Building a sustainable future is no easy feat. Here’s what companies are struggling with when it comes to implementing environmental sustainability strategies and meeting candidate expectations.
Candidates feel that the main challenges businesses face with creating a sustainable future is a lack of funding for initiatives (63%), followed by a lack of knowledge / understanding of what makes a difference (62%), and a lack of prioritisation from senior leadership (56%). A failure to prioritise environmental sustainability by senior leadership can lend itself to insufficient funding, particularly if environmental sustainability is not viewed as a top business priority and is therefore not invested in.
Candidates are looking for businesses to take their commitment to environmental sustainability seriously, so if you are looking to attract the best digital talent, it's important to be putting tangible environmental sustainability plans into place. This could involve dedicating funds within the budget to sustainability initiatives that your people are asking for; investing in training and education for the wider company; and ensuring senior leadership is also driving the sustainability conversation, to ensure environmental sustainability is truly prioritised.
I think environmental sustainability should be considered as important as a P&L to shareholders. Investors should be made fully aware of the year-on-year increase or decrease in sustainability. Personally, I would like to see governmental level legislative requirements placed on companies to perform this type of reporting as a bare minimum. - candidate survey response
On the other hand, companies cite a lack of company-wide education around personal impact (44%) as the main challenge, followed by a lack of funding for initiatives (38%) and a lack of knowledge / understanding of what makes a difference (37%). Based on these findings, making sustainability a stronger business priority and re-allocating funding into it where possible; consulting sustainability experts to better understand how tangible changes can be made; as well as investing in training and education for your people to bring them along on the sustainability journey, are all key.
