How to Increase Your Social Impact in 2022

Your social impact is more than how you affect those you interact with. It is about how you can use your business to improve people’s lives worldwide and in the future through sustainable practices, employee care, and community efforts. Today we will look at five ways you can increase your social impact.

Key Takeaways:

• Your social impact is the positive influence on your workers, community, world, and environment.
• The UN outlines 17 goals for improving the world’s social impact by 2030, called the Sustainable Development Goals.
• To increase your social impact, invest in your employees’ quality of life in and out of the workplace.

What is Your Social Impact?

Your social impact is how your business addresses the challenges of today to create positive change. You can help combat issues in society by changing how you operate your business, treat your employees, or contribute to your community and the world.

Why Your Social Impact Matters

Your social impact is the corporate social responsibility to focus on creating a valuable product and improving your community. About 70% of Americans believe companies should implement better practices. Additionally, 77% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a business that has socially-conscious operations.

However, you don’t have to wait for the future to see changes in the world. Even today, you can experience incredible growth because of your investment in more sustainable and healthy business practices.

The Most Significant Challenges of 2022

In 2015, the United Nations established 17 interlinked global goals for society by 2030. If we achieve these goals, we create a better future. These goals are known as the Sustainable Development Goals.

Image from United Nations

• No Poverty: End Poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
• Good Health and Well-Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.
• Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
• Clean Water and Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
• Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
• Decent Work and Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
• Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
• Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
• Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
• Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
• Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
• Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.
• Life on Land: Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
• Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
• Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

You can improve your social impact by finding ways to address these challenges in your workplace and beyond.

How to Measure Your Social Impact

Social impact is more of an abstract idea instead of a concrete and measurable concept. Therefore, how can you know if you are improving your social impact?

While you can’t measure the concept of social impact, you can put a number on the success of specific strategies. Here are a few ideas.

• Regularly send out employee satisfaction surveys
• Track your carbon footprint
• Increase your budget for charitable giving and community service projects
• Collect customer feedback

The following video provides more details on measuring your social impact.

How do you measure social impact?

5 Ways You Can Increase Your Social Impact

Let’s explore five social impact strategies to improve the world by changing your business values and investing in the Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Treat Your Workers Fairly

Are you paying your workers fairly and offering competitive benefits? Those are a great start. However, your social impact goes beyond just taking care of your employees. 

You should also invest in equity alongside equality so that employees with differing needs have equal opportunities for advancement and success in your business. You can also invest in your employees by offering tuition reimbursement programs, equal opportunities for minorities and females to have leadership roles, and offering health benefits that ensure your employees can afford medical costs.

2. Operate Your Business to Promote Growth

Your business is an opportunity to improve the economy. Consider ways to create more opportunities for employment, such as positions for people with disabilities or those who were previously incarcerated, so that everyone has a chance to improve their quality of life through stable employment.

3. Care for the Environment Through Sustainable Operations

Find ways to decrease your carbon footprint and invest in the environment more than you take from it. Additionally, consumers are more likely to shop with your business if you prioritize your environmental impact.

Image from GreenBiz

4. Invest in Your Community and Nation

You are responsible for more than just your customers. You can also widen your scope by influencing consumer behavior in your community and the nation. For example, you could collect school supplies at the start of each school year or ask for food donations around the holidays.

5. Protect the World and Those in Need

About 689 million people live on less than $1.90 a day – which is considered extreme poverty. Your business can help people worldwide who are faced with hunger, disease, violence, and other challenges. For example, you can run a campaign where you dedicate a large portion of your profits to fighting global challenges and raising awareness so that your customers continue to act even after the campaign ends.

Act Today to Improve Your Tomorrow

At Televerde, we invest in the future by giving chances to previously incarcerated people. We also use our impact to help businesses grow through our integrated sales and marketing technology to make your company a positive force in this world.

Contact us to learn more about our unique platform that connects your sales and marketing teams to improve the customer journey.