policies and restructuring measurements. Hereby HR can act as one of the biggest motivators.

Our Carysmo Consultants will show you in the following blog entry, how sustainability can be thought of in Human Resources and how a sustainable HR practice can transform companies on the long term, towards a much greener enterprise.

How can we understand sustainability in Human Resources Management?

Since many years HR is developing more and more to an undeniably important authority within companies. The Human Resources agenda is nowadays more than just planning staff and recruiting needs. It focuses on talent sourcing, regarding ever newer developing methods and trends, creates full employer branding concepts and functions as a mood barometer within a company, to guarantee on point employee development. Sustainability can be understood as a long term and future orientated staff policy within HR Management.

Human Sustainability Management no longer concentrates no on the situative provision of labour, as it focusses now mainly on a long term stock and regeneration of employees with regard to VUCA-factors and mega trends. Hereby a sustainable strategy targets the support and regeneration of employees resources.  The ability to master possible future sustainability dilemmas (e.g. conflicts between economical, ecological and social aims), is part of the core competences of Human Sustainability Management, as well as the ability to foresee staffing needs, never mind possible economic influences. 

HR appears as a link between departments and top- and middle- management, providing a foundation for a sustainable company. With its knowledge, HR can influence and proactively improve a more sustainable thinking and acting, within company employees and managers and prepare the staff for future internal and external sustainability strategies.

Talking about Human Sustainability Management, we are not only talking about the very first steps towards an improved company CO2 footprint or other climate protecting actions, but also about a long term successful strategy to protect and preserve capacities. Within the centre of this policy stands human beings and their labour, whose consumption has to be kept neutral.

Which actions can shape a sustainable HR strategy?

A sustainable Human Resources strategy starts with rethinking human beings as a resource. To maintain employee labour forces on the long term, there are multiple structural possibilities and agendas: flexible work hours, short time labour in times of crises instead waves of redundancies, staff planning in the long run, instead of an impulsive cut of vacancies, individual training offers and talent promotion. Also the right Corporate Health Strategies as a part of a sustainable HR Management can elevate the wellbeing and work performance of employees.

Depending on the industry, the right measures towards work security and frequent evaluations towards employee satisfaction, mental and physical offers in the field of Health and E-Health and open and productive offers for health communication are strengthening a company positively. Additionally, these factors are also strengthening the own employer brand regarding a strong employer branding strategy.

The duty of Human Sustainability Management is, regarding the company identity and guide lines, to build a bridge between leadership and employees, to optimize and succeed within a matching sustainability strategy. HR can function here as a link of all parties involved and create a common understanding for ecological sustainability. Important factors are transparency and a cross-hierarchical communication as well as error analysis and a joint discourse on measures to improve.

How does HR make companies greener?

First things first, a common rulebook for becoming a greener company doesn’t exist. Focussing a variety of industries, production conditions, as well as diverse supply chains, every company has to decide for themselves, in which manner and under which circumstances sustainability can be realized. Company intern sustainability analysis can show which ecological and social fields show the necessary needs for becoming greener.

For the implementation of growing sustainability within a company, internal and external processes have to be considered under the impression of resource neutrality. A new, sustainable and forward thinking development strategy should be developed and put into action. The top priority should be to protect resources, which can not only be understood as raw materials.

The term resource must be considered as more than just purely materialistic. Furthermore, resources have to be understood as economical, ecological, and social. A sustainable resource management is also focussing and acknowledging its own responsibility towards society and employees. Ecology, energy and waste management are only parts of an overall sustainability strategy that is focussing on future environmental protection. Only if employees also develop a consciousness and an understanding for sustainability, can a company become greener.

HR can act as a green initiator, who is creating benefits to manifest a fundamental sustainability competence on all levels. HR can consult multiple other stakeholders just like sustainability activists or NGO’s, to actively influence and neutralize negativity factors among the supply chain. As a central point of contact in the company, HR can support and ignite conversations about sustainable goals, ambitions, possibilities, balances and first successes. HR can and must gain a certain expertise for example on the UN developed Sustainable Development Goals or CSR expert knowledge (Corporate Social Responsibility), just like sustainability standards or knowledge on energy efficiency. Human Resources departments can bundle expert knowledge and share it with all hierarchy levels, to strengthen common understanding about sustainability through a sustainable company culture. That way, companies can act more human and environment orientated and be part of a more responsible future.

As our Carysmo Consultants were able to demonstrate, sustainability in HR-Management is more than an E-Bike offer for employees or saving paper while printing. Even though every little contribution counts, to become greener and to minimize a company’s own CO2 exchange, sustainability has to be thought of as a strategy that includes all company structures and hierarchy levels.  

Carysmo Consultants and Sentos Consult are supporting HR departments on their way towards  more sustainable recruiting. Thanks to our twenty-year long research and direct search expertise, we are able to find candidates in the fields of top- and middle-management who are starting with your company into a strong and innovative future. Because we also want to contribute to a greener world, our industry experts love to consult you towards a suitable search strategy for your jobs of tomorrow.

If you would like to dig a bit deeper into the topic “Sustainability in HR-Management”, we would like to offer you the following sources:   

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/5-facts-eu-climate-neutrality/

https://www.csr-in-deutschland.de/DE/Was-ist-CSR/Grundlagen/grundlagen.html

https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/publikationen/publikation/did/unternehmen-im-wandel-all#0