Social Sustainability Monitor
The Social Sustainability Monitor is the result of a partnership between SDA Bocconi's Sustainability Lab and F2A, a leader in integrated services, payroll, personnel administration and accounting.
This Observatory was created with the aim of serving as an ongoing study and research tool in order to support the strategic and executive choices of companies from the perspective of social sustainability, becoming a concrete and real point of reference for companies that want to understand how to implement a sound ESG strategy.
The social sphere of sustainability is currently the most debated but still unclear topic in terms of measurement, monitoring and concrete, shared actions. Thus, the Monitor's activity aims to study and understand today's snapshot in order to understand what the next issues, with a forward-looking view, will be for companies to address so as to make informed and sustainable strategic decisions.
Data show that adopting a strategy hinged on the principles of sustainability brings numerous benefits to the business, both in the short and long term. Developing effective sustainability and social responsibility actions that descend from a clear purpose expressed in the company's strategy enables:
- Present a unified, coordinated value proposition consistent with the company's raison d'être, in combination with social and environmental aspects
- Provide a clear interpretation of the commitment to the common good, as an expression of the corporate culture and commitment to issues of sustainability and social responsibility
- Cover, in a unified and multi-dimensional way, the various expressions of corporate action, according to a logic of integrated and multidisciplinary intervention that considers not only environmental aspects, but also those of a social and governance nature
In this sense, the Social Sustainability Monitor explores the intersection between corporate strategy, ESG and human capital (S).
Activities
Taking into account the socio-economic context and, in particular, the regulatory context for sustainability reporting, the Social Sustainability Monitor aims to identify the sustainable trends of Italian companies (SMEs and large), starting with "Year 0," 2023.
The launch of the SS Monitor comes five years after the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of prominent companies, held in Washington, D.C., pledged to monitor ESG efforts in business with "Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation".
Reflecting on this movement to redefine success from the primacy of financial shareholders to a broader stakeholder perspective, the Monitor also considers progress on S, addressing ESG factors in concert with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Social Sustainability Monitor thus aims to:
- Develop research activities functional to the competitive improvement of enterprises, in line with the adoption of increasingly sustainable management models
- Promote the updating of knowledge on current trends in the sectors of reference and/or interest, including with reference to the development of best practices and regulatory guidelines
- Support the development of synergies in the definition of circular business models among member companies
Output
The first research report of the Social Sustainability Monitor sought to investigate the current status about the integration of social sustainability issues in network companies.
The context analysis showed that businesses are working to meet the challenges of sustainability. In such a scenario, the human dimension proves to be full of critical issues, related to social trends, political agendas, workforce challenges, labor constraints and global operations.
Businesses must manage an increasing number of internal and external stakeholders, including consumers, suppliers and communities. A firm's human capital - whether embedded in the firm itself or part of a larger, globally dispersed supply chain - provides a critical intersection with the firm's social actions (S).
Beyond immediate competition concerns, companies are increasingly taking public positions on social issues, engaging and collaborating with NGOs, and using their resources for social or humanitarian causes. Hence, too, the focus on eSG theme S as we consider internal human capital, external stakeholders, and society at large.
To get a more complete picture, some environmental and governance issues were also investigated, all in line with the new ESRS standards. Focusing on SMEs, it was found that Monitor companies place significant attention on social sustainability issues, despite not being subject to non-financial information reporting requirements. As for large enterprises, as expected, they are compliant with the provisions of current regulations. There is, however, on some aspects, still room for improvement.
The Monitor aims to understand the evolution of social sustainability issues from year to year.
The second edition focuses on the changes between what emerged from ""Year Zero,"" 2023, with what will be the trends in 2024.
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