The Current Status
Sustainability, however conceived or defined, is a growing topic trending throughout diverse segments of America. Governments, private businesses, and public institutions alike have incorporated sustainability programs into their organizations. Citizens and customers are more aware of and inquisitive about sustainability issues. In the course of just years, monitoring progress towards sustainability has become an occupation for many, including university researchers, consultants, front-line workers, environmental managers, and C-suite level professionals.
Progress towards sustainability is tracked using metrics and the data that informs those metrics. This is increasingly relevant when specific metrics are used by companies in determining contract awards and by governments in enforcing regulations. However, the metrics used to track sustainability are varied. Different metrics are used across industries and institutions. A consensus is needed to focus the attention of organizational sustainability programs. Programs such as the Global Reporting Initiative, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and LEED building rating system address the void and provide opportunities for consensus. More comprehensive sets of metrics are still needed.
The Missing Piece
Remembering the adage “what gets measured gets managed,” metrics have the potential to define organizational sustainability programs. In business, the majority of what gets measured relates to waste reduction. Examples include waste to landfill, wasted energy, and pollution emissions.
In the rush to reduce waste and cut carbon emissions, people are often overlooked. People are the essence of sustainability. The intended beneficiaries of conservation and waste reduction efforts are future generations of people. Sustainability programs that fail to directly consider humans are incomplete. The human element of sustainability is essential.
All organizations are comprised of people. This human element of an organization is an easy starting point for metrics concerning people. Safety, health, satisfaction, happiness, knowledge or skills development, opportunities for growth, and participation in the community are just some measurement opportunities. Without any Human Value metrics, the human element of sustainability is not measured, is likely not managed, and is potentially altogether ignored.
A Reflection of Values
Sustainability programs reflect the values of an organization. An organization that has energy reduction metrics values reducing carbon emissions and values saving money. Without metrics that show an organization values people opportunities exist for criticism from employees, customers, community members, and other stakeholders.
Most, if not all, organizations would vigorously argue that they value all stakeholders; however, Human Value can be difficult to communicate. It is often easier for an organization to explain – and for people to conceptualize – reducing tons of waste sent to landfill or reducing carbon emissions equivalent to taking 1,000 cars off of the road. Stakeholders pick up on indirect communications seen and heard in all forms of media. News concerning mass lay-offs, unequal pay based on gender, inflated executive pay, stagnant pay for front-line employees (even in the face of huge gains in worker productivity), no provisions for paid maternity or medical leave, and so on give the impression that people are at the bottom of an organization’s value list.
A Collaborative Way Forward
Yes, the idea of Human Value is not yet concrete and is lacking broad consensus. The easiest way to address this is for each organization to place metrics appropriate for them on the human elements of their operations. Some efforts to place metrics on the human and social elements of sustainability, such as SASB, IIRC, and Future Fit, are addressing this need. With more participation will come more discussion and the opportunity to clarify what Human Value is and how it should be measured. Not considering Human Value as an integrated part of sustainability measures is a major shortcoming that must be corrected.
