Embracing Human Sustainability: Shaping a Better Future Together

Hello #TalentFuturists,

Greetings from the ever-evolving landscape of human capital trends! In this edition of the #TalentFuturist  newsletter, we dive deep into the essence of human sustainability—an imperative for organizations looking to build a future that thrives on collaboration, purpose, and well-being.

🌟 The Shift Towards Human Sustainability:
As we explore the Deloitte 2024 Human Capital Trends Report, it's evident that many organizations are still tethered to a legacy mindset that views individuals as mere contributors to organizational value. The concept of human sustainability challenges this paradigm, emphasizing the need to create value for individuals, fostering greater health, skills, employability, equitable opportunities, belonging, and connection to purpose.

🌟 The Legacy Mindset Challenge
Many organizations find themselves stuck in a legacy mindset that prioritizes extracting value from people rather than working collaboratively to create a better future. The focus on human sustainability challenges this paradigm, emphasizing the need for organizations to create value for individuals in terms of health, well-being, skills development, equity, advancement opportunities, and a sense of purpose.

🌟 Human Sustainability in Action
Organizations that embrace the shift toward human sustainability build a beneficial cycle where improving human outcomes enhances organizational outcomes and vice versa. It's a perspective that recognizes the inseparability of work experience from human experience.

🌟 Signals to Prioritize Human Sustainability
How do you know if your organization should prioritize human sustainability? Look out for signals such as struggles in achieving social ESG goals, vague or undefined metrics, uncertainty in handling changing relationships with workers, and increased workforce-related risks.

🌟 Challenges to Overcome
The report indicates that only 43% of workers believe their organizations have left them better off. Challenges include rampant worker burnout, concerns about AI eliminating jobs, rapidly evolving skill needs, and poor conditions for frontline workers.

🌟 Executive Alignment and Business Impact
While 81% of executives acknowledge the importance of human sustainability, only 12% feel they are leading in this area. However, studies consistently show that organizations focusing on human sustainability produce stronger business results. The organizations scoring highest on workforce treatment outperform the Russell 1000 in various aspects.

🌟Advancing Human Sustainability: Actions for Leaders
To advance human sustainability, leaders must shift their mindset, focusing on metrics that measure human outcomes, making a clear business case, tying leader and manager rewards to sustainability metrics, integrating human sustainability into governance, and involving workers in cocreating their roles.

🌟 Learning from Leading Organizations
Explore how leading organizations like AT&T, Zurich Insurance Group, Chobani, Unilever, and Hitachi are implementing initiatives to add greater value for workers and society.

🌟 Financial Sustainability is Human Sustainability: A PayPal Case Study
Read how PayPal's initiative to improve financial wellness for its workers resulted in higher capacity, innovation, and employee engagement, showcasing the connection between financial sustainability and human sustainability.

🌟 Putting the Human in Sustainability: A Long-Term Play
Human sustainability is a long-term commitment requiring organizations to challenge assumptions and work collectively to define best practices and standardize metrics.

🌟 Conclusion: Shaping a Better Future Together
As talent futurists, let's champion the cause of human sustainability. By prioritizing people and creating value for individuals, we can pave the way for a future where organizations and individuals thrive collectively.
Thank you for being part of our #TalentFuturist community. Let's continue shaping a future that prioritizes human sustainability and transforms the way organizations and individuals coexist.

Chandra
#TalentFuturist