THE PEOPLE FACTOR
The first factor, people, refers to such issues as providing living wages, ensuring the health and safety of employees in the workplace, attracting and retaining diverse talent and providing support for employees.
Human resources personnel, for example, can contribute to a company’s sustainability profile through leadership development, ethics training and diversity and multiculturalism in hiring practices.
High-potential employees may be given extensive professional development opportunities while being introduced to sustainability as an overarching corporate goal. Managers in all areas can be briefed and given training on what their roles in sustainability are, how to introduce their employees to the connection between what they do on the job and sustainability and why it is important.
According to Jeana Wirtenberg, director, external relations and services at the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, “Workforce engagement in sustainability efforts may be the domain of human resources that best epitomizes the ‘people’ part of the triple bottom line. Not only is employee engagement strongly related to the sustainability of the company, but it is an enabler of customer satisfaction and business growth.”
THE PLANET FACTOR
The planet factor of the triple bottom line is the environmental aspect or the impact the corporation is having on the physical world around it. As a June 2006 Economist article states, “The criticism that climate change has no more place in corporate boardrooms than do discussions of other partisan political issues is surely wrong.”
“The traditional paradigm tells us that corporations operate within a framework set by government, particularly the governments of the United States and other democratic nations,” says FDU Professor of Management Joel Harmon, ISE’s director of research. “Yet, all around us are examples of the largest of these democratic nations taking exception to the case for sustainable practices.”
With legislators sometimes slow to act, private businesses are stepping up to the plate. Ray Anderson, the sustainability pioneer who heads Interface, Inc., a carpeting and floor-covering manufacturer, maintains that it is only through the power of business that the world can make significant progress toward sustainability. He said, “Only business has the power, influence, reach and resources to help the world become more sustainable.”
Interface focuses on harnessing solar, wind, biomass and other forms of green energy and on harvesting and recycling carpet and other petrochemical products — all while eliminating waste and harmful emissions from its operations.