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. However, it is important to guide them through this process, which can be disastrous when not lead the "right" way. The implementation of Sustainable Development policies in the companies often start with environmental issues, which are usually seen as the main stakes, rather than with social issues. The social dimension is not usually the main part of their sustainable development reports. It is however important not to forget the point of involving human resources in the process.There are many definitions for sustainable development.
[...] II How can a company use human resources management in the implementation of a sustainable development policy? The use of new human resources tools Sustainable development also implies taking into account ethical values and principles, therefore leading human resources to use new tools. (Reynaud E.) A new trend in companies nowadays is volunteering. Many different projects are available to the volunteers, depending on their will and their centre of interest: humanitarian missions, unemployed re-insertion, etc. These actions, which depend very much on the human resources willingness to set them up, contribute to the good image of sustainable development policies implementation in companies. [...]
[...] Furthermore, the involvement of the employees should not stop there: the company should encourage them to integrate ethical and/or ecological attitudes in their everyday life. For instance, the laboratory Aventis Pasteur 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 Maîtrise de l'Energie) so as to improve the bus service to the laboratory. However today, taking actions in the home country of the company is not enough: sustainable development goes abroad! [...]
[...] (Aggeri F.) Another example of international involvement is the hotel company Accor, 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. (ibid.) Both national and international dimensions must be taken into account in the implementation of a sustainable development strategy, in order to make the most out of it. III - What advantages is there to set up a sustainable development policy with the help of the human resources? Taking into account the various dimensions of sustainable development and adapting it to the human resources might seem a bit constraining for the companies. [...]
[...] However, as human resources management is of great help in implementing a sustainable development policy, the other way round is also true: human resources can benefit greatly for this implementation. The following diagram shows the positive effects of sustainable development implementation on human resources: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ITS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON HRM (Reynaud E.) The company will therefore gain both external and internal human resources performance, i.e. the human resources will be effective towards all of its stakeholders, whether they are the employees or the local institutions . [...]
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