Sustainability at German Companies (1st Quarter 2020)
Sustainability: a buzzword encountered frequently in social and public discourse. In the first quarter of 2020, on behalf of Randstad Germany, the ifo Institute conducted a survey of just under 800 German HR managers. The goal was to investigate how German companies understand “sustainability” and how they put it into practice. Overall, the results of the survey show that the majority of the companies already seem to be investing more time and effort in the topic of sustainability. The focus here is usually on environmental protection issues, but sustainability efforts have also already found their way into the HR domain. It is striking, however, that companies’ commitment is driven more by stakeholder motives or a sense of social responsibility than by legal requirements, which play only a subordinate role.
Sustainability Awareness Established at Companies
The results of the survey show that companies in Germany have become well aware of the issue of sustainability. Three-quarters (76%) of the HR managers surveyed stated that sustainability is an important issue for their company. But companies are not only talking about sustainability, they are also taking action. The proportion of companies that have already taken measures to increase their own level of sustainability is on average even higher. According to the results, the intensified discussion about sustainability in recent years has already led to a change in the corporate culture at almost half the companies.
Focus on Green Topics
As regards the different facets of sustainability, green issues – i.e., issues related to environmental protection – seem to be the main focus for companies. This can be seen by looking at the concrete measures that companies report they have already taken. The two most frequent mentions are “Sorting waste,” which was given by 72% of the HR managers, followed by “Saving electricity and water” (66%). These are followed by topics that fall within HR’s purview: “Increasing staff retention” and “Offering more flexible working hours” with 48% each.
Environmental protection also plays a leading role in motivating companies to ensure more sustainability in their own activities: 73% of HR managers named it as a driving force. It is worth noting that legal requirements play only a subordinate role, with just 22% of HR managers naming them as the reason they chose to implement measures for more sustainability.
Some Companies Believe Their Efforts Would Do Too Little
Among companies that have not taken measures to increase sustainability, their main reasons were that they “See no need to do so” (31%) and that sustainability per se “Adds no value for the company” (30%). One-quarter of respondents stated that the costs were too high, and another quarter that their own efforts would do too little anyway, multiple answers possible).
