Top of mind

Nick McKissack is Chief Executive of HRNZ. Nick is passionate about people development and sharing the success of members and organisations leading the HR profession in New Zealand.

In March, HRNZ was invited to join the Sustainable Business Council as an associate member. This is an exciting step for us. Sustainability is an issue for HRNZ, as it is for all New Zealand organisations. Our current circumstances have brought this sharply into focus. For HRNZ, we take two perspectives on our involvement in the Sustainable Business Council. The first of course is the need for us to operate internally in a sustainable way. The bigger picture, though, is the need to support our members to provide leadership around sustainability within their own organisations.

As we researched sustainability and considered the role HRNZ wanted to play, we took the United Nations Sustainable Development goals as a key reference point. In my discussions with the HRNZ Board about our role, two of the main points we covered were:

1. a lot of the issues that led to the development of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are people created, therefore, to resolve them requires people intervention and change

2. sustainability will not only require organisations to deal with equity-related issues but also the skills and capabilities needed to live through a fundamental transformation in the way we work.

Little did we know, back in December 2019, that the fundamental transformation in the way we work would arrive so hard and fast or indeed that it would be driven by the very human issue of our basic health and survival.

For me, what lies at the heart of the conversation about sustainability is the social licence organisations must have to operate. It is really a matter of trust. Can we trust institutions to act responsibly, respect all their stakeholders and have consideration for the broader impact they have on the world in which they operate?

The matter of trust has never been so important as it is right now. This struck me when I was watching one of Jacinda Ardern’s regular media briefings during the lockdown period. She acknowledged in response to one of the questions from a reporter that, as we entered Alert Level 3 and beyond a level of trust was involved in allowing businesses to return to work. It is a principle the government has operated on since the outset in terms of its response to the COVID-19 crisis. You don’t need to look any further than the way in which the wage subsidy was administered to understand this.

New Zealanders will be looking to all organisations to act with integrity and ensure that the wellbeing of their stakeholders remains at the heart of their decision-making as we enter this brave new world.

We now know the heavy price that can be paid when we fail to respect the delicate balance of the natural world. It’s to be hoped that this crisis will lead us down a much more positive and committed path towards true sustainability. At HRNZ, we recognise the important role HR professionals will play in guiding employers on this journey. We look forward to working with the Sustainable Business Council to support our members in this role.

Nick McKissack, Chief Executive HRNZ - nick.mckissack@hrnz.org.nz