Purpose beyond profit: striking the balance

Purpose beyond profit: striking the balance

 For businesses, the pandemic was the reality check no-one saw coming. Not only did it change our ways of working overnight, in many ways it also seemed like a cautionary sign, as if we were being told that, as companies, now was the time to pause and take stock.

 It’s also been a welcome reminder of the importance of giving back, making us realise and fully appreciate what’s really important: people, connections and family.

With all this time spent indoors giving us plenty of time to reflect, it’s got us thinking about what we can be doing as individuals to lift up our communities – so much so that an estimated 4.3 million people started volunteering for the first time as a result of the pandemic (according to a recent ICM poll). With businesses too giving more thought to the role they can play in protecting their staff and the wider communities that support them, leaders have had to reset their priorities and look beyond pure ‘profit’ as a measure of success.

Of course, it’s still true that making profit can serve a social purpose too, but just in a slightly different way: by providing job opportunities and bringing financial security to local communities. Especially at entry level, the construction industry offers jobseekers a diverse, exciting set of career prospects, and by growing via project wins, we can open up these opportunities to an even wider pool of young talent.

But as well as this, we still need deliberate and continued investment into the wider community; after all, no business operates as a separate entity to the people around it, and the relationship has to be a mutually beneficial one. That’s why at Sir Robert McAlpine we support such powerful charitable initiatives, like the Strong Foundations Grant that was launched in partnership with Semble last year, which funds inspiring grass-roots initiatives.

One of the most rewarding elements of my role is my membership of our affinity networks championing inclusion and as a member of the SRM Charitable Giving Committee. The committee supports items such as grassroots community projects right through to brilliant larger organisations like Maggie's and the Construction Youth Trust.

By thinking more in ‘people’ and ‘community’ than ‘return on investment’ terms, we can be a real force for good, both in an economic and moral sense.

 Of course, striking the right balance between purpose and profit isn’t easy; like anything, it’ll take time, and will depend on the kind of company you are and the values you want to champion. So, whilst it’s true that profit in many respects is one way of ‘giving back’, let’s not forget the importance of having a strong sense of purpose and, most important of all, remain mindful of the wider impact of our work.