Building Dreams | Navigating your business Ambitions
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies sound like a big undertaking for big businesses, but companies of all sizes can and should adopt them. Not only do ESG policies positively impact the community and world, but they also help a business attract job candidates, customers, and even opportunities.
ESG covers a wide range of policies, products and practices for companies, but getting started means creating a viewpoint on a few impactful things and adopting those changes.
If you are ready to implement ESG policies for your business, the first step is to take an honest look at your current operations.
- Do I have a diverse workforce making a fair wage with access to benefits for their well-being?
- How am I protecting the environment? Do we recycle, conserve water, use any renewable energy sources?
- What local, state and federal government regulations do I need to follow?
Once your baseline is established, it’s time to develop a plan to increase your efforts. These could be two to three focus areas with measurable steps to ensure that your goals will be achievable. Next, research if the target ESG changes/goals can open additional contracting, supplier or partnering opportunities for the business. Finally, share your actionable plan with team members and your customers and look for ways to work with like-minded community groups and business owners. Most of all, be open to and ask for accountability.
Being a responsible corporate citizen is not only the right thing to do — it will bring great returns!
