The Secrets of a Strong ESG Strategy

“These market conditions have allowed job seekers to be more selective and go after what they want,” says LaFawn Davis, Senior Vice President of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) organization at Indeed. 

That selectivity includes favoring companies with a clear ESG strategy and commitments. Businesses that aren’t taking visible, measurable ESG steps risk alienating prospective employees, Davis says, which is “causing employers to rethink how they work on many levels to attract and keep talent.” 

“Employees, especially younger ones, are finding social and environmental responsibilities to be a compelling differentiator for where they choose to work,” adds Tim Mohin, Chief Sustainability Officer for Persefoni AI, a carbon-accounting software platform. Those job seekers want to land somewhere they can thrive that is aligned with their values — and current employees do, too. 

Craft an ESG strategy to deliver real impact, real change 

Indeed’s mission is to help people get jobs. Its ESG strategy and goals expand upon that mission by striving to transform society to ensure “no job seeker is left behind,” Davis says. 

The interaction between Indeed’s technology and job seekers around the world is a differentiator of Indeed’s ESG strategy, Davis adds. For example, among Indeed’s ESG goals is helping 30 million people globally who face employment barriers — such as having criminal backgrounds or not having college degrees — find jobs they love. Achieving that goal will require Indeed to, according to Davis, “use our technology to understand much more about job seekers and the barriers they face, so we can disrupt the broken hiring process.”

Indeed also launched a strategic resource group called the Global Product Advisory Council as part of the company’s ESG focus. More than 100 people strong, the council provides perspective to product, marketing and brand teams before the company launches something new, to help ensure they’re serving all communities as well as they can. “It’s been phenomenal to see the council use its collective voice to make a real impact and real change in the company,” Davis says. 

Some Fortune 500 companies have developed or are building meaningful ESG goals that align to their particular missions. For example, at Kimberly-Clark, a multinational personal care corporation, initiatives include fighting period stigma through education and providing free access to menstruation products for 1.6 million low-income women, as well as bringing sanitation services and clean drinking water to communities around the world. 

“Today’s labor market wants to join companies that make a difference in a real way,” says Cynthia Burkhardt, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Kimberly-Clark.

Create an ESG strategy and goals that matter to job seekers

Marc Chini, Chief People Officer at leading omnichannel retailer Kohl’s, says his company sees the desire to make a difference reflected in what people want to know when they’re evaluating a new job. 

“Our new graduate and early career candidates are the ones who most often ask about our sustainability and diversity and inclusion efforts during the interview process as part of their research on the company,” Chini says. 

And, notes Scott Bonneau, Vice President of Global Talent Attraction at Indeed, “those who care about ESG care about it a lot.”

Here are a few guidelines to consider when developing an ESG strategy and goals that make sense for your company — and may help you attract and retain talent:

• Don’t think of ESG as voluntary or philanthropic. “ESG is a business strategy, and your goals should be where purpose and profits intersect,” Davis says. 

• Tie goals to your company’s narrative and emphasize empathy. Otherwise, your ESG strategy can seem performative and could sound like “virtue signaling.” For example, Indeed’s mission — to help people get jobs — ties to its ESG target to shorten the duration of job searches by 50% and thus help get people into jobs and out of unemployment faster. 

• Make your goals public. “Social media allows us to give candidates a window into what it’s like to work at Kohl’s and how the work we do impacts the greater good,” says Chini.

• Let employees lead. “Get everyone involved,” says Christine Geissler, Senior Vice President of global HR at Reckitt, a multinational consumer goods corporation. “People have different passion areas across the ESG space. Leveraging what your employees are passionate about and letting them get involved in ways they desire helps organizations gain further momentum. Show them it matters to the company as well, with obvious connections to core business. Walking the talk is essential to really engage people.” 

• Ensure alignment between employee initiatives and ESG strategy. “Make sure you have values and a policy,” says Mohin. You don’t want employee groups and initiatives that are misaligned with your company’s stance on environmental and social issues.

Good for companies, good for people (and vice versa)

“All of us, as individuals, as employers and employees, have some significant environmental and societal challenges ahead, and ESG initiatives can help us face them,” says Davis. 

From a corporate perspective, yes, a robust ESG strategy includes goals that are measurable and have a clear deadline — that’s just good practice. But from a social and personal perspective, they now are part of the social fabric of the workplace itself and can make the difference in whether a potential employee decides to come on board — and stay.