Guest contributor: Angela Halliday, Director of Social Impact at Sodexo UK and Ireland (Written September 2022)

Why should businesses prioritise wider societal benefits?

Businesses all want to do the best they can for their employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and investors. Yes? But equally as important they want to continually improve their productivity, enhance employee engagement, make sound economic decisions that help sustain their business, and enable it to grow both financially and in credibility as a business that cares!

Every day we are inundated with news around the cost of living, crises that are affecting the health & wellbeing and increase in poverty levels of our fellow human beings. Every day we consider these huge challenges and may wonder how we can make an impact on improving any of these situations.

First, we must recognise that making ethical decisions doesn’t mean we are not making good business decisions that sustain or grow our organisations – quite the contrary! Success is very much predicated on several things a) the strength, capabilities, and capacity of your supply chain b) the engagement, happiness, and sense of feeling valued by your workforce c) the perception of your business by consumers and wider society.

By taking these into account, we must ask ourselves a simple question - are we fully considering what matters most, and to whom?  Very often we are not. 

Asking the 'So What' Question

We position the “So What?” question after everything we discuss around the board table in terms of what are we doing? Why are we doing it? What difference are we trying to make? …. Then, we hold ourselves accountable to responding transparently to each of these.

This will help businesses go further, go deeper, and create more of an impact on what matters most!  In turn, this leads to higher productivity, more engaged employees and  enables you to be both a partner/supplier of choice as well as an employer of choice!

Just remember we can’t do all the things all the time. So, keep it simple, prioritise well and keep what you intend to do very much in line with your corporate purpose.  In doing so, it will be more transferable, relatable, and achievable when doing good business in a good way – setting you apart from others.

What we do at Sodexo

At Sodexo, our corporate purpose when the business was formed back in the 1960’s was to improve quality of life for all, whilst delivering wider societal, economic, and environmental benefits (Pierre Bellon, 1966).  This is social value personified.

To this day, we have continued to place this at the heart of all that we do, the decisions we make, the solutions we design for our clients, and the proposition we offer to our employees. It’s who we are, not added on as it has become more essential to winning or retaining business!

Social Value must not be thought of as an “add on” to what you do, but instead should drive your decision making, thinking and the way in which you hold yourselves accountable to your key stakeholders.

Our CEO, Sophie Bellon, daughter of our founder brings this into sharp focus when articulating our corporate purpose “creating a better everyday for everyone to build a better life for all”. She recently spoke to the National Social Value Conference delegates and reiterated “It is no longer a discussion, no longer a debate, it's non-negotiable - social value must be embedded into everything we do”

A key tip is to keep it simple. At Sodexo we can attribute all that we do into one or more of our four Social Impact Pathways – Our People, Our Planet, Our Places and Our Partners. 

I would encourage you to always consider the “So What?” question for everything that you do – the actions you take should be driven by an intent to be socially, economically, and environmentally responsible, and that your intent is about the positive, social impact you will make.

You will find that you are already doing much of this already, but may not recognise it as social value creation, or indeed, achieving a positive social impact on society or the planet.  It may of course also raise challenges for you where the consequences of your actions are not always positive. However, unless you start to articulate what good you want to do and why, then your “Impact Lens” will not be switched on!

Our pathways deliberately are led by Our People. I personally am a great believer in what is the point of having a healthy planet if society is broken, or not healthy enough to enjoy it?

Final Takeaway

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel to meet ‘social value requirements. Be authentic, be led by your corporate purpose and values. If these aren’t right, then maybe it’s time to change them? And always put your people (employees, community citizens and consumers) at the forefront of all that you do. This is critical for businesses to not only respond to the societal challenges (some more than others), but where you can act as a lever to improving quality of life for society and drive wider priorities such as climate change, equity across our communities (levelling up), improve social mobility, and in particular those from diverse or under-represented groups – all of which leads to a an improved wellbeing and economic positioning for the communities where you work, live and play.

Simple steps to take

• Pay people for the job they are doing – deserved recognition, consider impact of current situation on individuals and your business
• Progress people for the skills they bring, or the potential they show – invest in individuals through development, up or reskilling, access to opportunities
• Recognise people for their efforts, values, and behaviours – engage your workforce through recognition