Firstly let’s look at what we mean by social sustainability.

Myth buster – social impact is not the same as social value.

Social impact is the impact - positive and negative - that a business has on people within the business, in the value chain and in the wider world. These impacts may be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

Social value is the positive benefit (added value) an organisation delivers; it does not address the negative impacts. An organisation can be adding social value, for example, by taking on apprentices whilst still engaging in forced labour or producing a product that is harmful to the customer.

Social impact – the footprint

The consequences of doing day-to-day business

Social value – the handprint

The conscious positive impact on society

For the full picture, you'll need to look at the footprint, not just the handprint.

Why bother?

The social side of sustainability is often ignored or avoided by those running organisations because, among other things, it is too difficult; too inconsistent; too complicated; they think it’s irrelevant or that they’re already doing it; they consider it a nice to have, not important; it’s too difficult to measure. The problem is that a proportion of their staff and customers may not agree with or accept these excuses. The consequences of this can be:

• Irreversible reputational damage – organisations can be forgiven for environmental breaches but social breaches stick for many years; many baby boomers still won’t bank with Barclays
• Customers will choose to shop elsewhere because of ethical concerns or the risk of being damned by association
• Potential talent will choose to go elsewhere – millennials think differently!
• Staff, who are uncomfortable with their organisation’s approach to themselves or others, will be unmotivated or leave
• Increased scrutiny and investigation demanding significant investment of senior management time
• Loss of ethical investment

And then there’s the risk of prosecution

There is an ever increasing plethora of social legislation organisations need to address – the Social Value Act, the Dodd Frank Act, impending EU legislation on conflict minerals, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, the UK Bribery Act and the recent Modern Slavery Act to name but a few. In addition, in 2011 the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council. Whilst they aren’t mandatory there is an expectation that businesses will follow the guidance and carry out due diligence on their human rights impacts through their businesses and their supply chains.

Managing social sustainability isn’t just a risk management process, it’s an opportunity as well

Those same staff and customers will respond positively if you take social sustainability seriously, with the following consequences:

• Staff are motivated and will go the extra mile
• The business will be able to attract the best talent
• Reduced costs as statistics show that people are prepared to take lower income to work for an organisation with a strong ethical reputation
• Attract ethically concerned customers
• Attract customers who are concerned about their reputation
• Attract public sector customers who are required to consider social value in their purchasing decisions
• Long term business security by investing in the future
• Good will reservoir protects the organisation if things do go wrong

The Anthesis offer

• Assistance with legislative compliance
• Social impact gap analysis using ISO 26000 and the UN Guiding Principles
• Development and implementation or the social impact strategy linked to the business strategy
• Advice on addressing social impact challenges and opportunities
• Monitoring and measuring social impact and social value
• Promoting your social impact message
• Maximising social value in government contract bidding and delivery
• Support to respond to social impact legislation including Social Value Act, Modern Slavery Act and Bribery Act