has grown and we have transitioned from stone age to industrial age and now the age of 'artificial intelligence', an aspect of our behavior as humans has been that we have heavily consumed nature. The ratio of our consumption to contribution towards restoration of nature has so far been minimal. A validation question here might be, 'How many trees have I planted in the past 5 years? Or in the past 10 years?'. Another question to aid reflection might be, 'Is plastic really out of my life?' There could be many more questions, but this no longer a moot point.

 

The aforementioned reflections make it easy for us to comprehend the definition of sustainable development. “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. (BC Report,1987). While, this awareness might be recent, the conception of sustainable development was deliberated in the Bruntland Commission Report in 1987 and defined at the time. However, in recent years, with increased sensitivity towards social and climate issues, sustainable development is seeing dedicated endeavors by people towards striking the balance and 'being remembered by the next generation' as responsible users and restorers than as ruthless irresponsible consumers of the bounties of nature. One international survey on a sample of 3000 global business houses reveals that 75% of these companies had sustainable development objectives in their future strategic agenda. Thinking related to sustainability saw serious manifestation when in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly tabled the “the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development”. This agenda was solemnized by the now prominent 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets.

 

Connection to HR

Nothing in the universe happens in isolation. Nor does anything exist on its own. Sounds cryptic but let us borrow from the domain of systems thinking to comprehend this – “Systems thinking is the holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems”. (Lutkevich, 2020).

 

The 17 SDGs are sub-dimensional expansion of 3 main dimensions of humanity which need to be sustained, viz., Social, Economical and Environmental. Herein resides a more direct link to human resource management. These dimensions with their sub-dimensions addresses “People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership” – the five Ps of sustainability.

 

It is common knowledge that that organizational effectiveness is a measure of the extent to which the organization is meeting its stated objectives. More so, for every business the superordinate goal of sustainability is thus to build a “sustainable, innovative, and people- oriented” economic entity that renews opportunities of employability and entrepreneurship for generations to come. Responsible organizations cannot be built if the people-force does not feel responsible, accountable and does not manifest ownership of cause. The SDGs oblige the involvement and participation of people towards restoring the earth and ensuring balance.

 

Unfortunately, SDG awareness and education pertaining to the same within the HR community is still at an abysmal level.

 

Role of HR

The 'Future of HR' will pivot more around how HR leaders and managers understand, interpret, and implement SDGs target achievement into the organization, in a manner that daily actions of each member of the organization contributes to moving the needle towards achievement of sustainable development goals by the organization. The time is not too far when contribution to SDGs will be mandated. The trajectory of SDGs entry to organizations will be far steeper and more direct than that of CSR. Remember, CSR began as somewhat voluntary until it was mandated by law. Many HR leaders became CSR Officers, earning accolades for themselves and bringing laurels to their institutions. Many lives are being touched and many untouched social realms are being attended to. Yet, CSR alone will not be enough to bring balance to earth and hence the dedicated and soon to be mandated SDGs.

 

Here's a reasoning I offer. In the Paris Agreement, our honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a commitment that India would reach carbon neutrality by 2070 as part of a five-point action plan that included reducing emissions to 50% by 2030. This implies that India will achieve a Net-Zero state. This is a situation where a country's total emissions are offset by absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (akin to what trees and forests do), and physical removal of carbon dioxide through futuristic technologies. In short, a goal of completely negating the amount of harmful gases produced by human activity.

 

However, can this remarkable feat be achieved by the government alone? Perhaps not! This will require collaboration between the government and corporate sector. Operating as a coalesced entity, exemplifying sharp focus, demonstrating determination and engendering creativity and innovation. It will further require synergizing their mutual strategic and program implementation levers. At an organization level, all functions will own this imperative, but HR will have to drive it.

 

This might therefore be the right time for HR professionals to educate themselves on sustainability, and begin immediate deliberations now, to avoid running helter-skelter when the situation reaches a more dire state in the near future.

 

What HR Leaders Must Be Ready for

Every organization, irrespective of the industry or the life cycle stage (and by extension, including start-ups), could have SDG mandates. This means that organizations will need to pose to themselves a fundamental question, “As a consequence of our business activities, which of the 17 sustainable goals are we addressing to move in the direction of a Net- Zero state? As a strategic organizational driven mandate, this would then result in functional key performance indicators (KPIs). That will in turn drive each member's key responsibility areas (KRAs).

 

The competencies and their underlying critical behaviors at all levels of leadership, would be provided a metaphoric color. This would be true of Core values (espoused and practiced) too. HR professionals need to think in terms of Green Behaviors, Green Competencies, and Green Values.

 

Green Skills will be in demand, much as the erstwhile software development skills were in the early 90s. Extending this logic, recruitment would also operate under the ideology of Green recruitment and Green selection. Induction will have Green orientation. Done right, this would move us in the direction of building a Green culture for Green performance.

 

Finally, the future HR function will undergo radical transformation into Green HRM. Any member of the HR fraternity be it a practitioner, a trainee or an academician must match-up to this paradigm-shift even more radically. Any incremental approach would merely act as a derailment factor.

 

It's coming! Get ready!