By Fran Prince – Director
From supply chains and operations, through to creating a culture that resonates with clients, investors and employees, ESG influence and responsible impact for businesses is nothing new. But how is having an ESG criteria key to futureproofing business? Fran Prince, director at Cartwright Communications explains.
What does ESG mean to Cartwright Communications?
ESG literally means Environmental, Social and Governance – how we look after our planet and our people. For us, it’s about asking what can we do as a business to reduce our energy consumption in the office and our carbon emissions through carpooling, while also being involved in conservation projects in our local communities.
From a social perspective, it is the morals in which we stand by to ensure, diversity, equity and inclusion amongst our people – including fair pay and equal opportunities for all. We also support community causes that are socially committed such as homelessness causes, Juno Women’s Aid and Switch Up – a charity that uses sport mentoring and education counselling to transform young lives.
Governance is how we comply with and monitor our goals and objectives, from policy making to the responsibilities of the businesses main stakeholders and senior team members.
Why is ESG important for business?
ESG policies need to resonate with teams internally and with clients to be completely aligned. Here are just some of the most valuable things to come from having a strong ESG strategy:
Profitability:
Think “purpose and profit” not “purpose versus profit”. The ability to offer more services as well as resonate with likeminded clients across both B2B and B2C means we stand out among our competitors through having strong community initiatives and internal policies at play. Just how consumers resonate with influencers to make a purchase decision, trust, ethics and authenticity are all things that clients look for when searching for an agency.
Cost reductions:
Through making sustainable office swaps to refillable facilities and more energy efficient heating and lighting, plus also reducing our mileage and replacing annual client gifts to a donation to a local charity we have managed to reduce overheads and instead make a larger impact to a bigger cause.
Regulations and relevancy:
There is too much reliance on regulations to push businesses to do the right thing rather than them pushing independently – we should stay ahead of legislation rather than doing the minimum.
Productivity and recruitment:
The next generation are looking at what we’re doing and we need to be doing the right thing. We attract, keep and motivate more talent through having a strong culture and communication of our ESG policies.
Saleability:
Enhance potential for future business investment through short- and long-term strategies and goals. Businesses with an existing ESG strategy are already more valuable in investors eyes – around 44% of BCorps said that the certification was vital to gaining future investment.
Collaboration is also key, and the more involved we get throughout our journey, the more change can happen. We’ve partnered and hosted educational ESG and business events with the likes of Nottingham College, Nottingham Trent University, Switch Up, Juno, BBC, TV Workshop, The Prince’s Trust, Birmingham City University and many other organisations and clients to ensure ESG is on the agenda for everyone.
How does Cartwright Communications create an ESG culture in the office?
Changing the culture and understanding of ESG has been essential. The first critical step is understanding what your employees care about from a social and sustainability viewpoint – for instance, we use a 90-day survey to have an open and confidential forum for people to bring ideas to the fore.
Likewise, we have engagement sessions with our ESG and EDI committees with a dedicated lead in every office base. Training and strategy sessions are also important for people to better understand ESG terminology and opportunities, while equally benchmarking and evaluating our goals.
ESG shouldn’t just be about new sales opportunities, but people do like to work for, and work with, businesses that have a purpose. If it matters to your customers, then it should matter to you.
Inspiring a new generation of ESG leaders
We kicked off our own commitment for 2024 alongside Nottingham College last week. Our central focus is on supporting skills, particularly amongst young people, in our communities.
We worked with the college to create a project for students around the value of ESG for business as well as for the environment and the wellbeing of others. We hosted a panel session alongside a selection of our clients to discuss the importance of ESG and social value strategies and to answer questions from the students to guide them at the start of their projects. This is just one strand of our overarching strategy.
What services does Cartwright Communications offer in ESG?
We’re seeing many of our clients now considering forming or refreshing their ESG and social value strategies and have been a part of many of their journeys. From hosting sustainability roundtables in the construction and property sectors, to gaining our clients awards for ESG in their field, there are a number of marketing tactics we use to help them communicate policies both internally and externally.
Across PR, SEO, social media, video, web design, branding and marketing, we will take businesses from idea to campaign and even help them accurately report and reflect on their mission and objectives. We will set the scene, helping businesses and sustainability leaders feel front and centre of their industry’s ESG agenda.
Change equals opportunity and there is a lot happening in relation to ESG right now. Big businesses can’t change direction overnight, so it’s important to start with those incremental changes now while SMEs can look to pivot at a faster pace.
If you’d like to hear more about our ESG policy and services please get in touch at info@cartwrightcommunications.co.uk.
