Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line How Companies Can Leverage Human Resources to Achieve Sustainable Growth

by Savitz, Andrew; Weber, Karl; Lawler, Edward E.

• ISBN13: 9781118140970
• ISBN10: 1118140974
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-02-26
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

HR Professionals guide to creating a strategically sustainable organization Employees are central to creating sustainable organizations, yet they are left on the sidelines in most sustainability initiatives-along with the HR professionals who should be helping to engage and energize them. This book shows business leaders and HR professionals how to: motivate employees to create economic, environmental and social value; facilitate necessary culture, strategic and organizational change; embed sustainability into the employee lifecycle; and strengthen existing capabilities and develop new ones necessary to support the transformation to sustainability. Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line also demonstrates how leading companies are using sustainability to strengthen core HR functions: to win the war for talent, to motivate and empower employees, to increase productivity, and to enliven traditional HR-related efforts such as diversity, health and wellness, community involvement and volunteerism. In combination, these powerful benefits can help drive business growth, performance, and results. The book offers strategies, policies, tools and specific action steps that business leaders and HR professionals can use to get into the sustainability game or enhance their efforts dramatically Andrew Savitz is an expert in sustainability and has worked extensively with many organizations on sustainability strategy and implementation; he and Karl Weber wrote The Triple Bottom Line, one of the most successful books in the field Published in partnership with SHRM and with the cooperation of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development This book fills a gaping hole in both the HR and sustainability literature by educating HR professionals about sustainability, sustainability professionals about HR, and business leaders about how to marry the two to accelerate progress on both fronts.

Author Biography

Andrew Savitz is a principal of Sustainable Business Strategies and a business advisor with more than thirty years of experience assisting organizations to become more sustainable. He was formerly a lead partner in PricewaterhouseCooper's global sustainability group. With business writer Karl Weber, he authored the bestselling book The Triple Bottom Line.

Table of Contents

Foreword (Edward E. Lawler III)

Preface

Part One: Transformation, Talent, and Human Resources

Chapter 1: Transforming GE: Building a Sustainable Corporation from the People Up

Ecomagination: How and Why GE Is Turning Green

People Movers: How HR Is Helping Sustainability Take Hold

Healthymagination: How HR and Employees Are Advancing Sustainable Health Care

Eight Lessons: What HR, Sustainability and Business Leaders Can Learn from GE

Leveraging HR for Sustainable Growth: The New Winning Strategy

Chapter 2:  Sustainability: The Global Challenge, The Business Opportunity, and the People Factor

Sustainability Milestones: The Brundtland Commission and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

The Trends That Have Led to the Age of Sustainability

The Triple Bottom Line: A New Way To Define and Measure Success

The Sweet Spot and Sustainability Strategy

Sustainability and Profitability

What’s in It for Business?

Getting Started: Where HR Meets Sustainability

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Part Two: From Traditional HR to Sustainable HR

Chapter 3: Embedding Sustainability in the Workforce Lifecycle

Building Sustainability into Core HR Processes

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Chapter 4: Embedding Sustainability in Employee Selection

When People Policies Fail the Sustainability Test: The Johnson & Johnson Story

Employer Branding, Sustainability, and the Global War for Talent

Targeting and Recruiting Tomorrow’s Sustainability Leaders

Values Alignment: Incorporating Sustainability into the Hiring Process

Building Sustainability into Job Descriptions

Why Sustainability Requires and Advances Diversity

Hiring for Sustainability: The Beryl Story

Putting Hiring at the Heart of Your Sustainability Strategy

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Chapter 5: Embedding Sustainability in Career Development, Rewards and Retention   

Inculcating Sustainability Values Through the Onboarding Process

Training for Sustainability

Career Development: Building Sustainability in Tomorrow’s Leaders

Employee Assistance

Using Compensation and Incentives Wisely to Promote Sustainability

The Importance of Non-Financial Incentives

Retention and Sustainability

Compliance and Discipline

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals   

Chapter 6: Embedding Sustainability in Performance Management, Succession Planning and Employee Separation

Performance Appraisal: Evaluating and Rewarding Sustainability Performance

Workforce Planning: New Requirements, New Jobs for the Workforce of Tomorrow

Labor Pool Analysis: Minds, Hearts, and Expectations in a Changing World

Performance Management in the Age of Sustainability

Sustainability and Early Separation

Sustainability, Retirement and Postretirement

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Chapter 7: Building Sustainability Into Core HR Products: Policy-Related Outcomes and Other HR Deliverables

Caring and Advocating for Employees: A Core HR Sustainability Product

How Sustainability Is Expanding HR’s Responsibilities

The HR Role as Defined in Global Systems for Measuring and Reporting On Sustainability

Wages and Benefits Policies: The Return On Investing in Employees 

Employee Wellness Programs and Sustainability

Creating Better Working Conditions

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Part Three: Organizational Development and Change: HR’s Role in Building Sustainable Companies

Chapter 8: Sustainability and Organizational Capacity: the Toolbox for Success

Organizational Capacity: The Essential Toolbox for Success

Innovation

Collaboration

Long-Term Orientation

Outward Focus

Interdependent Thinking

Learning

Adaptability

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Chapter 9: Sustainability and Culture Change

The Three Levels of Organizational Culture

Why Traditional Corporate Cultures May Resist Sustainability

When Culture Sabotages Sustainability: Why BP Cannot Operate Safely

When Culture and Sustainability Are Aligned: How American Electric Power Created a Zero-Harm Culture

Five Lessons: What  HR, Sustainability and Business Leaders Can Learn from Comparing BP and AEP 

Evaluating Your Organization’s Culture

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Chapter 10: The Game Plan: Where Are We Going and How Will We Get There?  Organizational and Strategic Change

Why Change Occurs:  The Twin Drivers- Danger and Opportunity

What Shall We Change?

How Shall We Change?

Ad Hoc Change

Systematic Change

How to Change: The Classic Eight-Step System

Top-Down Change Versus Bottom-Up Change

Motivating Change: How People Movers Appeal to Minds and Hearts

Making Change Easier

Four Ways to Jumpstart Change

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Part Four: Sustainability and Employee Engagement

Chapter 11: The Secret Source: One Part Sustainability, One Part Engagement, Two Parts Profit

The Link Between Sustainability, Engagement, and Profit

How “Acme Corporation” Leveraged Sustainability to Engage Its Workforce, Increase Customer Satisfaction, and Improve Profitability

The Golden Triangle: Understanding the Entire Business Case for Sustainability

How Starbucks Creates Value from Values

Measuring the Impact of Sustainability on Employee Engagement

How HR and Sustainability Professionals Can Work Together

Getting Started with Sustainability and Employee Engagement Programs

Strategic Volunteerism as a Starting Point

Employee Engagement and Sustainability: The Secret Source of Transformation?

Questions for Business Leaders, Sustainability Specialists, and HR Professionals

Acknowledgements

Source Notes

Index