When people hear the term "sustainability," they often think about environmental issues: reducing emissions, conserving energy, and protecting the planet. But sustainability is about much more. It encompasses four interconnected pillars: human, social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Environmental sustainability: protection and conservation of natural resources.
Economic sustainability: ensuring that economic activities create long-term value.
Social sustainability: nurturing societal relationships and community well-being.
Human sustainability: investing in human capital—focusing on people’s skills, health, and opportunities.
While these four pillars overlap, human sustainability is perhaps the most immediate for businesses because it places emphasis on the well-being and skills of the very people who make organisations run.
Understanding human sustainability
Human sustainability is a vital aspect of corporate success that ensures employees, communities, and organisations grow together towards a more resilient future.
At its core, human sustainability is about maintaining and enhancing the human capital that forms the backbone of organisations and societies. It involves initiatives aimed at improving health, education, skill development, access to services, and overall well-being.
HS means prioritising people, treating employees not just as tools for productivity, but as human beings with aspirations, health needs, and value beyond what they produce at work.
Human sustainability involves a holistic approach where people thrive alongside businesses. This includes initiatives like investing in training programs, creating safe work environments, and fostering inclusive practices that emphasise diversity and equity. By investing in human sustainability, companies are also ensuring they have skilled and motivated people to lead the organization forward.
Why human sustainability matters for business success
There is a simple but powerful correlation here: when people thrive, businesses thrive.
Over the last few decades, the concept of "people-first" has gained immense popularity because, ultimately, the success of a business is largely determined by how well its people are doing. Employees, customers, partners, and stakeholders all fall under the broader umbrella of human sustainability, and creating value for them leads to higher levels of loyalty, productivity, and innovation.
A recent Deloitte report found that 76% of business and HR officers recognise the importance of human sustainability, but only 46% of organisations are actually doing something about it. This gap between intention and action shows us that there is an urgent need to shift focus from extracting value from people to working with them to create sustainable progress.
Implementing human sustainability in organisations
So, how can companies begin integrating human sustainability into their strategy? Here are some practical steps:
Measure human outcomes, not just initiatives. It's common for companies to tally the number of initiatives they run, whether related to diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI). However, it's more effective to measure real outcomes, such as improvements in employee skills, well-being, and growth opportunities. Focusing on measurable outcomes gives a true picture of progress.
Incentivise sustainability achievements. Rewards can work wonders. When companies link rewards to achieving human sustainability outcomes—such as better employee retention rates or higher diversity metrics—they create an accountability loop that drives genuine impact.
Build a common language for human sustainability. Organisations must ensure that everyone, from board members to frontline workers, understands the value of human sustainability. As Deloitte’s survey suggests, only 29% of leaders strongly agree that they understand how to achieve human sustainability, meaning there’s a significant need for common training and awareness across organisations.
Engage employees in decision-making. Human sustainability requires input from the very people it aims to benefit. Engaging employees, customers, and community stakeholders in a two-way dialogue helps uncover what really matters to them and empowers people to be part of the solution.
Integrate human sustainability governance into the board and C-suite. Human sustainability is increasingly taking center stage on the boardroom agenda, as the board provides oversight on the intersection of strategy, risk, culture, and DEI and ESG and its relationship to business results. In one Deloitte US study, board members and C-suite leaders ranked human sustainability issues among the top internal workforce risks, yet many don’t feel confident in their ability to manage them.
Human sustainability in action
PayPal is an inspiring example of human sustainability in action. When PayPal discovered that two-thirds of its frontline workers were living paycheck to paycheck, it responded by implementing a financial wellness program that reduced healthcare costs, provided stock awards to all employees, and offered financial education resources. The result? By 2023, the company had significantly improved worker disposable income, reduced stress, and achieved record-high engagement and productivity.
Similarly, companies like AT&T have reduced hiring barriers by eliminating unnecessary degree requirements for more than 95% of job openings, making career opportunities more equitable and accessible.
Human sustainability index says: there is a relationship between wellbeing and a sustainable working life, and that relationship can affect company performance. Namely, the higher an organization’s ratings in overall employee wellbeing, culture and climate of wellbeing, performance of wellbeing initiatives and funding allocation toward wellbeing are, the better their scores in the categories of a sustainable working life, workforce resilience, agility and belonging. There is also a direct relationship to company performance. Improving these factors can enhance company performance by at least 11 percent and up to 55 percent.
Fair Cultures role in promoting human sustainability
We take human sustainability seriously because we understand that inclusion, equity, and employee well-being aren’t just checkboxes, they are the foundation of thriving workplaces. We work with organisations to identify and improve DEI metrics, creating inclusive environments where all employees can succeed, regardless of background.
By collaborating with companies to address unconscious biases, create better onboarding processes, and develop meaningful talent strategies, Fair is helping build workplaces that put people first. We support companies in recognising that their greatest assets are the individuals who work there—and that those individuals deserve to be nurtured, supported, and valued.
Human sustainability is about creating workplaces that value people beyond the services they provide. It is a mindset shift from focusing solely on profits to focusing on purpose, from transactional interactions to creating long-lasting relationships based on growth, equity, and well-being.
To create real impact, human sustainability must be woven into every aspect of the organization, from the boardroom to frontline teams. Companies that embrace this perspective not only create better experiences for their employees but also drive better business outcomes in the long term.
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