Good morning!
I’m penning today’s newsletter from San Diego where Fortune is hosting its Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit. On Wednesday, I spoke with several executives about how ESG has become a driving force in employee recruitment and retention.
Today’s employees want proof that their employers are doing the work—a responsibility that often falls to HR leaders and their teams, who are tasked with setting ESG strategy and success metrics.
So it was no surprise that one of the most asked audience questions was how to develop and deliver on ESG goals, which remain amorphously defined and often fall to groups already stretched thin with competing responsibilities. For panelists, the solution lies in positioning ESG high in a company’s organizational structure, centering employees in relevant ESG work, and securing buy-in from all leaders.
— “You've got to have alignment at the CEO level…and you've got to make three cases: the business case, the moral case, and the personal case. Whatever role you're in, and whatever company you're in, figure out how to empower that person with those different cases, and then support them with tools, analytics, and data.” —Maria Colacurcio, CEO at Syndio
— “Employees come into the door, literally or virtually, bringing everything about themselves and what they think, value, and protect—especially younger employees. The younger generation is showing us that it's okay to bring those perspectives into work…We have people asking all the time, ‘How can we help with ESG efforts?’” —Rachel Hutchisson, VP of global social responsibility at Blackbaud
— “My lesson learned is that it really is about your connection to the leadership team more broadly rather than your direct reporting line. I meet every quarter with our founders and give them a progress update on what's not working and what is so that they have that visibility to help get me the buy-in where I need it, remove roadblocks, and ultimately support the work. But the tactical work doesn't sit with any one team, and that's when you know you're doing it right.” —Jessica Hyman, head of sustainability and DEI at Atlassian
Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton
