Performance
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When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, many market participants and observers hailed the rise of the ‘S’ in ESG. While climate change and environmental issues had dominated the ESG conversation up to 2019, many speculated that the emergence of a global health emergency, which disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable in society, would catapult social issues to the forefront. What is certain is that the pandemic was both the catalyst and backdrop for a series of social reckonings that are, at a minimum, reshaping the landscape in which businesses operate and, beyond that, reshaping the cultural values and priorities that define the purpose of business in society.
What is certain is that the pandemic was both the catalyst and backdrop for a series of social reckonings that are reshaping the cultural values and priorities that define the purpose of business in society.
In 2020, office-based employees were thrust into a new world of remote work. Many faced burnout, anxiety, isolation, or depression while navigating an unimaginable health crisis, juggling parenthood, and coping with the loss of loved ones. Employees working in essential services, hospitality, travel, retail, and other industries did not have the luxury of working remotely, and thus faced higher risk of COVID exposure, alongside severe financial stressors such as layoffs and furloughs. One of the outcomes of the pandemic, which both amplified and exacerbated socio-economic inequality, is an unprecedented conversation about the future of work, and signs of a revival of the labour movement. Together, these dynamics have transformed power relations between employees and employers.
In 2020, office-based employees were thrust into a new world of remote work. Many faced burnout, anxiety, isolation, or depression while navigating an unimaginable health crisis, juggling parenthood, and coping with the loss of loved ones. Employees working in essential services, hospitality, travel, retail, and other industries did not have the luxury of working remotely, and thus faced higher risk of COVID exposure, alongside severe financial stressors such as layoffs and furloughs. One of the outcomes of the pandemic, which both amplified and exacerbated socio-economic inequality, is an unprecedented conversation about the future of work, and signs of a revival of the labour movement. Together, these dynamics have transformed power relations between employees and employers.
The year 2020 also saw the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in the American city of Minneapolis. Captured on video and blazed into public consciousness, Mr. Floyd’s brutal and gut-wrenching death became the apotheosis of a long history and deeply entrenched culture of violence against Black people. Millions in the U.S., Canada, and around the world, took to the streets to protest anti-Black racism, sparking a movement to address systemic racism and to remove barriers to the advancement of Black people.
About a year later, in 2021, hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children were found at former residential schools in Canada. Indigenous children were involuntarily sent to these boarding schools – which were established and funded by the federal government and operated by churches – to be stripped of their families, culture, language, and religion for the purpose of assimilating them into Western society. While Indigenous Canadians had spent decades searching for the bodies of loved ones who never returned from these schools, the discovery of these unmarked graves sent shockwaves through Canada and the world, as the horrors of colonialism took physical form. The result was a renewed call for action on Indigenous rights that reverberated across Canada and around the world.
While the societal and business implications of these overlapping socio-economic, historical, cultural and racial reckonings continue to unfold, one thing is clear: social issues are essential considerations for anyone trying to build, run, or grow an organization in our time. They simply cannot be ignored.
Against this backdrop, key questions arise: What is the state of social practices in 2022? How are organizations adapting and managing their social performance in this new era? What are employees’ expectations, and how do they evaluate their employers’ progress? How can organizations benchmark their practices against others? We developed this research project to start to answer those very questions.
What is the state of social practices in 2022?
How are organizations adapting and managing their social performance in this new era?
What are employees’ expectations, and how do they evaluate their employers’ progress?
How can organizations benchmark their practices against others?
This report represents the first attempt we are aware of to establish a set of practical benchmarks across six key areas of social practices for organizations operating in Canada and the United States:
1.
Governance and Strategy
2.
Human Capital Management
3.
Employee Health and Safety
4.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
5.
Indigenous Reconciliation
6.
Human Rights
In addition to examining organizational priorities and actions related to these six themes, we also conducted research to understand Canadian and U.S. employees’ perspectives and expectations. Using Argyle’s Public Relationships Index, conducted by Leger Research, we surveyed employees to ask how important these issues are to them and how salient they are to the success of their organizations. Further, we asked them to rate their employers’ performance in each area.
We acknowledge there are many other material social issues not covered in this report. To work within our capacity, we limited our scope to the above themes based on a combination of business trends and materiality to organizations operating in Canada and the United States. This research represents a starting point that we hope to build on alongside others who are keen to help develop and advance the market with respect to the incorporation of social issues into business decisions.
This report is organized as follows. After outlining our methodology and sample characteristics, it provides the survey results and commentary for the six aforementioned social themes. Following our presentation of the results and accompanying commentary for each theme, we present the employee perspectives we gathered on these same issues. Next, we analyze survey data from organizational participants with the highest levels of conviction to social practices to gain some helpful insights about the state of the market. We then identify the Three Zones of Social Practices: (1) Table Stakes, which refers to widely-adopted social practices that represent business imperatives; (2) Emerging Priorities, which refers to practices adopted by a large enough cohort to represent emerging trends; and (3) The Opportunity Zone, which refers to areas of social practice that are less developed among survey participants and represent opportunities for growth.
- Methodology
- Research Sections
- Recommendations
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