The dazzling development of positive impact jobs

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is more than ever a strategic issue for all organisations. In addition to reducing the carbon footprint of their activities, companies must now respond to three major challenges: recruiting new talent in line with the ecological transition, training existing employees to acquire green skills and implementing sustainable actions in the context of an unprecedented climate crisis.

The development of green jobs and CSR policies at the heart of human capital issues

CSR is a real lever for attracting and retaining talent. As proof, according to the report "The ecological transition at the heart of HR issues" published jointly by AXA Climate, Le Lab RH and PageGroup France in 2022, 91% of employees think that the ecological transition should be a priority or important concern for companies. Furthermore, more than 2 out of 3 candidates recently said they would be prepared to give up a job if the recruiting company was not committed to actions related to the environment, diversity and inclusion.

If CSR initially reflected the need to position oneself and act in response to environmental and societal challenges, it is now at the heart of issues that are also linked to human capital. This is all the more true given that, according to the forecasts of The Shift Project, 1.1 million green jobs should be created by 2050 in France only. Worldwide, the estimate reaches 24 million new jobs related to the ecological transition to 2030.

The share of #greenskills in the global workforce has already risen from 9.6% in 2015 to 13.3% in 2021 (+38.5%). A movement that continues to accelerate. The job market in the #CSR sector is thus faced with a double tension: without a policy of social and environmental responsibility, companies are struggling to recruit talent; at the same time, they are facing a shortage of technical profiles in green or greening professions, and experienced profiles trained in CSR issues.

HR thus plays a central to anticipating and planning today for the #jobs and #skills of tomorrow. By accompanying the evolution of skills and the #corporate culture, HR will also enable the organisation to "pivot" to continue to attract talent by integrating a green and responsible dimension from the #recruitment stage and remain competitive in a context of #transformation. As a player in the employment sector, PageGroup aims, through its advisory role and the publication of expert resources, to transmit the values of sustainable leadership to its clients as well as to professionals seeking meaning and impact. I mentioned above the expert report published in 2022; a couple of weeks ago, we went one step further, publishing the prospective report “The ecological transition: the challenge of the century for HR”. Aside to that, our firm also shared a CSR job salary survey to help all stakeholders understand the "greening" trends at work in the job market and discover the emerging jobs related to the green economy and CSR.

What are the main recruitment challenges for companies?

CSR means going against traditional economic and societal mechanisms to build new business models. According to a recent PwC study, 91% of business leaders believe that their company has a responsibility to act on CSR issues.

To meet the challenges of climate change, organisations must make profound changes in terms of adapting production methods (raw materials, supply, energy consumption, pollution, recycling, etc.) and distribution channels in particular. This transition requires a change in skills and the workforce in the broadest sense. Indeed, new professions will emerge, others will evolve or disappear completely.

However, the pool of talent with the required skills is far from meeting the global demand today. The development of academic skills related to the green economy from initial training, but also the training of existing employees through vocational training and continuing education are at the heart of current and future recruitment challenges. The acquisition of green skills is becoming an increasingly cross-cutting prerequisite for the various sectors of activity. In addition to the energy and agriculture sectors, employment experts are observing a growing interest in positive impact profiles in the business services, public administration, manufacturing and construction sectors.

All actors in the economy will have to adapt. But how can this be achieved in a short timeframe? To ensure that we collectively quickly make the required difference, we have identified 4 key actions:

1. Focus on recruiting employees with CSR skills now;
2. Start reorganising traditional jobs to include CSR criteria;
3. Offer initiatives, training or educational pathways for teams to acquire green skills;
4. Identify opportunities for CSR innovation and prioritise the implementation of these projects.

?

The green skills revolution is underway, it is up to all of us to carry it forward and better support it.