Latest updated: 18 January 2023

Social sustainability is becoming increasingly important in today's work life – especially as companies try to adapt to ESG criteria, where S stands for social responsibility. Social sustainability is about taking care of your employees, making sure they are well and have good working conditions so that they do not suffer from stress or burnout. But it also means giving employees opportunities to develop and grow as individuals.

The concept of ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance and is used to evaluate a company's sustainability efforts. The social dimension of sustainability, the "S" in ESG, has gained increasing importance in recent times. A sustainable work life requires not only that we take responsibility for the environment and climate, but also that we take responsibility for people.

There are several good reasons for companies to invest in social sustainability and the most proactive way to do so is to invest in employee development. The first reason we have already mentioned, social responsibility is one of the criteria in ESG, and is therefore an important measure of how sustainable the company is – which in turn affects relationships with shareholders, customers, investors and society as a whole.

But active employee development also means preventing problems such as costly sick leave, low productivity and high turnover. Employees who feel good and are developing will be more motivated and productive at work, and eventually reach their full potential. At the same time, it will be easier to recruit new talent when the brand is strengthened and it becomes known that your company takes care of its employees and helps them develop. It becomes a win-win situation where you both prevent problems and create new opportunities, both for yourself and for the employee as an individual.

Developing employees and getting measurable results

Employee development is about creating conditions for health and well-being, including preventing stress and ill health. It also involves building up employees' mental strength and ability to lead themselves. These are very important factors that protect employees from ill health. To avoid problems such as stress, of course, good working conditions are needed, but self-confidence and self-awareness are also needed. By learning to understand one's own behavior and habits, personality and drives, one can make life work better - and become more sustainable.

Coaching is an effective tool in employee development. It involves working very concretely with the employee's behavior, motivation and willingness to change, and measuring the employee's progress and development. It provides an opportunity to both prevent ill health and identify unused potential in the employee. Previously, it has been difficult to measure employee development and the work it involves in concrete numbers, but through digital coaching in Zebrains' platform, your company can get data that can go directly into sustainability reporting.

Whether you choose to invest in coaching or something else, it is important to understand that the work of social sustainability must be taken down to the individual level if it is really going to make an impact. It is also important to see the opportunities in such an investment. Social sustainability is not just about preventing what creates dissatisfaction and ill health in the workplace - but also actively nourishing what creates motivation and productivity. Employee development is something that you have a lot to gain from, especially in the long term.

Social sustainability is just as important as the other two dimensions of sustainability, and it is high time that more companies see the great potential in developing their employees and investing in health and well-being. Companies can only be sustainable if they have sustainable employees - everything is interconnected.

Webinar 30 November

At 8:00-9:00 AM on Wednesday, we will discuss what the S in ESG means, how your organization can deliver on this and at the same time solve strategic business challenges by taking responsibility for employees and society. We will show you how to work data-driven and focus on performance measurement to get measurable results for monitoring and sustainability reporting so that you can take with you:

• Increased understanding of the S in ESG
• How delivering on S can strengthen operations and business
• Specific tips for getting started with S in ESG

Register here: https://resources.zebrain.se/webinar-esg