Business is now viewed as the only global institution to be both competent and ethical, according to a recent survey by global communications firm Edelman. The company’s annual Trust Barometer, which surveyed more than 32,000 people across 28 countries, found that—by a 6-to-1 margin—respondents want more societal involvement by business on issues such as climate change, economic inequality, and workforce reskilling.
This is a responsibility that all CEOs must take seriously and something that was front and center for us when we developed our vision, mission, and purpose as TD SYNNEX, with a focus on unlocking the power of the IT business partner ecosystem and empowering our partners to achieve great outcomes with technology.
These commitments don’t just define what we do—they speak to the core of who we are, and who we are going to be. Values such as diversity, equity, inclusion, sustainability, and community engagement are at the center of our operational philosophy and practices, and as part of this, we launched a strategic Corporate Citizenship program globally shortly after the merger.
We started this process by engaging our stakeholders and assessing where we could have the most impact through a materiality assessment. It was a deep dive into what was most important to our business, our co-workers, our partners, and our industry. Our unique position at the center of the tech universe allows us to identify opportunities for innovation, sustainable practices, and positive outcomes up and down the value chain.
We launched with a robust framework that speaks to our ambitions and ensures a strong focus on key areas in which we believe TD SYNNEX and our industry partners can have the greatest impact. To make the impacts of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts more tangible, we have made a number of commitments, outlined in our first Corporate Citizenship Report published earlier this year, and will publicly disclose our annual progress toward these goals.
Whether its titled Corporate Citizenship, like at TD SYNNEX, corporate social responsibility (CSR), or ESG, these programs have been linked to tremendous business benefits like reduced risk, enhanced performance, and better financial outcomes. In practice, these efforts can help an organization align its values across its stakeholders and increase its personal connections with clients, vendors, and other stakeholders. It’s a whole lot easier to achieve mutual, interdependent goals when everyone understands and agrees on what’s important.
Our Corporate Citizenship work has also been an important part of unifying a global workforce and gives our co-workers another point of pride as well as a shared purpose. A recent PwC study revealed that 80% of potential candidates want to work at an organization that cares about the ESG issues that matter to them. This suggests that those of us seeking to hire the best and brightest—and in turn, position our organization for future success—need to offer something beyond the paycheck and a personal career path. We need to offer a sense of purpose. This is confirmed by Edelman’s recent survey, which reported that 69% of respondents said having a societal impact is a strong expectation or a deal breaker when considering a job.
At TD SYNNEX, we recognize our Corporate Citizenship journey is much bigger than us—much bigger than one company. Earlier this year, we published our Technology Ecosystem Benchmark Report providing insights on the impact of transformation across the industry. One of our findings was that the importance of ESG regulatory expertise and certification has been slow to grow in the business partner channel. Globally, only 12% of respondents considered ESG expertise as important to their business today, and only 26% saw it as important in three years. In North America, those numbers are even lower, despite broader market data like the Edelman study clearly underscoring the value and importance of ESG.
Knowing that businesses are increasingly trusted by our employees and our customers to align with their own values, I urge everyone in the IT business partner ecosystem to dedicate time and resources to thoughtfully and proactively develop their own corporate citizenship programs.
As mentioned earlier, there are business benefits too. Our Benchmark Report also identified several areas where ESG could be a helpful solution to partners’ biggest business challenges. As an example, cost reduction strategies can often lead to sustainable and innovative options that could benefit people, the planet, and profits.
Through our efforts and advocacy for corporate citizenship, we hope to help inspire and enable similar commitments, actions, and progress across everyone in the channel. For anyone new to this journey, I hope they may learn from our path to date: Start with assessment and education. Understand where you can make a meaningful impact. Set realistic but significant goals. And continue looking for ways we can encourage others to do the same.
RICH HUME is CEO of TD SYNNEX, a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem.
