The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) – Profit, People, Planet
Are you familiar with the term, The Triple Bottom Line?
In the old days, companies were measured by profit and loss or P&L.
Profit
However, in recent times there’s a broader shift in mindset regarding a company’s performance and responsibilities at both a community and global level.
Profit is important. But a business with neither strategy nor revenues will be on the rocks. Then it will be consigned to history. Look at High Street favourites like Blockbusters, C&A, Woolworths, Debenhams, and Laura Ashley.
There are two other emerging considerations.
People
Firstly, people. What does your company do for its employees?
Does it foster an ethos of support and well-being? Is it flexible in working arrangements? Are you still needed in the office five days per week? Or can you have time off and take your children to the doctor or dentist without a witch hunt for your timekeeping?
Similarly, who are your stakeholders? What is your relationship with them? If you’re a large community employer, how can your company steer a beneficial course with community leaders and create consistent community outcomes? Could your company’s facilities be shared with the community?
Forty years ago, I worked for a big employer in the north of England. They had a football pitch and excellent facilities. Though the company ran the team, team members were drawn from the community. The following line of conversation revolved around job vacancies and opportunities.
They used their sports hall for three blood donation sessions annually (during work time). Tuesday and Thursday nights, they ran yoga and Pilates sessions. Monday nights, they had gymnastics and dance classes for local children at reasonable prices (in outstanding facilities). Each Friday, they fitted a meeting room for a barber to come in, and busy folks didn’t have to waste their valuable weekend queuing on the High Street. Every summer, they ran a community fundraiser day, where office staff and locals stood shoulder to shoulder and managed the events and functions of a great family day out. Every year, my local church invites local shops to dress a small Christmas tree (for a nominal fee). People walk around the church taking pictures of some extraordinary creations. Good for the church, the shops' visibility and reputation, and the Christmas spirit.
Creating synergies builds stronger communities and generally saves time and energy.
A company’s reputation figures high in people’s minds these days. Ethical investments: fair trade/fair pay to workers in developing countries with few options and fewer rights. Most companies have anti-slavery policies, again protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation.
There are 120 million people in slavery throughout the world. People are working 14 hours a day in sweatshops. Companies involved in illegal mining leave their workers without essential health and safety protection. Ethical investors are saying “No” to these abhorrent practices. We don’t want to make a profit off the backs of the poor and vulnerable.
You’ll have noticed that companies are sensitive to their reputation. If any of their ‘influencers’ do anything ‘unethical’ to break their sponsorship arrangements and damage the parent company’s reputation, they’re dropped like a stone.
Planet
What does your company do? Does it manufacture things from natural resources? How sustainable are those resources? How many carbon miles must it travel to reach its market? The band Coldplay has concerns about the environmental impact of their concert tours. There’s the band, their entourage, and thousands of travelling fans. They’re focused on minimising the impact and using sustainable materials where possible.
What can your company do to minimise environmental impact? My small company uses a lot of paper, some of which needs to be discarded post-class. I take it home and ensure it’s properly recycled. I repurpose my sandwich bag for that reason. Anything in the classroom that can be recycled is recycled. When I buy printer paper, I buy it on a sunny day when I can walk to the shops and leave the car at home. Every month, I do one big shopping expedition in the car, then use the local shops in King’s Cross to top things up.
These may be small, and some will say inconsequential things, but I can't entirely agree. I was introduced to the word ‘recycling’ when I was fourteen. My school took us to Canada on a football trip. To raise money, all pupils and their families brought their old newspapers, magazines, and cardboard to school. Those items arrived at the Daily Telegraph offices in Manchester, where they were weighed in, and the school received a fee in return. Fifty years later, we are more attuned to the ongoing damage of deforestation. But it was great to be at the vanguard of the recycling movement.
It’s easy to recycle materials and help preserve the planet’s ecosystems. It’s a worthy cause.
Companies with little or no respect for the planet are under heavy scrutiny. Investors have no interest in dirty economies that damage the earth. The company, Patagonia, has changed its business model so that the chief shareholder is the planet itself. 98% of its profits will go to sustainable projects to reinvigorate flagging ecosystems.
I'll discuss opportunities for small companies to become more sustainable in the article Sustainability for small companies
So, the Triple Bottom Line. Now that you're aware, join in the conversation.
