Guest Post: Social enterprises in the post-pandemic economy

Although the pandemic caused havoc all around and turned the world upside down, some positive insights could also be taken out of it. The reflection that it caused led to a mass awakening, which made people more aware of social issues, such as mental health, and other crucial factors such as the environment in which we act and live.

When it comes to the work-life balance, most saw how precious freedom and time are, and started to appreciate them differently. In most polls and surveys nowadays, the majority of workers are choosing remote and flexible working as their model of work. The elimination of long commutes, the ability to stay closer and have more time with loved ones, and countless other benefits, led millions of people to switch career paths or quit their actual jobs. Yes, one might point that this way of working is not effective, but neither 60+ hour workweeks are proving to be mentally fit. We are seeing how the long working hours and strict schedules are driving people to exhaustion, which then drives to burnout, and ultimately leads to less effectiveness, thus affecting mental and social health. This is only on individual perspective, but since the individual is the component of a broader spectrum, this then replicates to the masses which make up society.

Apart from personal reflection, everyone was also more aware of the collective in which we operate and everything that comprises the finite and scarce Earth. Before the pandemic, sustainable development and circular economy were keywords that you would hear, but no substantial and radical actions were actually being considered. During the pandemic, these concepts have drawn massive attention, as the world is now being faced with its fragility and delicacy. From a sure, but gradual direction, sustainable development has now fast-forwarded to become rhetoric in almost every speech that involves politics, economy, society, and environment, to say the least.

This has paved the way for social companies like Impaakt to emerge and confidently take the spotlight in this area. Impaakt, for which I’m currently freelancing, is the true definition of a social enterprise. Impaakt is a collaborative platform that relies on collective intelligence to produce data about companies’ impact on society and the environment. The data is then sold to investors, asset managers, and financial institutions, to help them make more informed investment decisions.

The work that  we do at Impaakt, is ultimately driving decisions on whether a company that is involved in forced or child labor somewhere in China or some company that is illegally deforesting thousands of hectares of rainforests somewhere in Indonesia, should get more funding or not. Soon enough, thousands and millions of people will get to read and know about where their products come from, how much damage they’re personally doing by purchasing from certain companies, and how one can make the world better, one individual, and one company at a time.

From a quality of work perspective, remote working (anywhere and everywhere in the world), flexible schedule (choosing your hours of work), warm and cooperative team, are just some of the benefits that one gets. This has a multidimensional impact, as on the internal organizational level, the friendly and highly inclusive work environment is an example of how a company should function, and on the external side, the work which is produced, ultimately leads to a better, healthier, and safer world, socially and environmentally.

This does not imply that every business should be turned into a social enterprise, nor every newly established enterprise should be a social one, but it is for sure a fact that every organization should incorporate social factors in its core functioning. That is the only way to adapt to the fragile post-pandemic economy/work environment if one doesn’t want people to flee.

Written by Ardit Naka

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