Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

GenderEthnicityWorkplace cultureClimate emergencyLatest News

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Businesses will fail if they don’t do more on ESG’

by Ashleigh Webber 16 Jun 2022
by Ashleigh Webber 16 Jun 2022 Ruby McGregor-Smith speaking at the CIPD
Ruby McGregor-Smith speaking at the CIPD

Businesses that fail to convince workers they are serious about environmental, social and governance issues, are likely to suffer skills shortages and even fail completely, CIPD president Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith has warned.

Speaking on the second day of the HR body’s annual Festival of Work conference, the former CEO of Mitie Group and Conservative peer said that the rising cost of living and risk of global recession had given organisations a real opportunity to focus more on responsible business.

“We don’t really get a choice – if we don’t do more on ESG, I genuinely think that businesses will start to fail in the long term. We should’ve been doing this 30, 40 years ago; not enough has been done and it’s time to really catch up,” she said.

McGregor-Smith said ESG should sit at the heart of the leadership agenda, particularly as many leaders were questioning why they couldn’t hire or why some staff had not returned after furlough.

“People are changing the way they work, and the talent and skills shortage means we’ve got to think very differently about how we hire people but also how we keep them.”

McGregor-Smith said organisations should care about ESG because the public – and therefore their job candidates, customers and shareholders – care about how businesses operate. However, the business community had built a world where organisations were driven mainly by profit, which was not an ethos she agreed with.

Festival of Work 2022

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Use crises as catalysts for change’

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘AI can help us work better and faster’

“To me it’s always been clear that organisations need to play a much broader role in society and engage with broader environmental and societal goals. All of us believe we can have more of an impact than just ‘turning up’ and getting on with the day job,” she said.

There were signs that business leaders cared more about the environment, for example, than a decade ago, but there was more work to be done on the social element of ESG.

“The pandemic has exposed more inequality in our society than many of us had even realised,” she said. “We’ve going to see some real challenges economically for everybody… and we need to take more meaningful action.

“We all say we’re ‘equal opportunities employers’, but if so, why do we have big gender pay gaps? Why are there big ethnicity pay gaps? Let’s have action as opposed to words and reports.”

Wellbeing was a significant part of the ‘S’ in ESG, but ensuring people from all walks of life felt included in organisations was also important for retention.

“So many people leave organisations purely because they don’t think they fit, and we really need to [reverse that].

“I’ve always been passionate about D&I because I [spent some of my career] in workplaces that weren’t built for me – they weren’t built for mothers,” she said, suggesting that practices such as breakfast meetings and networking dinners were not suitable for parents with young children.

“I think the workplace needs to change and should be more accommodating of the people who work within it.”

McGregor-Smith said ESG initiatives should be driven by the people profession as they were “the only people who really care about these issues”.

“Every CHRO is part of a leadership team, and when I was a CEO I needed a lot of help to do this. CEOs and leadership teams need a lot of help to get it right and examples of best practice,” she said.

Data was important, even if the quality wasn’t perfect, as it helped organisations judge how they were performing on ESG measures.

“I say to the critics who say that it’s unaffordable – actually there are a lot of things that are affordable within the ESG agenda and there are things we can do even when there’s not as much money around,” she said.

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more human resources jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor at OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Construction blighted by skills shortage as sector steps up diversity efforts
next post
Part-time work is lifestyle choice suggests analysis

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Directors’ code of conduct needed to uphold standards,...

20 Jun 2022

Trust seeks better language and employability support for...

13 Jun 2022

New job website aims to boost employment at...

9 Jun 2022

Corporate reporting and audit regime will reduce risk...

31 May 2022

Women in FTSE 350 leadership: ‘A lot of...

20 May 2022

Youth collective to inform Body Shop strategy

6 May 2022

BrewDog boss offers staff a fifth of his...

4 May 2022

Employees drive ESG goals for HR, study claims

4 May 2022

Modern slavery: 10% of companies fail to publish...

26 Apr 2022

Mary Portas and coalition of firms urge MPs...

21 Apr 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+