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12.01.2010
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StumbleUponHappy Employees Make Sustainable Companies
When it comes to headlines about sustainability and most publicity relating to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, the lion’s share of such reporting tends to focus on those actions relating to environmental or “green” activities. So commonly these days we’ll see news headlines filled with tales of solar, wind or packaging reduction efforts, or the latest corporate actions taken on reducing carbon footprints or energy consumption. While industry and the media are seemingly preoccupied with environmental reporting, the social actions of corporations relating to CSR platforms are rarely highlighted. Even less frequently are stories told about something as seemingly unrelated to CSR as those of a company’s employees. Ironically enough, findings from our latest sustainability study, Marketing Sustainability: Bridging the Gap between Consumers and Companies, show that consumers attribute the greatest importance to the social realm of sustainability. In fact, tales of satisfied employees—even happy employees—may lead consumers to believe a company might be “good” and thus impart a halo of sustainability. The social zones of sustainability and CSR have other highly relevant components to consumers (namely community involvement, animal welfare and fair trade), but today we’re focusing on perhaps the least understood component of social CSR: communicating employment practices.
Employee Tales: Unwittingly Creating a Sustainability Halo
Telling a tale about your employees may, in fact, be one of the most relevant ways to communicate to consumers that you are a company involved in measures commonly linked to corporate social responsibility, or as one consumer said about the hypothetical “good” company: “you're a good guy.” Specifically, results from this year’s study show that in today’s uncertain economic climate, consumers are attributing sustainability to brands and companies they perceive as “good guys” or good neighbors who follow the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you would like others to treat you." So, when Boston Beer runs ads showcasing how happy its employees are as they make beer both at work and at home, the company, seemingly unwittingly, opens a door in the minds of consumers on not just what a cool brand it is, but that it might also be a sustainable one.Similarly, when Southwest Airlines runs “Bags Fly Free” ads showcasing employees giving a war cry and lifting their shirts to spell the ad’s campaign—the same sort of equations are potentially made in the minds of consumers.
And when Post’s Honey Bunches of Oats ads (launched in 1999) showcases satisfied employees telling tales in factory settings about just how great it is to make cereal, consumers see a good place to work and a good place from which to buy. Even in an industrial production setting, such a tale lends authenticity to the story of the brand, and we believe opens a door on potentially creating a sustainability halo.
Finally, Kashi’s ads showcasing real employees surfing or scouting for exotic ingredients create the same potential for sustainability equations in the minds of consumers. You’ll notice that we say “potentially” creating a sustainability halo in these communications simply because communicating sustainability is a difficult task. This has everything to do with consumer relevance, so when we speak of the real social world and how connections are made in the minds of consumers between sustainability and “good” companies, those companies and brands perceived by consumers as benevolent – e.g., companies that empower workers, provide great benefits, a healthy working environment, and show an overall concern for community and animal welfare – are viewed as “sustainable.” We often see that this halo of sustainability in turn tends to create the much sought after effects of customer loyalty and even enthusiastic brand evangelists.
