According to Mckinsey, 60% of surveyed consumers would be willing to pay more for products when employee safety and no child labour are guaranteed. This is the same proportion of consumers who are willing to pay more for products when packaging is minimal or made from recycled materials.

And Investors want it too. According to a survey by Morgan Stanley, more than 70% of investors believe strong ESG practices can lead to higher returns.

Legislation is also placing responsibility on companies to do better for people and planet. The Mandatory Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards has rolled out for large businesses who have to report on all relevant sustainability-related topics. 

The Government is also tightening the Modern Slavery Act, including expanded mandatory reporting and civil penalties for non-compliance. 

On the one hand, shifts in regulatory and stakeholder expectations are a complexity for businesses to navigate. But on the other, there’s opportunity to innovate and be on the front foot. 

Social enterprise, business for good trailblazers

Social enterprises are businesses that exist to solve for social and environmental challenges. They are purpose-led businesses. By incorporating them into supply chains, organisations can directly contribute to job creation for disadvantaged communities, environmental sustainability, and economic inclusion. 

Social Traders has identified more than 7,000 social enterprises in Australia. 750+ are certified with Social Traders, the industry body for social enterprise and social performance. 

Social Traders has been tracking the social spend between their business and government members with certified social enterprises since 2018. In FY25, more than $1.4 billion was spent with certified social enterprise over the last eight years. This cumulative spend has supported: 

• 13,383 employment outcomes for marginalised communities

• 1 million training hours for people facing barriers to employment  

• $103 million spent on delivering affordable and accessible community services  

• 68,050 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill  

• $16.8 million donated to charitable causes 

These results show the power of the social enterprise model and how organisations across Australia can partner with social enterprise to social value.

Organisations that perform best for people, perform best in business

Social performance is when a business goes beyond financial outcomes to create social value for employees, suppliers, contractors, customers and the broader community in which it operates. 

It is a broad term but with many tangible actions that businesses can take to drive social value. Here’s some ways your business can look to enhance and broaden its social performance.

Fair and inclusive employment:
✓ Ensuring fair wages; supporting diversity and inclusion in the workforce to create opportunities for underrepresented groups; provide learning and development opportunities; and create a positive and safe work environment.

Supplier diversity:
✓ Promoting ethical sourcing practices, ensuring fair labour conditions (have a human rights/modern slavery policy in place), and supporting sustainable supply chains with a dedicated social procurement approach.

Ethical product design:
✓ Offering affordable and accessible products/services with a clear approach on how you design and price appropriately – making it more inclusive for the communities you serve.

Workplace giving and corporate philanthropy:
✓ Contributing to charitable causes, supporting social programs, volunteering, corporate donations and grant programs to support your overall social performance. We see too often this is where businesses stop, when it’s just the beginning to the social performance building block.

Community wellbeing initiatives:
✓ Identifying ways to support the education, health and economic stability of communities where you operate.

There are many facets to social performance, but when businesses take a holistic approach and embed it in their operating model for the long-term – the impact is amplified. 

Social performance isn’t a nice to have, it’s a must have. Employees, shareholders, customers and society are expecting businesses to go beyond profit.

It’s time to rethink how we define business success. Achieving strong financial outcomes while creating meaningful social value is not only possible – it’s the future of good business.

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About Social Traders

Social Traders is a leading industry body in social enterprise and social performance. Established in 2008, they’ve been supporting more than 300 businesses to track, measure and improve their social performance. Social Traders is also Australia’s certifier of over 750 social enterprises. Learn more at www.socialtraders.com.au