A Sustainability Profile: one step closer to more sustainable business

As history and the current state of our society clearly show, transformation from traditional to sustainable business, not to mention our way of life, is inevitable. Still, even companies that understand this may struggle when it comes to the first steps they should take or to where they should even start. The topic might seem too broad for them, or they may consider themselves as small companies that do not have resources to make these changes. However, that is just a limitation that businesses set for themselves.

Now, I am not saying that you must transform all your internal processes over night or change the way you do your business from scratch, but every effort helps. One of the easiest ways, that actually only takes a few clicks, is to create your own company's Sustainability Profile on SmartHead. What is it? How can it help? Who is it for? I will answer these questions in today’s article. Let’s take a closer look.

What is a Sustainability Profile?

A Sustainability Profile is a SaaS solution that guides you on your sustainability journey. First and foremost, it will help you manage and organise everything that you do in the field of sustainability. You can add activities to increase credibility and transparency of your sustainability efforts, compare your current sustainability communication status in our ranking to other companies, and see how well are you doing, what positive impacts you are creating, and how you are fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals. What’s more, you can get inspiration and ideas from a wide range of companies from different segments of business - from retail to information technology and services.

How can you benefit from a Sustainability Profile?

From our experience, each company benefits differently from its Sustainability Profile, depending on their focus, size and needs. Some are pushing for public recognition of their efforts, so the profile is used by their marketing and PR departments to boost their brand image. Companies that struggle with finding the right candidates to fill vacancies (especially between generation Z and millennials) can show them that they truly care about their employees’ work environment. Others, who focus more on data management, use our reports to show their stakeholders, future business partners, or headquarters how well they are performing in governmental, environmental and social areas. However, from a general point of view, we can divide the main benefits of a Sustainability Profile into three main categories:

Measuring and Reporting

Keep all your sustainability data in one place: activities, impacts, SDGs, sustainability vision, reports, eco certificates, commitments and press releases have their own place in your Sustainability Profile. The profile serves as data storage for your activities with immediately accessible and downloadable reports. With each added activity, you will see how your company is fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals and what impacts it creates. Your profile will show your stakeholders which SDGs you fulfill the most, what your focus in sustainability transformation is, and how your activities are structured. Do you want to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions or waste reduction? Add an activity that directly helps in this field, and your stakeholders will immediately know that you care. Actively show that you are a frontrunner that contributes to the transformation of the business world as a whole!

Communicating

Communicate your overall corporate sustainability approach to your stakeholders in a transparent way. Share your activities with external and internal audiences. Show your potential customers, business partners, investors, or employees that your company cares about the future. Communication of your Sustainability Profile can boost your public recognition as well as employee morale, loyalty and pride. Improve your hiring process, especially with millennials and Generation Z. According to our statistics, more than 68% of respondents consisting of millennials and Generation Z showed interest in working for companies that actively engage in meeting Sustainable Development Goals. However, communication on our platform is a two-way street with a core focus on stakeholder's engagement. Same way as you communicate your efforts, stakeholders will give you their feedback on what you do through the “Send Idea” and “Well done” features.

Inspiration

Are you a company that sells food, and perhaps doesn’t know what to do with food leftovers? Or would you like to start doing something to become more sustainable, but don’t know how? Get inspired by the very best. Best practices analytics and practical tips on SmartHead can help your business become more sustainable, and this will open many new doors for your company.

Who is it for?

It doesn’t matter how many employees your company has, if it is a business with a long history, or if it’s fresh startup. Everyone is welcome on SmartHead platform, in a community of companies that care - there is no limitation. We even provide a limited free profile for you to try. However, as your efforts grow and you do more and more activities, you would probably consider an upgrade. SmartHead team is here to support you, help you with the initial set up of your account, and later on, promote your activities to our audience.