What drives companies to pay attention to human rights? 🤔
Truly?
Is it to be aligned with values? 💡
Is it to be a good corporate citizen and maintain a social licence to operate? 🌍
Is it to meet a law, or to be ready for an upcoming law? ⚖️
Is it to maintain operational stability, and avoid disruptions? 🔧
Is it to attract and retain talent? 👩💼👨💼
Is it to protect reputation? 🛡️
Is it to attract more sales, or more business customers? 💳
Is it to keep up with peers? 🤝
Is it to rank highly in peer benchmarks? 📊
Is it to respond to investor questions? 📈
Is it to lower insurance premiums? 💸
Is it to lower the cost of capital? 💹
Is it something else? Which one is it?
This question has been a core part of the business and human rights movement ever since it first started.
And the answer to it has evolved. And depends on which part of the business you are speaking to.I feel this is one of the most fascinating parts of our work. ✨ What motivates people, and organisations to do certain things, or to not do them.
I love the way the new UN Global Compact and Accenture CEO study talks about the evolution of the sustainability movement.
From 2007 to 2012, the reputational risk unlocked the first door 🚪. We moved from a moral movement to business basics. From 2013 to 2018, sustainability strategy took shape, with the support of new frameworks and governance (aka the UNGPs & OECD Guidelines when it comes to human rights!). Then from 2019 to 2022, business starts to take a holistic approach, and sustainability gained traction as CEOs embraced metrics and investors took notice.
📊And now, since 2023, we are an in an era of competing priorities and a fight for sustainability. ⚔️
That’s right. Now more than ever we need to focus on what motivates and drives companies, as well as the eco-system within which companies are operating.
If we don’t, the business and human rights area will become side-lined and silo’ed.
If we do, companies will emerge as strong, resilient and grounded, in an era of increasing politicisation and division. 🌳
‘Laters’, as my daughter’s new American pen pal would say, 💌
Anna
