Human rights and your business
We’ve all heard the stories about corporates and business in general exploiting human rights in order to achieve their goal of making a profit.
How do you, as a small business owner, then, contribute to the protection of human rights, but at the same time run a profitable business?
Here’s our take on the matter.
Businesses are responsible for protecting human rights
According to the United Nations, businesses must protect human rights.
But what does this really mean to you, as a small business owner?
Protecting human rights for a small business owner would include, but not limited to:
- Implementing fair labour practices,
- Maintaining good working conditions dependent on the industry your business is in,
- Operating in a way that is environmentally friendly, i.e. using recycled materials, using water wisely, using electricity efficiently, reducing the use of paper as much as possible, etc.
- Sourcing raw materials from suppliers who also have good working conditions, fair labour practices and do not use child labour,
- Producing goods that are also environmentally friendly.
Benefits to your business
Protecting human rights does come with benefits to your business as well:
- Lesser chance of business disruptions, public criticism, litigation, reputational harm, and harm to employee retention and recruitment.
- Greater access to business opportunities with the government, financers, customers and buyers, who increasingly recognize the reduced risk to themselves when working with a company like yours that effectively manages risks to human rights.
- Positive brand recognition, for your company’s efforts in improving human rights
- Your relationships with workers, communities, and other stakeholders in societies is improved, resulting in greater trust and a stronger social license to operate.
- You are able to preserve your reputation when negative impacts occur, given better public understanding of your overall efforts to avoid such incidents.
- Improved ability to recruit the next generation of young leaders, who are increasingly focused on companies’ performance in this area.
Read more here: ? The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights : UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework (ungpreporting.org)
Running an ethical business is the right thing to do
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “ethics” as moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.
Similarly, business ethics are the moral principles that govern a business’s operations.
So, how does running a business ethically help fight against human rights, you ask?
Fair labour practices
This means that your recruitment processes are fair, your workforce represents your local community and it provides jobs for the local community to grow and prosper.
When you pay your employees fairly, you are not only dignifying their work, but you are also providing them with an opportunity to attain financial freedom.
Good working conditions
This is critical for your staff to remain healthy while working and prevents long-term side effects that come with certain jobs they do day-in-and-day-out.
A healthy workforce translates to happier staff who are more productive and with less “sick days”, your business costs do not increase.
Environmentally friendly operations
Comes with a view of your business being part of the bigger picture.
If you insist on using recycled materials, you are also helping other businesses that produce recycled products as well as those businesses and people that collect and recycle materials!
By investing in solar electricity and finding ways to reduce water consumption as well as reducing the use of paper, you are playing your part in reducing the demand.
Buying power
When you refuse to do business with suppliers who employ child labour or employ unfair labour practices in their operations, you are stifling the need for them to carry on such violations of human rights.
Investing in future generations
As a business owner, you will employ the youth in the country at some point.
Running a business ethically helps you play your part in keeping the earth livable for generations to come. It will your contribution to the legacy the current generation will leave for future generations.
By showing them that a business can be run ethically and profitably at the same time, you are indirectly educating them on how they can continue this into generations to come.
You then start to look for different places that you can visit. This is called looking at options.
There are many routes to get your destination, so you lay out those options and consider your current situation in choosing the best way to move forward.
You decide based on your likes and your personality (your business values) and what is affordable.
Similarly, your vision reminds you and your staff of where you want to get to,. Your values will shape your business culture and guide you and your employees on how you go about your business, be it within the company or with customers.
What’s next?
It may seem all too much for a small business on its own.
But there is power in numbers.
If all the small businesses in South Africa started thinking and behaving in ways that make protection of human rights a priority; what a different and more socially healthy country, we could live in.
Life is not fair, but when we take a stand together, we can make a difference.
We’re giving you a link to toolkit put together by the National Business Initiative on Human Rights in South Africa. ?
Human-Rights-Benchmark-Tool-2-2.pdf (nbi.org.za)
How can we help?
At Santos Business Services, we’re passionate about making a difference.
We believe that you, the small business owner has the right to valuable professional advice that does not cost you an arm and a leg.
We provide customised packages to suit the stage of business you’re in now and work with you to take you to the next stage!
Get in touch with us by sending an email to hello@santosbiz.co.za or Book a Call with us now.
