Hi there! ✋ Welcome to Bon's monthly newsletter capturing the transformative impact of education around the world. This month, we're thinking about the importance of employability in the context of ESG and corporate responsibility.
Many of our clients want to support the next generation by empowering youth to move into careers of the future. Yet, while it's great to focus on the future, many of today's employers are reporting a big gap between students' skills and the workplace competencies that young graduates need to be successful in their first jobs.
Employability is a big part of that the solution, and building workforce readiness skills is a key focus for Bon Education in 2022 and 2023!
- Chris Batchelder
Employability: unlocking the power of ESG
Is your company invested in the workforce of the future?
The stark reality – in the unfolding context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence and rising automation – is that job security is a critical concern for the workforce of the future.
The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report (from October 2020) states the case plainly: "As the frontier between the work tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms shifts, we have a short window of opportunity to ensure that these transformations lead to a new age of good work, good jobs and improved quality of life for all."
It is against this backdrop that employability has emerged as a critical ESG factor.
To remain competitive and to grow your business in a sustainable way, you need to ensure that you are taking steps to train the workforce of tomorrow. Faced with an unstable future, where competition is the only certainty, the success of your organization depends – in the words of the International Labor Office – on "building the next generation of innovators by continually upskilling and reskilling your employees."
This month, our feature article explains the importance of ESG to company performance, with a special focus on employability.
- It explains why Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues are becoming the new benchmark for competitiveness and future-readiness, and it outlines some key ESG focus areas for companies to consider.
- As Bon Education specializes in creating educational programs with real-world social impact, such as career coaching and workforce readiness initiatives, the article concludes by providing suggestions about how to boost your company’s ESG profile by investing in employability.
Click here to read the article in full.
We'd love to hear from you! What are your feelings about ESG and employability? Drop us a line and let us know!
What we're up to
- Designing and managing workforce readiness workshops, panels and programs for youth.
- Working on regional competitions with our awesome clients.
- Celebrating World Environment Day by designing STEM challenges.
- Preparing special programs for a fun and busy summer schedule!
Click here to read more about our innovative programming.
What's Inspiring Us
The Importance of ESG:
Driven by initiatives such as UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 strategy, ESG issues are set to have a profound effect on the economy of the GCC region in the next 30 years. As the Harvard Business Review explains: "Today, successful organizations see ESG as a critical function of business strategy."
Making Peace With Nature:
"In the universe are billions of galaxies. In our galaxy are billions of planets. But there is only One Earth." This is the theme for World Environment Day 2022. The United Nations' Making Peace With Nature report provides some inspiring ideas for how to contribute to protecting the Earth's environment.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
— Abraham Lincoln