These recent years have shed light on the importance of an organization’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance. With increased awareness around these three pillars, particularly due to the shifts the COVID-19 pandemic has caused worldwide, ESG reporting is a tool businesses can use to demonstrate their positive impact on the planet and society. Not only because this is the right and fair thing to do but also because a positive ESG score can benefit your organization in the long run.
Research from the 2020 EY Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) Institutional Investor survey revealed that most investors surveyed (98%) assess nonfinancial performance based on corporate disclosures. Plus, the percentage of investors that carry out a structured and methodical evaluation has more than doubled in just two years—from 32% who said they used such an approach in 2018 to a whopping 72% in 2020.
Similarly, Morningstar, an investment research firm, reported in 2020 that those assets under management in funds abiding by ESG guidelines had surpassed a record-breaking $1 trillion for the first time. These numbers are hardly something organizations can ignore—and continue to highlight the urgency organizations must put on integrating and achieving ESG-related goals in their overall business strategy.
Now that we’ve covered the whys, it’s time to look at the hows. Companies can do many things to improve their ESG score, some of which will depend on the type of organization and the industry it operates in, and others related to their workplace, which can be considered quite universal.
In this article, we’ll look at what an organization can do to improve its workplace ESG score and how working from a flexible office solution like Avenue 77 can help your business make the most out of this value-adding practice.
Environment: Optimizing sustainability efforts
Climate change and its devastating effects on our planet have become increasingly urgent topics of debate, pivotal to most countries’ plans of action, too. Ensuring your workplace is as environmentally friendly as possible is a must nowadays. Not only because it’s in our collective interest to safeguard this planet we call home—but also because workers from the environmentally-conscious Millennial and Gen Z generations continue to take over the hiring market. Those companies failing to meet sustainability goals will continue having issues recruiting the talent they need to make their business dreams a reality.
And although the seismic shifts the pandemic has spurred across the world of work, particularly the rise of hybrid and remote work options, could potentially help build a more sustainable way of working—the reality is that when put into practice, it might not be that straightforward.
Most of the infrastructure in place today, whether in residential or traditional office real estate, is just not optimized for today’s energy and sustainability needs. Working from an office space built with sustainability in mind, such as the flexible and private office solutions we offer at Avenue 77, means you can ensure you’re operating sustainably without any added costs.
We’ve designed Avenue 77 to address carbon emission reduction, energy consumption, use of low-impacting materials, waste deduction, and most importantly, with an added focus on health and well-being (through our choice of light, air quality, temperature, for example). Plus, tenants at Avenue 77 can benefit from pay-as-you-use packages with our mobility partner for e-scooters, car-sharing, and e-bikes and charge their electric vehicles on-site.
Social: Supporting the unbeatable human connection
The pandemic has exposed so much about our society. But one thing it reminded us about was that we’re social animals. As human beings, we crave human connection in one form or another, even if some to differing degrees. So now that things are slowly returning to normal, businesses must help bring people back together.
Building a strong workplace community has never been this crucial, especially with rising rates of loneliness among employees. It’s been repeatedly proven that loneliness can result in health problems, reduced productivity, burnout, and turnover. This situation can have disastrous effects on both your team’s well-being and that of the business at large—which means prioritizing this social aspect now will go a long way.
Events, networking opportunities, and purposed-designed spaces can lead to a fruitful collaboration. We’ve tailored our offering at Avenue 77 to the changing needs of the workforce. And we facilitate this through our Avenue 77 app. Running on Zapfloor, tenants can book meeting rooms to work with their colleagues or clients directly, find a desk to work at and see when their colleagues will be in the office. Plus, all our tenants will gain access to an exclusive calendar of on-site events, including those in our recreational and retail areas.
Governance: Championing a company culture of integrity
It’s hard to debate the reasons why businesses with good governance thrive compared to those that don’t. Good governance ensures the decision-making process is transparent and bears the best interests of all stakeholders. This includes anything from the policies implemented to transparency and any ethical decision-making, such as the treatment of data and information. Through the Avenue 77 app, tenants can access tools they might require for any decision-making or ensure their workspace policies are adhered to. This includes, for instance, automating the number of days employees come into the office and the number of employees that can be in the office at one time. Through the same app, tenants can choose to give or revoke access to certain parts of their office. Plus, having such GDPR-friendly, highly secured data makes it easier to make decisions based on facts and numbers, rather than just assumptions or impressions—which works in the best interests of the company but also its employees and stakeholders.
Keen on learning more about Avenue 77 and how we can help you reach your workplace ESG goals? Contact us now to discover more about our tailored office solutions, plug-and-play workspaces, and on-site recreational and retail services at Market 77.
