Training for a Brighter Future: Environmental, Social, and Economic Sustainability

Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Course Content, eLearning, Enterprise Learning, Sustainability

training courses for sustainabilitySustainability is quickly becoming one of the most important business topics of our time.

It’s also a very heavy topic. You don’t have to look very far to find alarming reports on the rapid acceleration of climate change and some of its key indicators such as increasing global CO2 levels, warming ocean temperatures, and unprecedented floods, draughts, and fires. The undeniable need to pay attention to environmental sustainability has stimulated examination of other related subjects, particularly the promotion of social and economic sustainability, as businesses realize their interconnectedness.

With the seriousness of such subject matter, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. However, instead of terrifying everybody into embracing sustainable business practices, we at Litmos are announcing the forthcoming launch of a Sustainability collection of online learning courses. Perhaps this new content offering could, if even for a few minutes, take the doom and gloom out of the conversation, and instead focus on education.

We’ve taken a rather optimistic approach to sustainability by presenting valuable information and simple advice that you can use to make your business more environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable. You’ll find these new Sustainability courses available in November 2020. In the meantime, here’s an introduction to the topic and a quick rundown of what sustainability actually means across what we’ve deemed Three Pillars of Sustainability.

Pillar 1: Environmental Sustainability

This is the area of sustainability that fills the most headlines and the one you’re undoubtedly most familiar with. Climate change, oceanic warming and pollution, depletion of natural resources and species – every day there’s another news story depicting the impact that irresponsible and unsustainable human actions have had on the natural world.

We certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers to the environmental issues happening right now. The Sustainability collection does, however, go into detail about how any business can make simple steps to adapt their everyday operations to be more environmentally sustainable.

For instance, the Realities of Recycling course demystifies grey areas surrounding recycling, showing you how to make your company’s internal recycling systems more efficient, as well as illustrating how easy it is to adopt sustainable alternatives to harmful waste materials.

Elsewhere in the collection, the Reducing Your Carbon Footprint course explores how a business can make positive steps to cutting the amount of harmful emissions it sends into the atmosphere. It offers a bit of useful science, highlighting the specific areas to watch when it comes to carbon emissions and ultimately showing you how to be more energy efficient and actually save some money!

eLearning is one way to score some environmental sustainability points. This infographic shows statistics on how eLearning is a greener option for training, compared to traditional in-person learning.

Pillar 2: Social Sustainability

Social sustainability focuses on fostering and nurturing key working relationships with people both inside and outside a business. It seeks to answer questions such as “How does a business sustain a loyal and productive workforce?” and “What are the most effective ways to support people working collectively in the pursuit of corporate goals?”

The courses in Social Sustainability: People and Principles and Social Sustainability In Action advise on how to build healthy relationships with company stakeholders, both internal and external. They show how vital social sustainability is to the resilience of any business and to ensuring a company’s prosperous future.

Specifically, Social Sustainability: People & Principles presents ways that businesses can employ their influence and resources to bring about positive social change impacting employees, communities, and society at large.

Nobody can predict the future, but one thing we do know for certain is that change is inevitable. Modern businesses are constantly facing new and difficult challenges. The companies that make an active effort to practice social sustainability will be better equipped to face future challenges and ensure ongoing corporate vitality.

Pillar 3: Economic Sustainability

In the final courses of this collection, we switch focus to the concept of economic sustainability and how businesses can remain financially robust while also reducing negative impact on the environment and society. The courses explore how financial resources can be used to address societal and environmental issues in a positive way to improve the lives of stakeholders, safeguard the environment, and protect monetary returns.

For example, Economic Sustainability and The Triple Bottom Line considers how businesses can use the triple bottom line accounting framework to assess their viability in a continuously evolving marketplace. Gone are the days where a business lives or dies solely on the balance sheet. Instead, businesses must now evaluate environmental and social performance when assessing their long-term corporate health. The course also highlights how improving performance in the areas of the environmental and social impact can be incredibly lucrative and lead to notable financial gains.

Litmos Training Content Sustainability Courses (available November 2020)
The Sustainability collection includes the following courses as well as supporting materials with added information.

There you have it: a short introduction into the Sustainability collection. We hope we’ve shown you that there are still reasons to stay optimistic about the future. Hopefully, we’ve also whetted your appetite enough to check out the collection in full as soon as it’s released. Just remember, the right knowledge and lasting dedication can help ensure a brighter future for everyone!