Shaping a New Social Contract Through the Pandemic
In the midst of our COVID-19 pandemic, there are rising calls for government and business to form a ‘new social contract’. This would tackle the immediate economic hardship, and more fairly share the burdens and benefits from our economies. This comes from actors as diverse as the International Trade Union Congress and the Financial Times. In contrast, too […]
Covid-19: ‘We Won’t Get Back to Normal Because Normal was the Problem’
The crisis is set to generate a loss of at least 1.5% or $1 trillion worldwide, which would technically mean a global recession with all major regions affected and a devastating impact on the poorest countries. Plans for recovery are already being discussed, with a focus on the financial stimulus needed to help economies recover. But […]
In the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic: Do Non-Profits need to Rethink Sustainability?
‘Sustainability’ for Non-Profits For at least two decades, the term ‘sustainability’ has been at the centre of discussion about non-profits. While people fairly quickly accept the notion that non-profits, or NGOs, should be sustainable, there’s often little analysis of what the term means. Should non-profit finances be sustainable? This is what people usually refer to: the glorious […]
Why We Need Social Intrapreneurs More than Ever During COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis illustrates the need for innovation from within companies by “social intrapreneurs.” A new report from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Yunus Social Business and Porticus presents best practices from these employees who are working to address environmental or social problems. Beyond providing societal benefits, corporate social intrapreneurship motivates employees, increases innovation and incites […]
An Old Movie For Our Times
The first op-ed I ever published, with The Chicago Tribune, applied Albert Camus’ The Plague to corporate scandals in the early 90s. Later I watched the film version of the novel and showed it to several of my ethics classes. Frankly, I had not considered it as something for this series of the Cultural Foundations […]
How Researchers Can Aid the COVID-19 Response
As the world reacts to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, private businesses have already been stepping in to help. From restaurants voluntarily shutting down to manufacturers and other companies shifting their focus to produce personal protective gear, ventilators, and hand sanitizer, the private sector is playing a key role in stopping the spread of this […]
Coronavirus measures will hit women harder than men, charities warn
Although death rates appear to be slightly higher among men, a study by aid organisations CARE International and International Rescue Committee (IRC) found women were more at risk of suffering domestic violence while quarantined. They were also more likely than men to take on the burden of caring for family members who were sick, and […]
What Can We Learn from Early Corporate Responses to COVID-19?
To keep things real, I often remind myself of my prior role when I was an in-house CSR manager of a company and ask myself what I would do in that position. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, however, I have found myself wondering how I would respond now, when there is no roadmap, and we […]
The Urgency of a New Social Contract
In the United States, the crisis we are experiencing has laid bare the failure of the current social contract in many ways: the lack of access to healthcare owing to the tying of health insurance to paid employment; the extreme vulnerability of gig-economy workers to a sudden downturn of business; and for many workers, the absence of paid sick leave, inadequate childcare, and insufficient unemployment […]
COVID-19 Requires Gender-Equal Responses to Save Economies
Why are women so at risk? Firstly, women are more likely to lose their jobs than men. In many countries, women’s participation in the labour market is often in the form of temporary employment. Across the world, women represent less than 40% of total employment but make up 57% of those working on a part-time […]
How businesses respond to Coronavirus has massive ramifications – now and for the future economy that emerges
Here are 8 ideas on elements that are important right now for responsible business practice, despite highly-varied and fast changing contexts: 1. Even if the workforce is being downsized, rapid reactions should not come at the cost of worker rights and representation. Companies should ensure they are working with unions and other workers’ representatives to […]
Responding to Coronavirus: Low-Carbon Investments Can Help Economies Recover
Emissions reductions caused by economic downturns tend to be temporary — and can lead to emissions growth as economies attempt to get back on track. After the global financial crisis of 2008, for example, global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production grew 5.9% in 2010, more than offsetting the 1.4% decrease in 2009. With […]
Fairtrade Together: COVID-19 Briefing
Fairtrade is gathering updates from around the world about how COVID-19 is affecting producer organizations, family farmers, and workers. The flower market in Africa, especially Kenya, is facing unprecedented challenges due to the inability to ship their goods to Europe via commercial airlines, which have stopped their routes. As a result, workers — whose livelihoods […]
Cometh the hour, Cometh the Call for Collaborative Action Against COVID-19
Whilst the safety of employees, customers and business partners is paramount, the strength of these relationships will be exposed. Leadership will be tested and commitment to individual and business’ values will be scrutinised. Are the businesses well espoused values just platitudes on the board room wall and the front cover of the annual report, or […]
COVID-19 and the Poor: Inclusive Business has solutions, but needs radical collaboration
When you are poor, social distancing is not an option, and hygiene and health services are often not available. When you live in a slum, you have to go out to make money, you take a mini-bus to work, you go to crowded market for groceries, and to the pump for water. The current pandemic […]
Cohabiting with a Virus: We Must Learn to Live Life on Land More Sustainably
On Saturday 21 March, the world celebrated the UN’s International Day of Forests. But instead of stepping out into nature or joining one of the many activities planned to recognise this day, many of us are – voluntarily or not – staying put in our homes, amid the bleak global fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. […]
How Business Can Protect Our Health Systems
We are seeing a huge amount of resource mobilisation from governments and donors around the world to fund COVID-19 research and development of new treatments, technologies, vaccines and diagnostics. To reflect this demand we are seeing businesses step up to support efforts such as a collaboration between researchers and doctors at UCL with the Mercedes […]
Protecting the Most Vulnerable: A Business Response Framework
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating the worst humanitarian and economic crisis in a generation, threatening the lives, livelihoods and learning of people around the world. Government leadership is crucial, but companies and civil society organizations also have a vital role in working together to respond to the immediate crisis and develop plans for […]
How the Pandemic Will Change the World of Work Forever
The immediate issue is, of course, the impact on people’s health and wellbeing, and that needs to be everyone’s priority. Beyond the immediate crisis, it is difficult to predict how quickly the global economy will recover from this situation and how soon we will be able to return to some kind of normality. However, that […]
Caring for the Carers: How Employers Can Help.
For many of us, caring for an elderly parent or a disabled child or sibling, will be one of – maybe the – most important thing we do. Taking care of a loved one, is part of what it is to be human. While unpaid caring can be rewarding, it can have significant costs for […]