With over half Gen Z workers now researching a company’s ESG before taking on a role, chances are your youngest employees have already got your number. POC explores the dawning of the ‘purpose economy’.
When talking about the collective aspirations of the next generation of employees, Paul Randle – co-author of the business improvement book, Sustainable Marketing – likes to reference the state of the tobacco industry.
In recent years, he will recount, the tobacco industry has been forced to turn to AI to automate its marketing departments.
“The reason being, that tobacco companies can no longer retain the talent – they can only get the rubbish people,” he tells us. “And if you take the talent out of an industry, its competition depletes too.”
Paul, a sustainable marketing consultant and tutor of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, is one half of the co-authorship behind Sustainable Marketing, a guide – written with his colleague Alexis Eyre – on how marketing can be used as a power for influencing planet positive behaviour. As such, both he and Alexis know what makes businesses tick.
“A business is 56% more likely to outperform competitors and peers on talent attraction when you’re an employer with a sustainability strategy in place,” he continues. “These are figures that are going to hit the medium to long term competitiveness of your business.”
There’s a long line of reports, papers, and research into the topic. Concern over environmental issues has pushed Gen Z and Millennial employees to become more vocal about their work place principles, which ultimately influence where they go.
Research from Deloitte found that out of almost 23,000 respondents, 55% of Gen Z workers and 54% of Millennials have gone so far as to research a company’s “environmental impact and policies before accepting a job from them.”
Furthermore, 17% of Gen Z respondents have already switched jobs – some switching sectors altogether – in favour of careers aligned with their values; a further 25% claim they plan on making the switch at some point in the future.
“The most refreshing thing we are seeing across the business, even the industry right now, in terms of compliance teams, is that we have young people coming out of university with degrees in relevant sciences to do the work that now needs to be done,” says Jeremy Orriss, director of licensing at Difuzed.
“And the best thing I’ve seen is the people with white hair having to listen to young people on these matters.”
GREEN INVESTMENTS
Sustainability is an undeniably crucial factor when thinking about how to best invest in your business. Last year, the UK’s net zero economy grew 9% in stark contrast to the 0.1% growth seen in the economy overall. According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and the Confederation of British Industry, the green economy was responsible for £74bn in goods and services and 765,000 jobs.
It’s evidence as to why businesses really ought to be taking the net zero transition seriously as a profit-generating market.
A 2023 Global Executive Survey from the executive search firm, Boyden points out that 17% of companies today have a chief sustainability officer on the books; 23% have a dedicated sustainability lead; while 46% have sustainability led by a board of executive committee – a ‘green team’.
Also worth noting is that by sector, the strongest believers in sustainability are private equity, also at 46%. It’s becoming an argument well-versed that the private sector will be the one to lead the sustainability transformation and the transition to net zero. Government and legislative measures – those like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the European market and the eventual arrival of the SEC Climate Disclosure Regulations in the US – will simply sweep up the rest.
GREEN JOBS IN THE LICENSING INDUSTRY
With a “tsunami of legislation” destined to change the operational landscape for all businesses now a matter of months from coming into force, around half (46%) of the global brand licensing industry believes it is still missing a “top-down strategy” for sustainable development within their business.
This is according to responses to a Sustainability in Licensing Conference survey sent out across industry attendees towards the end of 2023.
The good news is that the majority (83%) feel their business has the senior management buy-in to start the process of building those strategies into their operations. However, there are concerns over ‘lack of ownership to drive progress’, alongside a ‘lack of resource and
headcount’ that are still hampering some. A recent report carried out by the Sustainable Toys Action Consulting Team found that 23% of their own respondents across the global toy industry lack the resource or headcount themselves to implement a defined sustainability strategy.
Yet the positive takeaway here remains. There is a clear direction of travel across the brand and licensing industries and 54% of businesses now claim to have a dedicated sustainability team in place.
But what is it spurring brands to act? With many still largely unaware of impending legislative changes, it’s most likely through the generation they are employing in junior levels. “A lot of the time – and this is something we are seeing – newcomers coming into a business are beginning to inspire companies to start thinking differently anyway,” says Anna Clarke, svp licensing at Global Licensing Group. “So, in the licensing industry, we really are starting to see things happen top-down and bottom-up.”
And it is they, the individuals now shaping company culture and direction, who will ultimately shape what the licensing industry of tomorrow looks like.
