With Gen Z’s and Millennial’s influence growing in the workplace and marketplace, there has been a shift in priorities for companies across the globe. Instead of just providing successful financial performance for shareholders, businesses are being held to account for their social and environmental impacts by their employees, buyers, and board members.
According to Deloitte’s 2024 Annual Survey, “75% of Gen Zs and Millennials state that an organization’s community engagement and societal impact is an important factor when choosing an employer.”
This trend has undoubtedly changed conversations in boardrooms and trading rooms, ushering in an era where all stakeholders’ needs and expectations are included in the definition of success.
Balancing these dual priorities is a complex mandate and has prompted a wave of corporate initiatives to reconcile profit with purpose. But this integration isn’t a challenge for B Corp Certified consulting firms like ours and the 8,500 other certified companies worldwide; in fact, it has always been a strength. B Corps have long believed that achieving the best outcomes is possible by developing people to their highest potential, considering all stakeholders, and offering the best gifts and skills to partners, clients, and communities.
Investing in your people has compounding benefits
20 years ago, our founder believed that an enduring business is one that enables profit through a positive social impact on the company’s employees, clients, and community. This outcome can be achieved in a variety of ways, but our particular focus has been to develop our employees to their highest potential—and workplace research over the last 5-10 years has proven this focus contributes to an engaged workforce, which in turn consistently produces better business outcomes.
We have found that the intentional development of our employees not only improves their skills, ultimately offering our clients some of the most well-rounded talent in the market, but they also continue to progress in their career, offering them meaningful opportunities for advancement and engagement in their work. According to research, companies with high employee engagement experience 18% more productivity, 23% more profitability, 81% less absenteeism, and 43% less turnover than those with low engagement. For us, investing in the development of our people becomes the best solution for our clients, ultimately contributing to our longevity in the marketplace.
As found in LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report, employees also place opportunities for professional development as a top priority in their job and workplace culture satisfaction ratings. Consequently, those employees with a clear development plan experienced a 30% increase in their average performance ratings. So, the investment in a company’s workforce not only provides stability and increased profit margins but also meets the demand of the talent market.
Investing in the up-leveling of job skills, leadership skills, and business acumen of a company’s workers also offers compounding benefits for the employer through attracting higher talent, decreasing turnover costs, and increasing profitability through employees who provide better customer relations and deliver better products and services.
A purpose-driven business and a healthy bottom line are not mutually exclusive—in fact, research shows that firms where employees have a high sense of purpose had an increased stock price of 6-7%.1
We have found this to be true at Pariveda, too. The partnerships between our clients and employees are vital to the overall success of everyone involved. Collaborating with our clients to help them solve their most complex problems not only fosters the growth of our employees but also creates value for our clients.
It’s in a company’s best interest to invest heavily in the growth and development of their employees because an engaged workforce with clear development opportunities will care about the work they’re doing and, by extension, create a positive impact on the company, its clients, and the community.
The costs required should not be viewed as a drain on resources but rather an investment toward creating more. The best place to start when creating or expanding a development program is to survey your workforce to better understand the types of development they want and need, then invite them to the decision-making table to ensure the successful implementation and adoption of your efforts.
The power of sustainability to create market advantage
There is no question that every business must begin to consider the environmental impact of their business. The good news is that growth and sustainability are not at odds and can be an exceptional differentiator and market advantage.
In 2018, Unilever Sustainable Living Brands grew 69% faster than the rest of their business portfolio—demonstrating that consumers are increasingly seeking sustainable options.
Again, from the Deloitte 2024 Survey, “two in 10 Gen Zs and millennials have already changed jobs or industries to better align their work with their environmental values, with another quarter of both cohorts planning to do.” These two generations also know they have significant power when they vote with their dollars. Roughly 64% of Gen Zs and millennials are “willing to pay more to purchase environmentally sustainable products or services.”
At Pariveda, the nature of our services—solving complex business, brand, and technology problems from the inside out—offers a relatively low carbon footprint and environmental impact. We do not produce physical products, create waste materials, or need transportation and delivery systems that often contribute to harmful environmental outcomes.
However, we know that genuine environmental sustainability requires innovation and meticulous data management practices. Our expertise in data collection, migration, security, and analysis allows us to support clients in their journey of measuring and improving their ecological footprint.
One of the key benefits of properly measuring and managing a company’s environmental impact data is that it offers an opportunity to uncover places where operational efficiency (decreased waste) not only helps the planet but can also provide cost savings and better resource utilization.
The escalating expectation to embrace sustainability is not a passing trend. It is being written into our federal and local laws and is now a mainstay in customer expectations. So, if your business does not have a clear sustainability plan, you may find Stanford Business School’s Impact Compass to be a helpful starting point. If your company does not have an obvious environmental impact, like ours, you may find it easier to consider how you might support the efforts of the businesses or individuals you already serve.
Strong ethics support business strategy
Doing good for the world by making ethical decisions is not just a moral requirement; for many companies, it’s a strategic advantage. As organizations operate within the boundaries of shared values and integrity, this naturally spills over into business practices without damaging the brand or losing the trust of key stakeholders. This ethical foundation is not only risk-responsible but also fosters a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, provides a safe place to innovate, and pushes limits, all while propelling sustainable growth.
On the other end of the spectrum, blatantly bad actors often think their actions are worth the profit margins they will reap with their unethical decisions. However, in a study of 480 organizations, those with higher sales growth sourced from illegal and unethical activities had lower profit margins than their peers not involved in illegal business decisions. Time and time again, the cost of covering up the activity, bribes to pay out, and fines due if caught all ultimately concluded that there is no economic benefit to unethical decision-making.2
In the age of consumer activism and social media, the long-term impact on reputation and the financial impact of legal fees, should the activity ever become public, would be detrimental to even the largest companies.
At Pariveda, we resonate with the philosophy of fellow B Corp consulting firm Baringa, which champions the “Economics of Kindness.” They define kindness as “being honest, saying the hard truths, and tackling the tough challenges head-on to create lasting, positive change and better results.” We have found that this approach of leading with kindness establishes authentic relationships with our clients, ensuring their needs and reputation are at the heart of our recommendations and solutions.
Outside of creating a culture and processes within your business system that publicly rewards ethical decision-making, it is also important to teach and train your people in how to make those ethical choices. A framework you may find useful in building your company’s own ethical decision-making process is Harvard Business School’s 7 Steps to Improving Ethical Decision-Making.
Purposeful profit through people, sustainability, and ethics
Businesses that infuse their strategies with purpose unlock value well beyond just profit. From a stronger brand reputation, a more dedicated customer base, and higher employee engagement, a business can position itself to leave a positive impact across more stakeholders over an extended period of time.
Investing in your people should not be viewed as a drain on resources but rather an investment toward creating more. Sustainability is only going to become more and more critical over the next several years, so staying ahead will keep your business relevant and in demand. And ethical business practices and decision-making is not just a good idea, but a practical and prudent business strategy.
Business for the sake of making money is not enough anymore. So, it may be time to expand the investment into the development of your people, explore your company’s impact on the environment, and define ways you celebrate and protect good ethics inside the walls of your workplaces. Because frankly, it’s all becoming imperative to not be left behind in today’s market.
References
- (Gartenberg, Prat, & Serafeim, 2019)
- Serafeim, G. (2022). Purpose and profit: How business can lift up the world. (pp. 37–38, 74). HarperCollins Leadership.
