Firstly let’s look at what we mean by social sustainability.
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.
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:
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.
Those same staff and customers will respond positively if you take social sustainability seriously, with the following consequences:
