Last Thursday, March 3, 'People4ESG: driving sustainability from the management of human capital' took place, a meeting promoted by DIRSE, with the partnership of Cuatrecasas, University of Navarra and the think tank enClave de Personas, which brought together 50 senior executives in Madrid and was followed online by two hundred professionals and interested parties. The goal forum was created to share the latest trends in Human Resources and Sustainability subject , as well as the keys to promote ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) criteria and policies from the HR department area .

The diary of the workshop was articulated according to the results of the public enquiry conducted among Sustainability and HR professionals, from which we highlight the most valued topics for each axis(see survey):

• The three ESG aspects are rated by Sustainability and HR professionals with importance average and very evenly, although the social aspects block stands out slightly.

• A (Environmental). Presentialism, work remote and transition to model hybrids are the most valued. In this case, differences by age are observed; the older the age, the greater the relevance of topic .

• S (Social). Health and safety, Inclusion and diversity and Employee wellbeing are the most valued. There are slight differences by gender, age and by subject of entity.

• G (Corporate Governance). Human rights, work decent, due diligence in the value chain, outsourcing/offshoring, have been the most valued topics on subject Corporate Governance. There are slight differences according to age, function and issue of employees.

After the welcome by the hosts, María Iraburu, president of the University of Navarra (by video) and the director of campus of Madrid, Ángel J. Gómez, director of Campus of Madrid, the representatives of enClave de Personas (Elena Sanz), Cuatrecasas(Guillermo Tena) and DIRSE(Alberto Andreu) intervened and highlighted the importance of the HR areas, key in the management of sustainability through awareness and dissemination, in addition to commenting in detail on the results of the Study.

Human Resources and Environment Board

Valentín Alfaya, president of the association group Spanish for Green Growth, paved the way with his technical discussion paper , for the subsequent round table of discussion , moderated by Professor Isabel Rodríguez and with the participation of Íñigo García, director Sustainability of Decathlon; José Ángel Marra, director HR. General Services and Corporate Safety at Iberdrola and Carlos Morán, director HR at CEPSA, who focused their discussion on the sustainable mobility policies and the impact of the hybrid work on the carbon footprint, going from a general perspective to the specific cases implemented in their companies.

Some of the main conclusions that resulted from the roundtable highlighted that sustainability must be part of the company's business and strategy model , being included within the leadership models and evidenced in concrete behaviors, programs of study of materiality, valorization of the impacts generated on the environment and in social terms. Thus, for the sustainability strategy to work, it must be "integrated" in each employee, as well as in the company's purpose and somehow create a project of "collaborative sustainability".

Human Resources and Social Impact

Luisa Izquierdo, HR Director at Microsoft Ibérica; Silvia Agulló, Director of Business manager and Reputation at DKV; Ana Valdivielso, HR Director at GSK Spain and Carmen Muñoz, Corporate Director of People and Organization at Repsol. Spain at GSK and Carmen Muñoz, corporate director of People and Organization at Repsol; focused their discussion on the impact of technology on the health and welfare of human capital, both in the possibilities for improving the living conditions of employees, as well as the challenges it presents in terms of welfare, safety and development of new competencies, moderated by Professor Javier Arellano.

All of them agreed in highlighting technology as tool at the service of people, as a dynamizer of Economics that favors competitiveness, as well as the benefits of the hybrid format of work that allows companies to adapt to the vital moments of employees, while remaining attentive to possible negative impacts due to misuse .

They also agreed that sustainability and employee well-being are closely related concepts, physically, mentally, emotionally and aspirational . Hence the importance of inspiring and motivating workers, as well as adapting to their individual preferences within the margins of the job. The satisfaction of each of them can be measured with tools that are increasingly agile and complete, and with models that rely on digitalization. As a result, tools for monitoring employee interaction are becoming increasingly available on work, which are helping to make work more efficient, more productive, and have a positive effect on people's motivation and well-being.

Human Resources and Corporate Governance

After Lara Vivas, partner at Cuatrecasas, updated us on the scope of the recently published draft European directive on Due Diligence and HR, the members of the round table, moderated by Alberto Andreu, president of DIRSE, discussed due diligence and the challenges posed by a new vision of flexibility as a factor of competitiveness from the point of view of two companies with very different value chains Tabacalera(Luis Blas, director HR), a start-up focused on guaranteeing sustainable suppliers (Arancha Díaz-Lladó, Sustainability Director at Twinco Capital), and AIRBUS (Antonio Lasaga, HR).HH.) AIRBUS(Antonio Lasaga, director HR), a start up focused on ensuring sustainable suppliers(Arancha Díaz-Lladó, Director of Sustainability at Twinco Capital) and a representative of the workers(José Varela, manager digitalization of UGT).

The ideas core topic that can be extracted from this roundtable include the transition, at subject of sustainability, of soft law a hard law due to the new legislation coming from the European Union, thus going from simple recommendations to an obligation that will entail sanctions in case of non-compliance. There was also room, during the round table, to talk about reputational risks and due diligence, since the consideration and concern of organizations has been extended to cover the entire value chain, for which it is necessary, according to the speakers: credibility, co-responsibility and dialogue . The important role played by trade unions as stakeholders was also highlighted. stakeholder, in the task of minimizing risks by actively involving them in the processes, helping to maximize opportunities, since "economic models can change, but not minimum rights and human welfare, the improvement of which is the original source of innovation".

The workshop ended with a final reflection on the importance of this event subject to promote the transversality of the Sustainability function, a role in plenary session of the Executive Council boom that is requiring more specialized professionals, and therefore announced a next edition of People4ESG in 2023.