Welcome to Ems’ Gems (aka EmS’ Gems - or just ESG!) - the combined blog of Emily Bates and Emily Brooks.
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The ESG challenges for nomadic businesses
I took a stroll down memory lane recently, courtesy of some old photos on my phone. They were just random snaps I took in central London one sunny day five years ago, which showed a bustling West End, its crowded streets packed with hundreds of people, like me, in smart office attire.
As I sit here working at home (dressed far less formally), it strikes me how different my working life was back then. Five years on and our research consistently shows how hybrid working is now a reality for many businesses, which are now nomadic.
However, there is a question we need to consider: is the move towards nomadic working helping or hindering the drive for improved Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles?
Integrating such principles into business strategies has become a core aspect of demonstrating sustainability and ethical responsibility. However, in the context of nomadic work cultures, there are challenges that often go unnoticed when it comes to monitoring ESG performance. Gathering reliable data can be complex at the best of times, and the tracking of energy usage and recycling by dispersed teams can be problematic for organisations without a permanent office. Given the widespread adoption of hybrid working, this is likely to become a growing challenge.
So, how can nomadic businesses substantiate their ESG commitments in an environment where work has no permanent location?
If, as a society, we are to be more sustainable in everything we do, businesses need to prove they are playing their part. It not only makes good business sense but would go a long way to reducing instances of ‘Green Washing’ - the deceptive practice of making exaggerated or false claims about the environmental-friendliness of an organisation or service.
The property sector needs to do more to help companies and organisations of all sizes record their ESG performances. There is an opportunity for providers of serviced offices and co-working spaces, along with office owners and managers, to improve how they share energy efficiency and recycling data with their occupiers.
Greater transparency from these businesses would enable nomadic teams to be more discerning in their choice of workplaces, selecting those that embody sustainable practices, offering data on energy consumption, and facilitating recycling initiatives. In turn, this would help the teams to more easily reach their own ESG targets.
I’m not sure if I’ll have any photos to show it, but hopefully, another stroll down memory lane in five years’ time will reveal how things have improved.