Environmental, Social, and Governance of Businesses and Organizations and the Role of Human Resources

1. Introduction

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is defined by the business model that regulates the company to be socially accountable to all stakeholders, including society. Corporate strategy should focus beyond governance on the environment and society. The sustainable management of human resources is necessary to seek the achievement of positive environmental and economic results. Environmental, social and governance must be characterized by social responsibility in human resources (Lydenberg, 2013). The green recruitment of workers, their green training and their development, green remuneration and reward will play an important role in dealing with business issues, with the aim of their ecological operation and the protection of the environment and living organisms (Friede et al., 2015). As Crifo & Mottis (2016) report, investors who make impactful investments, consistent with environmental and social governance, increase long-term return benefits. Studies have shown that the high performance of companies and organizations in matters of sustainable development is related to the degree of employee satisfaction (Ginglinger, Megginson, & Waxin, 2011). Satisfied employees are more productive, resulting in increased business performance (Anastasiadou et al., 2022a; Belias et al., 2022; Charalampous & Papademetriou 2021; Papademetriou et al., 2022a;2022b;2023a;2023b).

The green training and development of employees according to environmental management standards and their awareness of sustainable development production issues is essential to promote organizational and ecological transformation. The social issues of our time concern society more and more due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 that preceded it (Papademetriou et al., 2022b). Companies are increasingly assessed for social issues, often also for how they work with the communities in which they operate and how they contribute to the well-being of these communities, in line with the rules of sustainable development and quality (Anastasiadou, 2015; Anastasiadou & Zirinoglou 2015; Anastasiadou et al., 2014). High performance in environmental, social and corporate governance issues enables organizations to improve their image and reputation and attract new prospective employees and buyers. Many organizations are at an early stage in terms of corporate social governance criteria. Human resources play an important role in achieving this change. Incorporating sustainability principles requires a change in corporate culture. The contribution of employees plays an important role in the activity of enterprises that seek to transform business operations (Anastasiadou et al., 2014; Stavropoulou,et al., 2023).