Fostering a culture of sustainability starts with your people

Nathalie Huynh, Country HR Director, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Schneider Electric, highlights why organisations should prioritise sustainability in 2023.
By: | January 25, 2023

It is becoming increasingly important for organisations to develop a culture of sustainability as a key component of their policies and practices. HR professionals will play a critical role in fostering this development as they are responsible for creating an environment where employees are empowered to contribute to the organisation’s sustainability objectives.

At Schneider Electric, the energy and automation digital solutions provider released its Building a Greener Singapore report late last year, which found that 90% of business leaders work for organisations that have sustainability strategies and policies. Additionally, over half of those 500 business leaders surveyed indicated that their organisations are increasingly integrating sustainability into their business strategy.

Nathalie Huynh, Country HR Director, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Schneider Electric, told HRM Asia, “With sustainability becoming business critical regardless of industry, we will see HR professionals playing a greater role to attract and grow talent that will help their organisations accelerate progress in their sustainability goals in 2023. Against this backdrop, we foresee more organisations pledging net zero targets in 2023 and cultivating a workforce that is equipped with the relevant sustainability skills and capabilities.”

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Nathalie_Headshot_High-Res-Cropped-700x700.jpg

“We foresee more organisations pledging net zero targets in 2023 and cultivating a workforce that is equipped with the relevant sustainability skills and capabilities.” – Nathalie Huynh, Country HR Director, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Schneider Electric

Aside from attracting new employees with the appropriate skills, she suggested that HR professionals will also need to make concerted efforts to upskill existing employees within their organisations. The goal, according to Huynh, would be to collaborate with senior management on reviewing workplace practices and developing relevant training opportunities to enable employees to gain skills in areas such as sustainability reporting and become true advocates for a greener future.

READ: Investment in ESG management grows in South Korea

“HR professionals too would need to keep pace by equipping themselves with the relevant knowledge to become effective catalysts of change, who can help their organisations strengthen its roots in sustainability and in empowering employees to drive sustainable operations,” she concluded.