Social and Environmental Responsibility, Sustainability, and Human Resource Practices

Abstract

Socially responsible employment practices help organizations attract, develop, and manage employees while valuing them as investments. Environmental social responsibility considers people, planet and profit issues that lead to sustained competitive advantage. Creating socially responsible and sustainable employment practices help organizations meet current needs without compromising the ability to meet future needs. Sustainable employment practices have strategic implications for the organization and there are long-term risks for using unsustainable practices as well. The use of unsustainable employment practices when times are tough limits success during better times – employment practice decisions have a long-term impact. Three broad functions of employment practices – attracting, developing and managing employees – are examined using a framework that contrasts socially responsible practices with short-term, unsustainable practices. Industry examples demonstrate the challenges of creating sustainable value chains in employment practices.