ESG Provides New Opportunities for Employers to Show What They Value

Companies have an opportunity to take a stand in tangible ways, and they need to leverage their employees to make that stand sustainable and successful.

Estimated Read Time: Three minutes

Over the past 18 months, people have been consumed with COVID-19, a rapidly-worsening climate crisis, and enhanced calls for social justice. After enduring these challenges and adjusting to the ways these factors have reshaped life, employees have decided they will not settle for a return to the status quo. And amidst what some economists are calling “The Great Resignation,” employers need to wake up to their workers’ needs.

The time for change is now, and to create and implement that change, employers need to identify what their companies care about and utilize their employees to take action and elevate those issues.

According to the Department of Labor, more than four million Americans quit their jobs in April 2021, marking the greatest spike on record. For many, the pandemic and a new work-from-home reality prompted deeper reflection about a work-life balance. Others came to the realization that they no longer wanted to have a job that wasn’t fulfilling or work for employers who didn’t seem to care much about their interests or values.

So, if employers want to better understand this great exodus, they would be wise to actually take the drastic step to ask their employees how they are feeling. And they can’t just passively listen; they actually have to hear them and act on their concerns. The increased trend of employee activism is not going away. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just buzz words that are going to fade. And employees are going to increasingly prioritize social impact, so employers need to be right alongside them in the fight.

For companies ready to take the next step and discover a greater mission, one avenue that can be explored is ESG — environmental, social, and corporate governance goals.

Harvard Business School professor and ESG expert George Serafeim believes the pandemic “should drive a deeper integration of ESG inside an organization’s core business management and strategy,” adding, “ESG is no longer just about ‘feel good’ issues. We are talking about ever more important value drivers.”

There are numerous benefits to investing in ESG. It can provide a financial boost to companies. It can also strengthen the tie between employees and their respective workplace at a time when higher morale is so vital in the fight to retain and empower workers.

In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of, Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time, noted, “Active employee participation and leadership on sustainability issues not only improves ESG performance, it can help lure burned-out professionals back to the job.”

Exploring ESG gives employers the chance to live their values, but it also provides them with the crucial opportunity to engage their employees and align with their priorities as well.

At 18 Coffees, we believe there is a lot of overlap between how political organizations, businesses, and communities are effectively organized to make change. The key is mobilizing the people most affected by the change to be a part of making the kind of change they want to see. Your employees care about issues like sustainability and social impact, and involving them in crafting your ESG goals will not only make those goals more likely to succeed, it will create employees who are engaged in your organization’s mission—making it more likely they will stick around.

Employers must take those individuals who are already in the fight to create change and mobilize them to help implement that change in their organization. It’s not just smart to engage employees in this fight; it simply will not work without them.