Just as stakeholder engagement is not a box-ticking exercise, it certainly does not have a one-size-fits-all approach. The most effective strategy to engage different parties will vary depending on the specific company, its stakeholders, and the nature of the sustainability issues being assessed. Here are some common methods that we often see employed:
However, many of these are time and resource-consuming and can lead to a selection bias if the incorrect stakeholders are engaged for specific topics. There are also issues revolving around engaging a meaningful number of stakeholders to yield comprehensive and insightful results and feedback.
Impaakt, an online platform, offers a valuable tool for companies as opposed to traditional engagement methods. Such a platform can provide several advantages:
Cost-effectiveness and resource efficiency: Impaakt streamlines the engagement process, reducing administrative costs and time commitments.
Scalability and global reach: Through its SaaS solution, Impaakt facilitates engagement with large numbers of stakeholders, even those geographically dispersed.
Stakeholder training and support: By offering training and educational resources, Impaakt helps stakeholders understand the company's sustainability issues to receive meaningful feedback.
Confidentiality and anonymity: Options for confidential and anonymous engagement are provided by Impaakt, ensuring the company’s data stays private and potentially encouraging participation from stakeholders who might be hesitant to express their views publicly.
Data aggregation and analysis: Taking care of the process of collecting and analysing stakeholder feedback can be complex, by providing companies with clear and actionable insights, Impaakt removes this burden from companies.
Centralised communication: Getting organised within large companies to mobilise engagement is tough, however, Impaakt can serve as a centralised system for all stakeholder engagement material, facilitating ongoing communication and information sharing.
Expertise in materiality assessments: Impaakt’s track record, amassing over 1 million materiality assessments, allows for unique expertise in stakeholder engagement and DMAs, guiding companies through the process and ensuring a robust outcome. Additionally, Impaakt’s “CKR mechanism” can be a helpful tool, where together, we can assign varying weights to individuals/stakeholder groups based on their unique role. For instance, employees working on a specific product line might deserve a higher weight when assessing the materiality of the related impacts, compared to more distant stakeholders.
Quality control: Mechanisms in place to ensure the quality of the materiality assessments are critical. Impaakt has several processes in place to ensure this, such as the detection of suspicious assessments and the removal of outliers.
Considering the "silent stakeholders": Impaakt’s community of certified raters allows for the incorporation of perspectives of "silent stakeholders" like the environment and civil society.
