Reaching the ‘Social’ in ESG with the Good Business Charter
Organisations accredited by Investors in the Environment (iiE) are already showing what environmental leadership looks like in practice. From reducing carbon emissions and cutting waste to embedding sustainability into everyday operations, iiE members are taking meaningful steps to protect the planet.
Responsible business is about the full picture of how an organisation operates. How are they treating their colleagues, their customers, their suppliers and wider society?
This is something Julian Richer, founder of Richer Sounds hi-fi retailer, has been passionate about for decades. His mantra is ‘it’s all about the people’ – and the evidence that his approach works is easy to see.
At Richer Sounds you will find people who have worked for the company for years – retention is so high because of the approach to colleague care. Yet it has also had to survive in a ferociously competitive sector – and simple things like paying suppliers on time has helped them build up resilience to get through the tough times.
What is often termed the social side of responsible business, or the S in ESG, is absolutely critical to a responsible business. I personally find it frustrating when I hear a business being lauded as an amazingly sustainable business but whilst doing incredible things for the planet, it is overlooking its people!
Where the Good Business Charter comes in
Good Business Charter (GBC) accreditation brings together the way an organisation treats it key stakeholders. It was agreed by the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress as the UK benchmark for responsible business, with the Federation of Small Businesses then assisting in the development of a streamlined version for organisations with 50 employees or less.
The University of Northampton has been accredited by Investors in the Environment for 12 years and the Good Business Charter for 4 years, allowing them to demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible business.
I was privileged to be involved in their first Sustainability Summit which saw the first day dedicated to the environment and the second to social sustainability. My observation was that it can be easy to default back to the environment because of all the ways to measure impact and all the advances in this space. Yet, just because social sustainability isn’t as advanced in terms of measurement, it doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. And there are more measures than we realise such as staff retention rates and staff satisfaction ratings.
Take a look – if you find you already commit to the 10 components of the Good Business Charter, it is a super quick process to apply and add your GBC accreditation to your iiE badge.
In a nutshell, the Good Business Charter can:
1. Identify areas you can be working on to develop your reputation as a responsible business;
2. Strengthen the ‘S’ alongside the ‘E’, holding you to account on a wider set of criteria; and
3. Set you apart if you are able to meet all 10 and accredit.
We recently welcomed Swinton Estate to the GBC who already holds Green iiE accreditation. As they set out on their website, this recognition from the Good Business Charter reflects the standards they strive to uphold across the Estate, from how they support their people and partners to the way they engage with their community and care for the environment.
Good business isn’t complicated: apply today.
iiE accredited organisations will have their sign-up fee waived and the annual fee starts at just £50 per year for organisations with under 50 employees.
This article was contributed by Jenny Herrera, CEO at GBC