The sustainability report, or sustainability report, is a tool with which a company shows in concrete terms its pledging with regard to the environment, people and governance. Writing it means collecting data, measuring impacts, telling strategies.
How can we ensure that the financial statements do not remain a technical document reserved for a few, but become a tool known, understood and shared by all company staff? Involve those who work every day to build the corporate sustainability is the first step in spreading an authentic and credible culture.
Let's find out how to do it in this article.
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Why draw up a sustainability report
The sustainability report is an increasingly central tool for business strategy. Not only does it increase the confidence of stakeholders, but it helps to strengthen the standing of the company that is more transparent, credible and responsible.
Put black on white targets, projects and performances in the field ESG means making a concrete commitment to community and the environment in which it operates.
In other words, communicate in a way clear and transparent the repercussions, positive or negative, of its activities allows the company to build a Stronger relationship with its stakeholders. It strengthens the public perception, the legitimacy to act in the territory is consolidated and a greater social consensus. It is also a way to promote, with consistency, a vision of lasting and sustainable development.
However, drafting a sustainability report is not a trivial action: it is a trial complex, which requires time, resources and energy, often distributed among multiple departments, consultants and internal and external stakeholders.
Yet, if managed with awareness, a well-written and correctly communicated financial statements can generate great pluses:
- increase the perceived value of the brand and strengthen the trust of stakeholders;
- Retain customers and company staff, making them part of a common path;
- Expand the business, attract new customers and improve business reputation.
At Up2You, to simplify this process, we have developed Choral, a proprietary platform that, thanks to the support ofartificial intelligence, reduces information management time and the writing of financial statements, facilitating collaboration between all the actors involved in the project.
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What happens if the sustainability reports are not communicated internally
Once the sustainability report has been produced, in most cases, the document is published on the company website or shared with the press, investors or through selected newsletters.
Much more rarely, however, it comes read, understood and valued from the people who work in the company.
What happens if the financial statements are not also communicated internally?
If you create a contradiction Bottom line: if the financial statements were created to tell the story of generated value along the environmental, social and governance dimensions, ignoring internal communication means depriving of meaning an instrument designed to be shared.
Too often, in fact, these documents remain confined to Full-bodied and inaccessible PDFs, which discourage reading and do not promote comprehension. This leads to the loss of a precious opportunity, namely that of value the company's work even in the eyes of those who make it possible every day, lacking the possibility of Raise staff awareness on sustainability issues.
In other words: if no one reads it, no one values it.
This comes at a cost because today more than ever people want to work and buy from companies they believe in. The staff, even before customers and investors, are in fact the closest stakeholders to involve.
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The 5 reasons why it is important to communicate the company's sustainability reports
Once drafted and published, the sustainability report should not remain confined to a document that can only be consulted by those who are already involved in the process.
Communicate the contents of the financial statements in a clear, accessible and engaging way to those who work in the company have a strategic value. It is not only a matter of informing, but of cultivating culture, responsibility and active participation, allowing us to also have a competitive advantage compared to the competition.
This is why it is also essential to invest in the internal communication of the report.
1. Involve staff In the change
Knowing the company's environmental, social and governance results helps people feel part of something concrete. Sustainability does not remain an abstract concept, but it translates into visible actions and measurable results. Sharing them creates connection, sense of belonging and activates engagement.
2. Strengthen company culture
A well-communicated budget becomes a cultural tool. It allows values, vision and objectives to be disseminated in a widespread way, aligning the direction of travel between those who make decisions and those who put them into practice. Sustainability ceases to be a topic only for “insiders” and becomes an integral part of the corporate identity.
3. Increase pride and motivation
Knowing the progress and the goals achieved sparks professional pride. The staff feels recognized for their contribution, and this translates into higher motivation and greater proactivity. Communicating the financial statements well means valuing people's work.
4. Improving talent retention
The new generations, and not only that, are looking for companies they can believe in. Showing real and transparent commitment through the financial statements and also narrating it internally helps to retain talent, as well as to attract new ones. Sustainability is now a key lever for job satisfaction.
5. Facilitate awareness and participation
A read balance sheet is a balance sheet that generates awareness. And the more informed people are, the more they will be able to actively contribute to common goals, even outside the company. Internal communication is not an accessory exercise, but a basis for building participatory and transformative processes.
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How to transform sustainability reports into an engaging communication tool
Sharing the sustainability report on the company website, attaching it to a newsletter or sending it via email in PDF format may seem sufficient. In many cases, it also represents a regulatory compliance or reputational.
When we talk about internal communication, the financial statements are not only a document to be published, but astrategic opportunity to generate engagement, spread culture and strengthen cohesion.
To do this, it is necessary to go beyond static format and choose more accessible and engaging modes. People don't have to read every line, but they must understand the meaning of their contribution, the results achieved and the direction of the company.
The key is to design the communication of the financial statements as a real one internal campaign, taking care of times, languages and channels.
Some useful tools may be:
- Thematic pills distributed on internal channels (intranet, newsletter, digital bulletin boards, corporate social networks);
- Interactive quizzes or polls, to stimulate curiosity and strengthen understanding;
- visual content and storytelling, to humanize numbers and make results tangible;
- short and light training modes, even in asynchronous format, to promote awareness without weighing it down.
Another key element is the active involvement of people in the construction of the story. The direct testimonies, the behind-the-scenes, the project stories bring out a authentic and participatory point of view, which gives teams a voice and reinforces their sense of belonging.
Thus, the communication of the financial statements ceases to be a Isolated moment and it becomes an integral part of the way in which the company talks about itself, inside and out. And it is precisely in this cultural and shared dimension that the budget begins to generate real value.
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PlanET: the Up2You platform for communicating sustainability reports through gamification
Communicating the company's financial statements effectively does not only mean simplifying the contents: it also means finding the Right language to really engage people.
With PlanET, the gamification platform developed by Up2You, the sustainability report becomes a team game, a dynamic and fun training experience that focuses on the staff.
PlanET allows you to create Challenges between teams within the company, with the aim of making the contents of the financial statements known in an active and participatory manner. Every activity is designed to be carried out independently, but it is teamwork that really makes the difference: sharing, collaboration and healthy competition create a sense of belonging which makes the journey even more engaging.
The alternate platform theory and practical actions, to transform sustainability into something concrete. Among the proposed activities are:
- agile and targeted reading, which summarize the highlights of the financial statements;
- Quizzes and polls, to verify understanding and stimulate curiosity;
- practical activities, to make the business team even more united.
Each completed action allows you to Earn points, both individually and as a team, and to climb a company ranking designed to activate engagement with a positive and playful spirit.
Other than that, PlanET is completely customizable. The platform can be Branded with the company's logo, colors and style, to offer a consistent, immersive experience in line with the corporate identity.
In this way, the communication of the financial statements not only becomes approachable, but it turns into a shared cultural project, capable of strengthening motivation, increasing awareness and building a culture of sustainability alive and participated, starting with the people who contribute to building it every day.
