Human Resources Management and Sustainable Development Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Management and Sustainable Development Essay Nowadays, sustainable development is a movement that is increasing in our society. Companies are progressively realizing the stakes of such policies, and are willing to have a try at it. The triple bottom line definition of sustainable development (source: United Nations) stresses an equal importance of the social and economic dimensions with regard to the ecological dimension. The sustainable development director of a company being usually inside of its human resources department, this department must therefore play a key role in the implementation of sustainable development policies. But what role exactly ? How can companies use human resources management to improve their sustainable development strategy ? Sustainable development implies taking into account ethical values and principles. For example, a new trend in companies nowadays is volunteering. Many different projects are available to volunteers, depending on their will and their interest centres : humanitarian missions, reinsertion of unemployed people, etc. These actions, which depend very much on the willingness of human resources management to set them up, contribute to the good image of sustainable development policies implementation in companies. It is even more striking to employees and locals when companies choose to get involved in missions close to its activity, e. g. the Danone group gives away free yoghurts to African communities every year. On the national level Many actions including the social dimension can be undertaken in companies. This includes for examples an improved fairness in the hiring process (e. g. through interviewing methods, anonymous resumes ), a regular training of employees, a more flexible work, etc. The most important part is to involve employees in the sustainable development process. Indeed, managers have the responsibility to spread sustainable development principles and to set them up, while employees realize them and keep them alive. If employees do not agree upon it, the company is walking right into a wall. Companies should therefore explain their initiative, the pros and the cons, and have employees agree on it. Meetings to agree on a charter could be a good thing also. Furthermore, employees’ involvement should not stop there : Companies should encourage their collaborators to integrate ethical and ecological attitudes in their everyday life. For instance, the Aventis Pasteur laboratory encourages its employees to take public transportations rather than driving alone to work. In order to do so, the company signed a contract with ADEME (Agence De l’Environnement et de la Maitrise de l’Energie) so as to improve the bus service to the laboratory. However, taking actions in the home country of a company is not enough today : sustainable development goes abroad ! On the international level With the globalization of firms, they now need to pay attention to the social aspects of being settled in different countries. Companies must indeed take into consideration the local social specificities, as well as local stakeholders. If possible, they should also try developing partnerships with local associations, NGO, as well as local and international public institutions. An example of what a sustainable development policy could be implemented abroad is the Lafarge cement company. Its employees in Africa were for the most part affected with AIDS. AIDS had a negative impact on the social but also on the economic dimension. It was the first death cause at Lafarge Africa. The group set up a policy to help fight the disease and to make working and health conditions as convenient as possible. This policy was set up in cooperation with CARE, an international development NGO. To go even further, Lafarge cooperated with local associations to launch a preventive campaign in the area. Another example is the Accor hotel company, which is involved in the definition and implementation of international standards on areas such as education, as well as the fight against prostitution and child exploitation. Both national and international dimensions must be taken into account in the implementation of a sustainable development policy, in order to make the most out of it. In conclusion, sustainable development being an important issue nowadays, companies are starting to feel implied in this process. Through a good use of the human resources management, social services can be set up in a company, both nationally and internationally, hence the performance of the company in terms of sustainable development.