In this pre-fall '23 newsletter:
👉 How do you create a sustainable organization by measuring & strengthening well-being at work?
👉By 2025/26, SMEs must also take measures to implement the Sustainable Development Goals🌳
👉How to shape SDG themes such as well-being, decent work, education, diversity and inclusion ☯ in your company?
👉Follow our upcoming webinar: " Sustainable Development Goals and Well-Being at Work " in collaboration with Tryangle Happiness and Well-Being at Work . We delve deeper into how you can create a sustainable organization by measuring & strengthening well-being at work 🎯. More info.
👉 Legislation changed for both large organizations and SMEs with regard to sustainability (reporting) obligations: more about this.
Sustainability: you can't ignore it anymore. I see it as a theme at networking events, training courses, media reports, conferences, etc. During August we delved into how your organization can meet certain sustainability requirements through a well-being scan & solution.
Photo: An-Katrien and Sharon from House of Vitality at the SDG Summer School in Leuven (8/23)
More specifically, there are five core SDG domains that a wellbeing scan & solution addresses: wellbeing & health, inclusion, diversity, education and decent work. Later in this article we offer you our tips for your business. Click here if you want to read it already.
Legal framework for sustainability
The current annual sustainability reporting obligation for large organizations also has a direct impact on SME suppliers. This is because these major players must demonstrate that they work with organizations that also meet these requirements.
Being SDG-proof therefore ensures your strategic position in the market and the retention of your customers.
You can no longer ignore this theme when it comes to branding. Customers, citizens, employees and investors expect you, as a company and manager, to have an opinion about sustainability and to take action in this regard. There is also the political pressure and (upcoming) legal requirements.
Legally, organizations will have to integrate the SDGs or Social Development Goals into their business operations.
86% of citizens expect CEOs to openly take a position on societal challenges. (3)
Today, large listed companies, banks and insurance companies already have to report on a number of non-financial matters, such as CO2 emissions, human rights in their value chain and social capital (NFRD legislation 2014). However, the recently approved CSRD legislation will gradually expand this scope from 2024. More specifically, one will have to report on the way in which the company has an impact on people and the environment . This information will also have to be tested by an accountant.
Specific this applies to:
2024 (reporting in '25): public interest companies with more than 500 employees
2025: large companies exceeding at least two of the following three criteria:
>250 people
>40 million euros turnover
>20 million euros total assets
2026: listed SMEs, as well as small and non-complex credit institutions (except listed micro-enterprises)
2024: Smaller companies are often part of the value chain of organizations that must comply with this. Ultimately, everyone experiences the pressure to meet these sustainability requirements.
Attracting and retaining passionate and talented people is about paying attention to the balance between well-being and productivity.
Tips for your business
Strengthening sustainability with a well-being scan & solution
Baloise's subsidiary B-Tonic speaks in their recent sustainability report of a "war for wellbeing", which lies behind the war for talent (1). Attracting and retaining passionate and talented people is about paying attention to the balance between well-being and productivity.
Their report supports this statement with figures from a study by Deloitte.
This shows that 68% of people and 81% of top management prefer a better balance between well-being and productivity than progressing up the career ladder (2) .
Organizations create an upward cycle by investing in their human capital. Ultimately, people will have to promote and (help) implement the SDG sustainability policy. They themselves are a key to "sustainability" in terms of not burning out due to a poor well-being-productivity balance. Read more here about how you can strengthen human capital by offering them the right structural 'human support' basis from within the organization.
ROI of well-being at work
You can no longer ignore sustainability. Just as you can no longer ignore well-being at work. The two are inextricably intertwined. Enthusiastic employees also provide a productive, healthy basis from which you can do business sustainably. When employees feel enthusiastic, this leads to (4):
•45% more productivity;
•300% more innovative power;
•37% more turnover;
•33% more profit;
•125% fewer burnouts;
•66% less absenteeism
•and 50% fewer occupational accidents.
Top 3 most relevant SDGs for organizations
The SDG Barometer that UA carried out in 2022 shows that the attention of Belgian organizations for the SDGs has indeed increased from 58% to 73% since 2020 (5). 72.95% of them even prioritize multiple SDGs (compared to 1). The most relevant SDGs according to these organizations are: climate action (no. 13), good health and well-being (no. 3) and decent work and economic growth (no. 8).
The five SDGs that you as an organization can work on with a well-being scan or total solution are: good health and well-being (no. 3), decent work and economic growth (no. 8), quality education (no. 4), gender equality (no. 5) and reduce inequality (no. 10).
Below we provide a brief overview per SDG of what you as a company can do to achieve this. You will learn more concrete tips, tricks and experiences during our webinar about this soon.
Good health and well-being (no. 3)
Promoting well-being in the workplace: psychosocial aspects
Developing a health policy
Realizing health actions & care
Decent work and economic growth (no. 8)
Striving for a healthy and safe working environment: actions regarding safety and ergonomics
Offer decent and workable work
Work/life balance
Equal pay for equal work between men and women
Quality education (no. 4)
Career development
Coaching
Dual learning
(Reversed) mentoring
Gender Equality (No. 5)
Diversity: being allowed to be authentically yourself
Equal opportunities: career opportunities & growth opportunities
Transgressive behavior & sexual harassment
Participation & access to management at all decision-making levels
Reducing inequality (no. 10)
Achieving equality within the company: e.g. generation, culture, religion, race, political beliefs, less mobile people, mental disability, poverty, ...
Webinar: "Organizations & the SDGs: How do you create a sustainable organization by measuring & strengthening well-being at work 🎯?
In collaboration with our partner Tryangle Happiness and Well-Being at Work, we offer a free webinar on October 10 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. full of practical tips on how you can create a sustainable organization by measuring & strengthening well-being at work .
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Specifically discussed:
- A brief outline of the context and importance of the SDGs for organizations.
- A broader view beyond reporting obligations: the ROI of people-oriented sustainability goals.
- Ways to deeply integrate the SDGs related to well-being and job satisfaction into the organizational strategy.
- Practical examples to get started with themes such as sustainable careers, diversity and inclusion and the pursuit of healthy people in a healthy workplace.
Would you like to receive more inspiring articles and tips to feel good about yourself as a person and organization & to monitor the well-being-productivity balance?
Would you like to read our latest newsletter about how you can strengthen the human capital and well-being of yourself and your organization?
See you soon!
with kind regards
Sharon
Sources:
B-Tonic/ Baloise, 2023, "Wellbeing & sustainability. Trend report 2023"
Deloitte Employer and C-suite well-being survey, 2022: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/employee-wellness-in-the-corporate-workplace.html
The Edelman Trust Barometer 2022
Happiness at Work & Wellbeing Conference, https://happiness-conference.world/
UAntwerp, SDG Barometer 2022: https://www.uantwerpen.be/nl/overuantwerpen/pers/persbericht-nieuws/2022/sdg-barometer/