Social sustainability in economic activity refers to actions that support the development of a company in harmony with its environment and, specifically, with people.
It refers to adopting values that generate behaviors such as valuing nature, maintaining harmonious and satisfactory levels of education, training and awareness, offering support to the population of a country to improve themselves, maintain a good standard of living, and promoting the involvement of these same people to create something new in the society of which they are a part today.
What aspects should a company consider to be socially sustainable?
Primarily, the balance between the benefits obtained from the economic activity carried out in a given territory, with the benefits that the community and society can obtain from that activity in terms of employment, economic development, business activities, care for the environment, preservation of cultural practices, strengthening community projects, among others.
Pillars of social sustainability.
There are three fundamental premises that could guarantee the social sustainability of projects; these include:
- An dimension analyticswhich involves an assessment and documentation of the social context and the likely impacts of the project, both positive and negative;
- An dimension participatorywhich implies a commitment to the project stakeholders in a meaningful way; and
- An dimension of managementwhere the elements of analysis and participation are integrated into the project's decision-making and management systems, both during preparation and implementation.
What benefits does social sustainability have for organizations?
The benefits are numerous, but the most important is that they are long-term, therefore lasting over time.
Some benefits of implementing social sustainability are:
- It projects transparency about its economic activity.
- It fosters a harmonious relationship between business and community.
- Projects developed in collaboration with the community are participatory. Therefore, their probability of success is greater than if they were designed solely by the organization.
- It allows for public-private collaboration, through projects with state institutions, by combining resources and efforts for the benefit of a community.
- The organization fosters a sense of ownership and/or identification with its activities within the community. Therefore, its operation can be projected into the long term.
Within GDI We have various sustainability projects, such as the reuse of fabric scraps, the implementation of regenerated garments, and the care of the environment and resources.
We constantly provide training to our employees on how to carry out future activities and projects with a sustainable vision, not only with the environment, but also with our clients and the community in general.