ESG: 7 best internal communication practices

This year’s State of the Sector report revealed that only one third of communicators felt their organization had a clear Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy.

That got us thinking: if 66% of respondents felt they don’t have a clear strategy around ESG, they’re likely not communicating it to employees. And considering just how pertinent these issues are to attracting and retaining talent (oh and that whole climate-crisis-social-equity-addressing stuff), it feels like an incredible missed opportunity.

We suspected there could be more to the story behind the statistics, so we took a deeper look into communicating ESG.

Are ESG and CSR the same?

While we love an acronym, it certainly feels like ESG has replaced CSR recently. As it turns out, they're different takes on looking at the same thing: a company's impact on society.

If you’ve been in the industry for a while, you will probably remember “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR). While this was about purpose-led internal accountability and self-regulation, its more robust cousin ESG (“Environmental, Social and Governance”) is led by specific criteria and measures to limit negative impact or enhance positive impact.

Because ESG performance data helps individuals make sustainable investment choices, it has become increasingly important for shareholders – and in turn, business.

When it comes to ESG, what do employees expect of organizations?

When we look at what employees want, there are some recurring trends: employees want more meaningful work and they want to make a difference - and this can be a deal breaker, particularly for younger employees. To illustrate:

• 35% of UK employees say they’d quit their job if their employer took no action to reduce its carbon footprint.
• About two-thirds of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work.
• 69% of employees say having societal impact is a strong expectation when considering a job.

To top that off, from the organizational side, Edelman’s 2023 Trust Barometer found that businesses are (still) more trusted than government; and more societal engagement is desired from businesses on climate change.

So everyone agrees that ESG is important. What’s the disconnect?

While 34% of State of the Sector respondents felt they had a clear ESG strategy, a McKinsey report actually found that industry benchmarks in some sectors show that nearly 100% of companies have defined sustainability strategies. Here’s the kicker: they also stated that only 40% have sufficient internal knowledge and capabilities to achieve their targets.

So it actually might be the case that you do have a very robust ESG strategy: it’s just that no one understands it.

And that’s where internal communications comes in. By making messages digestible and actions ‘doable’ for all employees, while tapping into the right balance of emotions, internal communicators can start to shift the needle on environmental and social issues (and perhaps attract and retain talent along the way).

ESG + me: how do I communicate to employees about ESG?

First of all: Don’t panic. It’s easy to be overwhelmed with the weight of the (ever-warmer) world on your shoulders. But remember: every big challenge in history was tackled by focusing on doing what you can. With the right techniques, communicators are in the position to help inspire changes in behaviors.

We’ve put together seven guiding principles for communicating ESG within your organization.

1. Drive it from the top

The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 89% of people expect CEOs to act on climate change. Like most initiatives and strategies, ESG is even more meaningful if it’s backed by leadership. In driving from the top, also think about the guiding forces that drive your organization: your purpose, vision and values. Drawing a clear connection between what your ESG initiatives are trying to achieve, and what’s on your corporate agenda will make ESG feel like part of the infrastructure, rather than a ‘bolt on’ initiative to communicate.

2. Listen from the front

While you are setting the scene from the C-suite, make sure that messages align with the reality of employees’ day-to-day experience. It’s no good telling all employees to recycle their rubbish if they work in the field and don’t have access to bins. And it’s also difficult to get ‘work from anywhere’ employees to come together for a corporate volunteering day in one place. Listen to employees to find out which part of your ESG strategy they are most passionate about supporting, and which they feel they can take action on. If people want to do it, you’re halfway to mobilizing them.

3. Abide by the rule of three

If you want to make your ESG strategy stick, make it simple, memorable and repeatable. Humans can remember five (plus or minus two) things – and this is supported by recent research from USC’s Annenberg Center that found that three is the magic number of social issues companies address at one time (closely followed by two). Rather than trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once, reduce the ESG communications focus to just two to three elements (perhaps one environmental and one social?) that you want employees to take on. Where possible, simplify the naming of these initiatives into one to two words each to make them catchy and easy to recall.

4. Balance reality and optimism

Once you’ve nailed down your two or three focus areas of communication, consider the “Know, Feel, Do” communications framework. The ‘know’ is usually pretty simple – you’ll want employees to know what those focus areas are (hence being simple and memorable). When it comes to the ‘feel’, things get a little trickier. Too much optimism can lead to denial. Too much negativity can be demoralizing: the last thing you want to do is overwhelm employees with the sheer enormity of the ESG ‘problem’. And you don’t want to shame them about their habits – that won’t change behavior. Renée Lertzman, climate psychologist, says that instead of focusing on whether people care or not, or how to “get people onboard”, we need to acknowledge that the “Three A’s” (anxiety, ambivalence and aspiration) can coexist. It’s not as simple as “do you care or not?” or “are you motivated or not?” Acknowledge the anxieties employees face, understand the competing desires, goals and motivations that may create ambivalence, and anchor your work in a future state that breeds aspiration. Humans can feel multiple things at once – let’s not forget that!

5. Give people a ‘do’

You’ve sorted out a memorable “know” and considered all the nuanced “feels”. Now it’s time to give employees a ‘do’ - behavior that will support your ESG agenda, while giving employees a sense of purpose and fulfilment. When it comes to motivating and persuading around behavior change, it’s best to nail down a discrete, absolutely singular behavior that you want employees to carry out. For example: put hard plastic in red recycling bin. Make it the simplest option. Build policies and processes around it. Recognize it. Role model it. Then measure it!

6. Own your data

Beyond the big corporate targets, can you measure the impact employees are making with their ‘do’ actions? Words are no good without actions, and data represents action. Moreover, that measurement means nothing if you’re not sharing it with employees and celebrating wins! Present data in a non-boring way that makes sense to everyone (no over-complicated bar graphs and endless statistics!) If the data looks bad, explain what went wrong, and how you’re planning to address it. Show the struggle. And importantly, show how tackling these issues is not straightforward – it won’t be perfect, but it is possible to make things better.

7. Beware: the medium is the (anti-)message.

Now here comes the spanner in the works. If you’re not careful, the medium in which you communicate could subvert what you’re trying to get across. What we mean is perhaps best explained with some hypotheticals:

You want to address the amount of single-use coffee cups in the office. You decide to supply everyone with a reusable coffee cup with your ESG campaign logo on it. Consider: You will be producing objects that nobody asked for; made out of plastic, most likely shipped from an international manufacturer. People probably already have a reusable coffee cup at home that they guiltily only remember once they’re face to face with the barista. Your cups are not used but you’ve spent money and resources – and your message doesn’t land.

You print a lovely book about progress made your ESG efforts. Consider: the trees. It’s printed on glossy, non-recycled/able paper with inks made from petrochemicals. People flick through the book then never look at it again – it ends up in the bin.

You decide to start an e-newsletter about your sustainability efforts. Consider: a single email generates 4.0g of CO₂. Multiply that by 37,500 recipients and that’s roughly the same carbon footprint as driving a small car for 100km. Your good intentions are scuppered.

I don’t mean to rain on your parade – but it does pay to give a little extra thought into how you’re getting your message across. Think holistically!

Communicators as ambassadors for change

When it comes to environmental and social impact, you don’t need to be a climate scientist or write government policy to make a difference. Progress can be made within the scope of human influence and advocacy, and internal communicators are well placed to provide this within their organizations. 91% of global citizens are interested in hearing about corporate social responsibility initiatives, but messages must be honest and clear. That’s fully within the remit of communicators! You are more than a messenger: you can be an ambassador for change. And how you communicate could make all the difference.

Author’s note: Don’t worry, I know that social impact isn’t just volunteering, and addressing climate change isn’t only about recycling! It’s all much more complex and nuanced than that. Please forgive the over-simplified examples throughout – they’re used for flow and demonstration purposes only!

See how our internal communications consultants can help you today, and contact us to discuss the tangible differences we could make to your organization.