ii) Employees

Quite a few Survey Participants speak proudly of the goodwill they have built up with their communities as well as with civil society and how it helps their business. Moreover, a good proportion of the Survey Participants put forward the idea that a business that is there for its community will enjoy the support of the community when it goes through difficult times. Clarissa Desjardins, CEO of Clementia Pharmaceuticals, sums up this point of view succinctly when she says, “Goodwill is a real asset”. Hélène V. Gagnon argues the same principle applies to governments, “The government prefers to partner with businesses that are liked by the public.” For his part, former premier of New Brunswick and now CEO of Medavie in Moncton, Bernard Lord affirms that business and government clients alike want to partner with organizations that share their values. Several Survey Participants believe that businesses devoted to linking profit with purpose through creating and sharing value with their stakeholders will more easily obtain and maintain social licenses. As Michael Sabia points out, “A social license is a precious thing. What you do with it needs to be aligned with how [your stakeholders] think.” Comparatively, some Survey Participants describe how businesses that do not seek to link profit with purpose by creating and sharing value with their stakeholders could lose social licenses and find themselves with no stakeholders’ support during trying times. Marc-André Blanchard points out that in addition to legal and financial risks, there is now a risk that a business’ social license be revoked. He goes even further by stating a business could be facing new acute challenges and because it did not look to positively impact society during the good times, it will not be able to recover as there will be no one there to support it during the bad times.

ii) Employees

“Employees always want to work for a company that they’re proud of.” – Senator Hassan Yussuff Frequently, Survey Participants stated that employees are applying immense pressure on businesses to espouse a purpose and values they believe in. Lisa Kimmel explains that “a business’ employees can be its biggest advocates or detractors – as we’re increasingly seeing the pressure that employees are taking in response to a company’s policies, decisions, and actions.” Of the Survey Participants, 70% state that ‘Employees’ are putting pressure on businesses to augment their engagement in solving societal issues. (‘Employees + ‘All of the Above’)

Figure 10: Percentage of all Survey Participants who highlighted various forms of pressure being put on businesses to become more purposeful

Numerous Survey Participants remark that a business’ purpose will have an impact on recruitment and retention. Suzanne Bergeron, for instance, states, “Potential employees won’t join us if we don’t have a sense of purpose.” Michael McCain, President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, is proud to say that the articulation of Maple Leaf Foods’ purpose has drawn talent, “I think all people today, in business, find more inspiration in an organization if there’s a purposeful journey attached to their work than if there isn’t.”

Brianna Brown opines, “Everybody deserves to have sense of purpose - to feel the delight of action, change-making, and feeling like you’re doing something that’s bigger than yourself.” Phil Arrata, the former CEO of MEC, bluntly states, “Staff want to work for an organization that they feel is contributing positively to society”. Alison Loat, Managing Director, Sustainable Investing and Innovation at OPTrust, explains, “People are looking to work for companies who address an important purpose and who speak in inspiring ways about what they’re trying to do in the world.” Danny Murphy adds, “People want to work for businesses that are socially responsible.”

Some Survey Participants even go as far as to suggest that in some cases employees are now willing to accept pay cuts to work for businesses they judge are contributing positively to society. Bernard Lord states that “Employees are coming here for our purpose - at times even for less pay just to be part of our culture.”

Many Survey Participants argued a workforce will be more productive if the employees feel like they are a part of an organization that contributes positively to society. Kate White, President and CEO of the United Nations Association-Canada argues it boils down to the difference between agency theory and stewardship theory and opines that organizations that have a positive purpose will enjoy a workforce that cares more deeply about the organization which in turn will ultimately lead to improved productivity. Michael Penner, member of the Board of Directors at Scotiabank, Lead Operating Director for Partners Group Private Equity, and Chair of United States Infrastructure Corporation, adds, “Employment is no longer just an economic transaction between labour and capital. This is a social compact, between your stakeholders and the people running the organization. And the ones that don’t buy into that – they won’t be around in 20-30 years.”

The substantial potential return or risk for a business in the recruitment of top talent, the retention of employees, and the productivity of its workforce provides a major financial incentive for it to produce and share value with its stakeholders through linking profit with purpose.