Do Employees Care About ESG?

To better understand the value of ESG to employees, PwC surveyed 5,000 respondents across 25 countries. Its  Global Workforce ESG Preferences Study 2024, released in April, found that employees are not “sufficiently engaged on sustainability and ESG enough to make positive and meaningful organizational change.”

Almost half of the participants consider their company’s ESG policies only after their financial and wellbeing is secure.  When asked how best a company can include ESG goals in their roles, participants say the best way is to tie it to benefits that have a direct impact on the individual.

Areas of importance to this group include health and wellbeing, upskilling and development, addressing the gender pay gap, and managing reputation.

Other key preference groups identified through the results include:

38% of participants value salary most, but weigh ESG policy highly.

• Environmental factors are important to employeess, specifically seeing how their company is responding to climate change.
• A subset of these employees is also extremely focused on their company’s policy on carbon emissions and recycling and reuse practices.

19% of participants value ESG policy similarly to or more than salary.

• The largest group of this cohort are more concerned with environmental practices, governance, and accountability than average. However, few specific or standout factors are clearly more important to this group, indicating that these people are likely very specific in the ESG practices they care most about.

ESG has an affects both on recruiting and retaining employees.

The report concludes that "It is important to consider that drivers for ESG initiatives by companies go beyond just the employees' preference and perceived value, and that value can differ greatly between the employee and an organisation’s strategic priorities."