Recruitment is a major challenge in many companies, one that comes with not only the costs of finding a person (advertising for the position, using a recruiting company, taking time out of a manager’s day to do interviews) but also loss of value as the position goes unfilled and others in the company have to cover it. There is also risk involved, as it can be difficult to know if the new hire is a good match for the company and role.

Let’s use a story. Company A is a standard business organization. They have a decent company culture, average engagement, and are generally making good money. Their managers and teams often express feeling understaffed while waiting for roles to be filled, and the HR team is constantly trying to implement new benefits and initiatives to make working there appealing, on top of their existing responsibilities as human resources. In Company A, the process to recruit a new employee may look like this:

The thing is recruitment is not a one-time event. Company A wasn’t ready for that position to be left open, so their candidate search is pressed for time. They can’t wait for the right talent. Furthermore, their candidate search could be yielding too many people that need to be sorted through, taking up the time of managers and HR, or the organization finds that nobody wants to apply there. Finally, someone is hired, and Company A has to wait to find out if the new employee matches their team and role. If they don’t, then the company has to either deal with the mismatch, which has long-term negative impacts on productivity and engagement, or they have to start the process all over again.

Next door to Company A is Company B, which has decided to approach recruitment from a different angle. Company B has done the internal work to identify its mission, build its company culture, and create a supportive workplace. Perhaps Company B has won an award for its working environment or there was a recent news article about employees volunteering, and it is transparent about its impact, which involves setting and meeting specific sustainability targets, often using the success of different projects to bolster the company’s image. Here is Company B’s process:

Company B is known for being a great place to work, so when a role is posted, there are immediately people eager to apply. Furthermore, Company B has been invested in community education endeavors, meaning it is tapped into a supply of eager, newly trained professionals. Their commitment to equity and inclusion means they are going beyond the standard job search methods and thus finding talent that is passed over due to structural barriers. Company B’s candidate search period may still be stressful for its employees. They have to cover the role, engage in the search process, and then integrate and train a new team member, but the supportive work environment means that employees are able to express issues and get support. Candidates that do apply are attracted to the company’s mission and culture, self-selecting to do work that they are passionate about in a workplace they feel connected to. When they join, there is still the usual challenges of ensuring good team fit, but if they are not a good fit, there is a network in place for them and other employees to express issues and resolve them, allowing the friction to elevate the company. Ideally, the employees hired at Company B have a long tenure, meaning the company has to go through this whole process less than Company A.

Company B may have even developed a strong internal mobility program and promoted career advancement, thus enabling the organization to draw from existing talent, reducing the need for intensive integration and encouraging employees to stay in a place they know they can advance.

Company A isn’t bad. They are doing fine. They have hard working people who care about one another, and perhaps they even have set some impact targets or done a campaign around bringing reusable cups to work and offered paid time to volunteer. But they haven’t engaged with sustainability in a strategic manner. They see it as superfluous to their business, a nice-to-have when things are good. Yet it is when things are hard, when you are understaffed or can’t find a good replacement or are competing for a small candidate pool, that sustainable businesses shine. Company B did the work upfront, so they are better prepared and more likely to succeed. A strategic approach to sustainability is the differentiator.