Organisations use a number of strategies to ensure that they employ their resources in a responsible manner to achieve a balance in the interest of stakeholder in the long period which is referred as economic sustainability. In business context, the concept of economic sustainability focuses on using assorted assets in an efficient manner to ensure that they continue functioning profitability over time (De Vos et al., 2016). The objective of these policies is to undertake a rational consumption when possible and maintain a balance between natural and cultural environment factors. There are many issues which are faced by companies while implementing economic sustainability practices such as changing the focus from profit generation to long term sustainable growth. It increases the cost of companies which are incurred on adopting practices to achieve economic sustainability goals (Zhang et al., 2016).
The risk of climate change is becoming more prominent, and it is adversely affecting corporations; it affects the revenue, expenditure and operations of the corporations based on which they are obligated to take precautionary measures to reduce the impact of climate change (Lal et al., 2016). Stanwell Council provided in its Local Environmental Plan (LEP) that the threat of bushfire in some areas of the district has become more prominent due to global warming. These amendments are likely to take effect within six weeks, and the site of Timberwell is covered in these areas as well. The company is expected to comply with these amendments which will raise its costs by $4 million. The company is also complying with the recommendations of the council which provides that it has to use fire retardant building materials in its operations and increase the space between buildings. The corporation has collaborated with an external town planning firm which is charging $50,000 from the company in order to work together to minimise the potentials costs of complying with these amendments.
While fulfilling economic sustainability goals, companies face challenges due to corruption which makes it difficult for them to use their economic resources in a sustainable manner; they are obligated to take strict actions against these practices which could harm their operations or the interest of their stakeholders (Branco and Matos, 2016). Five employees and two business partners of Timberwell has found guilty of bribing a council project officer. They were found guilty in the investigation of the State Corruption Commission. The company took stricter measures by suspending those employees without pay. It also reported that the company would not work in the future with those partners who were bribing the officer.
Organisations have to take reasonable steps in order to prohibit anti-competitive behaviour, anti-trust and monopoly practices in the business to ensure that they did not hinder the economic growth of the country (Krasniqi and Peci, 2017). As per a complaint made against Timberwell, ACCC or the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission started an investigation against the company. A suit in filed against the company in which the ACCC alleged its executives of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour and misusing their powers. The corporation found out that a group of the local building are starting their own operations which will increase competition; therefore, they threaten these building by providing that they will not receive any business from the company if they proceed with their plan. This case is still pending in the Federal Court, and it will be entertained in the next four months.
The concept of environmental sustainability focuses on implementing a design for the maintenance of natural capital. It is defined as responsible interaction between depletion and degradation of natural resources which assist in allowing a long term environmental quality (Little, Hester and Carey, 2016). These policies are focused on implementing appropriate policies which are targeted on responsibly using environmental resources in the business to ensure that they did not become scarce in the long term and future generations are also able to use these resources. Organisations face many challenges while implementing these policies since they have to take difficult decisions which leads to increase their costs without generating much profit in the short run. However, compliance with these policies ensures that the company is able to responsibility use natural resources in the business and focusing on adopting renewable energy options which generates profits in the long run
While conducting their business operations, corporations have to minimise their consumption which is from non-renewable energy sources in order to protect the natural resources and reduce the carbon footprint of the company (Antonakakis, Chatziantoniou and Filis, 2017). Timberwell is also aware of its energy consumption, and the company promotes itself as an energy efficient organisation. The company uses the calculation tool given by the Australian Department of Industry and Science in order to provide information regarding its energy consumption. It is reported by the company that its consumption from electricity is 2.0 Gigajoule. The company also uses both non-renewable and renewable energy sources for fuel consumption which contributes to 1.0 Gigajoule and 0.5 Gigajoule respectively. In order to reduce its energy consumption which comes from non-renewable sources, the corporation has reported that it is planning to launch a program which will increase the use of renewable resources in the fuel consumption of the company by 60 percent within a period of three years.
The corporations are obligated to ensure that they take reasonable steps in order to protect biodiversity which is a key responsibility of corporations. While implementing environmental sustainability policies, the corporations have to ensure that reasonable measures are taken by them to protect biodiversity which is affected by the operations of the company (Navarro et al., 2017). Timberwell found out that one of its site situated in Otford Park is populated with rare wallum sedge frogs. It is found that 60 percent of the area is covered with these frogs and it is a natural habitat for them. The company is working with Stanwell Council and environmental groups to develop a strategy which will ensure that development of the site without adversely affecting the natural habitat of frogs. The management of the corporation is considering the option to change the site for its operations in order to protect the natural habitat of frogs. The organisation has introduced these policies with an objective to discharge its environmental sustainability responsibilities by protecting the biodiversity in the area.
The government imposes various federal and state level laws and regulations to ensure that companies take appropriate measures to protect natural resources while conducting business operations to fulfil environmental sustainability goals (Durant, 2017). Timberwell has found guilty of clearing 0.45 hectares of land while conducting its operations. The land was critically endangered ecological community coastal grassland which was a part of the State Planning Scheme. A penalty of $200,000 was imposed on the company for its failure. It was also ordered to review the vegetation management plan along with an order to extend its audit on external contractors. The company is also ordered to invest no less than $440,000 in order to conduct a rehabilitation plan.
Social sustainability focuses on introducing a design for the reconstruction of human relationships at all levels of society. It is defined as a process which is aimed to promote well-being among the members of an organisation while also ensuring that the future generations are also able to maintain a healthy community (Morais and Silvestre, 2018). These policies highlight a key responsibility of the companies which is to take appropriate measures to protect and ensure that well-being of human resources. There are many challenges faced by the company in relation to achievement of social sustainability issues which arise due to unequal treatment of employees and discrimination based on age, gender, caste, race, religion or colour. The corporations have to take precautionary measures in order to prohibit discrimination between employees and providing them a positive workplace environment (Testa et al., 2018).
While managing their human resources, the corporations have to ensure that they maintain a balance between hiring and turnover rate of employees to meet their human resource goals (Coutinho et al., 2018). Timberwell has hired 58 male employees that are from different trade and professions. Moreover, 17 employees have left the company to join its rivals or start their own business whereas only 12 new apprentices have joined the company. It shows that the employee turnover rate is higher in the company than compared to the employee hiring rate. There is also no balance between the number of male and female staff members since the management has failed to hire female employees in the company.
In order to comply with social responsibility practices, companies have to ensure that they avoid discrimination between employees and take precautionary measures to prohibit similar activities in the workplace (Meyer, 2016). A complaint is made to the Fair Working Commission against Timberwell by Dennis McCabe who alleged the company for failing to protect him from discrimination in the workplace. It was reported that all the other employees are between the age of 30 and 50 years whereas Dennis is above 50 years and other employees use inappropriate humour against him while conducting their business practices. The company did not take any action to stop this behaviour. The Commission ordered the company to pay $4,400 to Dennis and also made necessary updates to its discrimination policy. Furthermore, the commission also provided that the company should provide discrimination training to its employees to avoid similar practices in the future.
While complying with social sustainability policies, companies have to focus on engaging with local communities and assessing their impact on the development of these communities (Kline et al., 2018). Timberwell has been involved with the local communities, and it has supported programs for their development. The company work alongside Stanwell Council and environmental groups in order to comply with the new amendments which are made by the council in LEP. The company changed its site due to the threat of bushfire and protecting rare wallum sedge frogs. The company was also supporting local resident meetings and local development programs which were targeted on addressing social issues in the local community such as providing affordable housing available.
Conclusion
From the observations made above, it is concluded that there are three key factors which companies should focus on while implementing sustainable development policies which include economic, environmental and social sustainability. A sustainability assessment report of Timberwell Constructions is prepared in this report which assists in identifying the key sustainability-related issues faced by the company which include cost implications due to clearing critically endangered grasslands, the imposition of penalty for failure to prohibit discrimination between employees, engaging in anti-competitive behaviour, and others. The management also took various decisions which are focused on fulfilling sustainable goals which include working with the council and environmental groups to protect rare wallum sedge frogs, providing anti-discriminatory training to employees, decision to use renewable resources in fuel consumption and others. Although there were many sustainability-related issues faced by the company; however, the management of the company is working to address these issues and looking forward to provide a better GRI reporting in the next year.
References
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