Simplifying ESG Strategies for a Sustainable Transformation

Human beings are social creatures by nature. We work in teams. We collaborate with peers. We rely on others to help us when working together towards a common goal. So, it should be no surprise that organizations are now focusing on the social aspects of their internal environment as new ESG policies and programs are being created.

The Social elements of the ESG program are often highly sensitive, as both employees and external parties will make decisions on whether to work or do business with an organization based on their stance on certain issues. This means that agencies face the need to monitor, respond and report on new elements of hiring, work culture, and employee impact, while ensuring the data remains private and secure.

Here’s the good news, if done correctly, the Social programs that organizations install can provide a tremendously positive impact across the board, impacting everything from recruitment efforts to employee retention. 

Thriving in the Workplace or Just Surviving?

Much of the focus on the Social portion of ESG stems from alarming statistics regarding employee engagement. In the most recent State of the Global Workplace Report (2022), Gallup reported that only 33 percent of people working in the US and Canada are engaged on a daily basis. Sixty-Seven percent of the total workforce is either passively or actively disengaged at their workplace, begging the question are they thriving or just surviving? 

Layers of Social

Diving deeper into the Social elements of prominent ESG frameworks, organizations are faced with the new challenges associated with Diversity/Equity/Inclusion/Belonging (DEIB), Employee and Facility Safety and Compliance/Data Privacy. While each of these three segments possess unique aspects and considerations, certain macro trends can be identified that allow agencies to utilize common platforms and business applications to solve multiple problems, with the added bonus of reporting, auditability and scale.

Organizations seeking to harness the true potential of their work culture and boost their overall employee satisfaction should focus on the following Social key areas when creating an ESG program:

Case Management

Ninety-four percent of respondents reported they are 2-4x more likely to produce more for their organization if they love their workplace. But this level of engagement doesn’t naturally occur on its own, but it a product of many factors working in tandem, chief among them are the processes associated with incident handling and resolution often involving Human Resources.

A strong case management solution provides just that, with the ability to capture the information associated with the occurrence, define a standard resolution path, and ensure that only those who should be involved can access the information related to the event. Moreover, when a positive resolution is reached, the steps that were taken and insight that was learned from the experience is properly captured. This not only allows for faster resolution should a similar incident occur at a future time but can aid in creating smarter policies as organizations continue to respond to the ever-evolving way we work.

Workplace Safety Monitoring

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a common model that outlines human needs, ranked by importance, that contribute to an individual’s motivation. Positioned right above the need for air, water, food, and shelter, is safety, and it is for that reason that organizations need to put a heavy focus on how they handle their physical safety in the workplace.

While this will differ from agency to agency based on the size of an organization, the type of business they conduct and the regulatory and compliance requirements they are beholden to, but in all cases the best approach requires strong corporate policies coupled with an intelligent video solution.

By utilizing this approach, facility monitoring can be conducted with a high degree of automation, ensuring that everything from PPE utilization to following proper safety protocols are happening. Through alerts, notifications, and crystal-clear video recording, management can investigate or intervene immediately and provide coaching or responsive action. Lastly should a major emergency occur, the system can kick off a workflow that communicates with employees across the organization with evacuation orders or instructions, while simultaneously contacting Police, Fire and Medical Services.

Task Automation

Mundane manual tasks conducted day in, and day out, negatively impact employee satisfaction, in turn contributing to disengagement and burn out. This doesn’t bode well for organizations hoping to keep their talent pool rich with seasoned knowledge workers, as the more disengaged the individual becomes, the more likely it is that they will leave.

The departments that have the highest occurrence of manual tasks typically are finance, human resources, and compliance, where massive amounts of data flow in from multiple channels only to be re-entered into business systems or captured for archive. Something as simple as having trouble finding information needed to complete a task can be maddening, cascading into an overall dissatisfaction for the job and a loathing of the employer.

To combat these very common problems, agencies should frequently review their processes to identify areas for improvement with automation technology. Whenever possible, information should be extracted from paper or electronically utilizing a workflow that allows for the direct ingesting into to business systems. This reduces the occurrence of errors, but more importantly removes the need for someone to manually enter the data, freeing up the time to conduct more meaningful work.

Review Part 1 of the ESG Blog Series on Environment.

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