How recruitment companies measure up on sustainability

Recruitment companies have an important role to play in shifting our economy back into gear.

The onset of COVID-19 has impacted how we work and get hired. Recruitment companies are playing a pivotal role in the rapid adoption of flexible working and remote hiring. But how do they measure up on the sustainability front?

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Recruitment companies are pivotal in pushing our economy back into gear

The beginning of the year is typically the busiest time of year for recruitment with companies setting new strategies and budgets for the year ahead. Given this, we thought it timely to zoom in on the major listed recruitment companies around the world and measure up how they stack on the sustainability front.

The onset of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the way we all work and how we get hired. While many businesses had put a halt to recruiting altogether, others such as digital and logistics companies benefiting from the rapid shift to online and the cloud has opened doors to new hires. The hiring process for those building out teams over the last year has no doubt changed, with the need to swiftly move to remote hiring.

All stakeholders - companies, recruiters and candidates - have to face the challenge of being able to effectively adapt and embrace collaboration and company culture in a remote environment without impacting on productivity.

Is remote hiring here to stay? As with many industries impacted by COVID-19, the question remains whether the shift to the digital space and the working from home trend is here to stay in a post-COVID world.

As we look forward into 2021, with the rollout of vaccines and economies opening up from lockdowns due to COVID-19, recruitment companies have an important role to play in helping businesses and the economy shift back into gear. Let’s take a look at how some of the major listed recruitment companies stack up on sustainable impact.

Listed recruiters analysed are laggards when it comes to sustainability

All eight companies analysed scored well below the Sustainable Platform database average (over 18,000+ companies listed globally) score of 50, with a group average score of only 29.

English recruitment company, Hays plc tops the sustainability chart within the companies analysed with an SDG score of 42.

The next highest scorer is Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm, Randstad NV with an SDG score of 37. Following closely behind is Persol Holdings Co., Ltd, a Japanese human resource management company with an SDG score of 36. American multinational and world leader in innovative workforce solutions, ManpowerGroup Inc scores the lowest on SDG with a score of 18.

Why such low sustainability scores? The SDG scores are assessed based on the proportion of revenue (plus research and development spent) of a listed company that contributes to, or detracts from, one or more of the SDGs. It is based on a net score that takes into account a company’s positive contribution to the SDGs less exposures to controversial industries and involvement in activities deemed detrimental to society or their employees.

The SDG scores for the recruitment companies analysed are low as around 60-75% of revenues are considered neutral and don’t contribute to the SDGs.

*All SDG score and data are provided by Sustainable Platform based on data as at 26 November 2020.

Top contributing goals

Of all the 17 SDGs, the listed recruitment companies analysed contribute most to these below goals:

• SDG 5: Gender Equality

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Find out more about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Sustainable Platform is a sustainability information service only to institutional investors and doesn’t provide general or personal financial advice.

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