Leveraging Human Resources for Sustainable Growth

Leveraging Human Resurces for Sustainable GrowthLeveraging Human Resources for Sustainable GrowthLeveraging Human Resources for Sustainable Growth W. Savitz with Karl WeberAdapted from Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line, by Andrew W. Savitz with Karl Weber (Jossey-Bass, 2013)An organization that wants to become a sustainable organization has to look at changing a wide range of business activities, fruchtwein of which are measured by the triple bottom line (TBL) the total impact of your companys operations on the environment, society, and the economy.The TBL is comprised of specific environmental, social, and economic indicators, such as the amount of various pollutants released, the ways in which employees are treated and the financial impacts of companies on local communities. The TBL includes the direct impact of your operations, the impacts of your products, and the impacts of your suppliers and their operations.As daily headlines remind us, sustainability and the TBL are now of enormous importance in practically every industry, helping shape companies public reputations and their future business prospects.Less widely recognized, however, is the fact that the human resources (HR) department often has an outsized impact on sustainability.In fact, HR departments in most companies are expected to generate a number of specific deliverables that are significant in measuring an organizations TBL includingFair and reasonable pay and competitive benefitsWorkforce diversityA happy, healthy, and productive workforceUseful training and career developmentHuman rights for employees and suppliersPositive community relations, andGood working conditions for employees and contractorsAll of these traditional HR deliverables are elements of sustainability and all are crucial to your businesss ongoing success.Fortunately, many HR departments today are discovering and focusing on their vital role in sustainability. Theyre becoming mora environmentally and socia lly responsible, generating direct and measurable benefits for the entire organization and leading other departments toward greater sustainability.Measuring Employee EngagementOne good way for your HR department to leverage sustainability is to measure how your company treats its own employees. One good, simple reason to abflug there is that any organization that claims to be managing according to sustainability principles should be taking good care of its own people. Sustainability begins at home.In fact, surveys reveal that most customers in the United States base their impression of a companys social and environmental responsibility largely on the way it treats its employees not on the companys corporate philanthropy, volunteerism, environmental projects, or any other acts that provide benefits to those outside the company.If employees are well-treated, this creates a halo effect that sheds a positive light on many other aspects of the company.Recognizing this, a number of compa nies have used employment policies alongside a strong commitment to the TBL to create a cadre of loyal, supportive workers who are deeply engaged in their work.These employees tend to be highly motivated, which leads to higher productivity, greater efficiency, increased customer satisfaction, or simply more good will in the community.Engaged employees feel that they are being valued and respected, and they naturally earn their employers a reputation for good corporate citizenship that helps grow and sustain their businesses.If they also feel that they are part of a company that shares their commitment to making a positive difference in the world, their commitment can rise even higher.How Starbucks Sustains SuccessConsider the coffee chain Starbucks as an example. For Starbucks, employees hold the key to financial success. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz describes the vital relationship between his companys employees and its customers this wayWhen we are fully engaged, we connect with , laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers even if just for a few moments. Sure, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. Its really about human connection.How does Starbucks make the seemingly mundane job of a coffee server attractive and get baristas to make the Starbucks Experience one that customers will pay more for, certainly beyond what they might pay elsewhere for the same cup of coffee?One important way is to provide excellent employee benefits employees who work twenty or more hours a week receive health insurance coverage, including prescription drugs, dental care, and vision coverage an unusually generous package.Other benefits include a retirement savings plan, stock options, a discounted stock purchase plan, an adoption assistance plan, domestic partner benefits, referral programs and support resources for child care and elder care, and, of course, a discount on Starbucks merchandise including a free pound of coffee each week.This array of benefits, combined with flexible work hours and above-average pay for entry-level employees, makes Starbucks a significantly more attractive alternative than most of its obvious rivals, including other food chains, and pays rich rewards to the company as well.Similar employee-centered strategies have been followed by other businesses, from the Wegmans grocery chain to the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm, with impressive financial results.But Starbucks goes a step further to deepen its connection with employees with a strategy we call values alignment.Starbucks works hard to attract and hire people who share the companys well-publicized social and environmental commitments (such as buying ethically sourced coffee). Many even consider these commitments part of the benefits of working at Starbucks.So although Starbucks sustainability programs appeal to many customers, they are even more important in terms of motivating the employees who create t he Starbucks Experience the heart and soul of the companys business model.Employee Motivation through Sustainability Many of todays most successful businesses, from GE and PepsiCo to IBM and the Gap, as well as smaller companies, are creating such sustainability-based motivational programs, with tremendous benefits for the business.Whats more, a commitment to sustainability, as evidenced by these kinds of initiatives, is proving to be a powerful attractor of todays best talent.Countless surveys as well as anecdotal evidence provided by many HR professionals we interviewed underscore the reality that working men and women of all ages today are hungry for opportunities to live out their personal values on the job, including environmental and social values.As a result, companies that practice sustainability starting with their HR policies have a leg up in the war for talent that will largely determine the winners and losers in todays global marketplace.Factors such as these help e xplain why we believe that every HR professional needs to put sustainability at the top of his or her agenda for years to come.Author BioAndrew Savitz is co-author of Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line(Jossey-Bass, 2013). He iscurrently Principal, Sustainable Business Strategies and a creative advisor, author and speaker, with over 20 years of hands-on experience assisting corporations to become leaders in sustainability, environmental performance, measurement and reporting. Savitz speaks frequently on the topic of sustainability and corporate social responsibility and has been widely quoted in both the sustainability trade press, the environmental press, and the mass media. He serves on the mainboard of the Environment and Natural Resources Department at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He founded, and currently chairs the Board of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters. Visit The Savitz Report website (launching early April, 2013). Reach Andrew Savitz by email.Read moreCareer Planning for your Multigenerational WorkforceE-Learning Tools to Advance Employee DevelopmentTeam Development Creating Positive Change