The Link between Human Capital and Sustainability

Many of the concerns of human capital are shared by sustainability officers, including employee engagement, workforce development, workplace diversity, and supply chain labor standards. A human capital strategy that does not include components of a sustainability strategy and, similarly, a sustainability strategy that fails to address human capital issues is incomplete. As demonstrated by several leading companies, a successful sustainability strategy can drive improvements in multiple human capital areas—both on a macro level, such as human rights, and at the firm level, such as employee engagement and diversity, and employee recruitment and retention.