Organizational Change
The latest creative strategies and tools helping organizations to engage their teams in building market-leading, purpose-driven brands.
#BusinessCase: Hilton's Global Activation on Sustainability Has Saved It $550M Since 2009
Four years after launching its corporate responsibility strategy, Travel with Purpose, Hilton Worldwide says its investments in global partnerships and sustainability programs is not only driving positive social impact, but also supporting long-term business success. Hilton discusses its strategy and provides updates on its global impact in its fourth annual corporate responsibility report.Travel with Purpose was designed to examine global issues where Hilton can make an impact while simultaneously contributing to its future success:
My Christmas Hope: Let’s Change Our Us v. Them Mentality to End Our War on Nature
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … the Spring of Hope, the Winter of Despair …”Charles Dickens’ words feel current and vivid as we think about our world today. We may at last have some energy towards a meaningful international agreement on climate action. We are seeing sustainability feature in the corporate and political mainstream like never before.
How the Good Work Movement Is Offering Security for Gig Economy Workers
Heard of the Good Work movement yet? If you haven’t, it’s probably because companies such as Uber and Airbnb get more press. The Good Work movement, founded by the National Domestic Workers Alliance in October, is a gathering of companies pledging to deliver the protections and benefits that gig companies such as Uber notoriously fail to offer.There’s a lot going on here, and the movement’s model is extremely important for the future of work. Here’s why.
75% of CEOs Acting to Cut Business Impacts, But Less Than Half See Climate Implications for Business
Interim results from PwC’s Annual CEO Survey show that CEOs at major international businesses are coming to terms with the implications of the transition to a low-carbon economy, reinforced by the new global agreement on climate change reached last weekend at the conclusion of COP21 in Paris.
3 Challenges to Living Your Company Brand and How to Overcome Them
A sales manager recently told me about an embarrassing scene that unfolded before an important client meeting. “Two teams from our firm were waiting in the lobby when the client walked in, and the groups didn’t recognize each other,” she said. “What a contradiction of our promise to provide integrated solutions! We looked like the Keystone Kops.”
COP21: A View from Paris
The Conference of the Parties … COP21 … the climate conference … or just “Paris,” as in “What’s going to happen in Paris?”
Living Wage: Key to Maximizing Morale and Driving Financial Value
Around the world there is a growing consensus that a company’s social role goes beyond meeting legal requirements, complying with ethical standards, creating jobs and paying taxes. People everywhere now expect companies to act as social leaders, using their business expertise to lead social change.In response to people’s changing expectations, the world’s most innovative companies are building social value right into their core business strategies, not only to address poverty and other problems in their communities, but also to improve workplace relations, gain market advantages and grow profits faster.
How HR, Sustainability Heads Can Partner to Embed Purpose Throughout an Organization
There was a lot of discussion last week at SB’15 London around the so-called ‘aspirational generation’ - a rising generation of millennials with higher sustainability expectations of brands whose products they buy, as well as for those they work for. How to attract and retain a motivated workforce (younger and older, alike) with more stringent demands for positive purpose and impact was the core theme of Tuesday afternoon’s breakout session.
Towards Corporate Humanities: How to Leverage Purpose to Make Your Organization More Human
In the past few weeks we talked about what purpose is, how it’s affected the economy, and why it’s so important from a psychological perspective. We ended the last post by beginning to understand the differences between Humans and Econs [Humans being real people in the real world, and Econs being our theoretical version that economics is based upon] and the unfortunate truth that most companies are, unlike us, Econs.
How Lawyers, ESG Experts See the Future of Regulatory Compliance
In the midst (and potentially mist) of the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal, there was no better time to discuss the ESG (environmental, social and governance) regulation space than SB’15 London.
From Talk to Action: #SB15London Opening Night Sets Stage for Moving from 'What If' to 'How Now'
The opening plenary session at SB ’15 London introduced attendees to this year’s theme, HOW NOW?
Walmart Workers Launch #FastFor15 Movement for $15/Hr, Full-Time Pay
Walmart employees’ low wages make it difficult for them to meet ends meet, and many go hungry or require assistance from local programs and food banks, according to OUR Walmart - a worker-led organization focused on pressuring the world’s largest retailer to pay its workers $15 an hour and extend full-time employment. To bring the issue to the attention of the Walton family leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, OUR Walmart has launched a “Fast for 15” initiative.
Beverage Packaging Artisans Get the Spotlight in Coca-Cola's New Short Film
After spending much of her childhood in landfills near Mexico City, 22-year-old Sandy Yazmin Colohua Gomez is now one of the women who has gained financial independence and confidence through The Coca-Cola Company’s 5by20 initiative. The company has released a short film, 5by20: Meet the Artisans, to share the global impact of the initiative through stories such as Sandy’s.
Attention, Shoppers: REI Is Paying Its Employees to Take Black Friday, Thanksgiving Off
To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI is taking a bold stand against the chaotic caricature of capitalism that is Black Friday by closing its doors and paying its employees to live the company ethos — by spending the day enjoying the great outdoors with their loved ones.In an email sent to customers on Monday, the co-op announced that it’s closing all 143 of its stores on Black Friday.
BlueBud: How JetBlue Is Helping 'the United Nations of Bread' Get Off the Ground
This summer, JetBlue announced New York City-based Hot Bread Kitchen — a social enterprise that builds lasting economic security for foreign-born and low-income women by introducing them to professional opportunities in the culinary industry - as the first winner of its “BlueBud" business mentoring program.
The 3 Best Metrics for Effective Employee Engagement
During the last decade or so, human resource management has been essentially flipped on its head. What was once a decidedly employer-centered market has become one driven by the needs and concerns of the employee. Despite still relatively high competition for jobs in a recovering global economy, more and more companies that require a skilled workforce find themselves competing for the people they need to get the job done. As the human capital gurus over at Deloitte so succinctly put it in its Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report, “Employees are now like customers; companies have to consider them volunteers, not just workers.”
Community Hiring: The Labour Market Advantage Is in Your Own Backyard
The world’s most innovative leaders know that social businesses are more profitable businessesConsumers around the world, from Vancouver and Toronto to Shanghai and New York, believe that a company’s social role goes beyond simply meeting legal requirements, complying with ethical standards, creating jobs and paying taxes. Research shows that consumers everywhere expect companies to act as social leaders, using their business expertise to lead social change.
Brands Must Scale Up Diversity – and Fast – If They Want to Remain Relevant
“Women challenge the status quo because we never are it.”Addressing a (thankfully) diverse audience of sustainability professionals in London, UK, last month at an event hosted by The Crowd, Cindy Gallop -– a global activist for the gender equality movement -– pulled no punches in reminding business leaders why women are essential to making corporations fit for a better world.
Caesars Outlines Environmental, Social Impacts of Its Focus on 'Inspiring Citizenship'
Gaming, hotel and resort company Caesars Entertainment Corporation released its sixth annual Corporate Citizenship Report, Inspiring Citizenship, this week. The company achieved most of its 2015 targets early and has established new interim targets for 2020 in accordance with their goals for 2025.Highlights of environmental progress include:
Starbucks UK to Give 'Home Sweet Loans' to Employees Under 25, Living Wage to All
Starbucks UK has announced it is going beyond government recommendations for the National Living Wage and will be the first private company to implement housing and homelessness charity Shelter’s Tenancy Deposit Loan Scheme, to help its employees manage the cost of living.“There are now 11 million private renters in England, and as housing costs keep rising, more and more people are struggling to scrape together the deposit needed to rent a home," said Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb.