Definitions: Triple Bottom Line

The triple bottom line is a term that I learned on my first day in class at Bainbridge Graduate Institute. And now I hear it as a buzz word. What does this mean? The triple bottom line goes beyond what we know as just the regular bottom line of profit by adding two more legs to the metaphorical three-legged stool of Sustainability. It is known as the three E's: Environment, Economy, and Equity, or three P's: People, Planet, and Profit. In order for it to stand upright, hence for a business/institution/organization to really be sustainable, all three legs must be present.

The problem is that most people understand the profit and planet part. Business is growing well in the green industries and markets. The problem is when we get to "people". What does it mean to make a business sustainable for people?

A good start is a review of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Articles 23-25 outline basic rights for employees:

Article 23.

• (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
• (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
• (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

• Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
• (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

So now, we must go one step further. How do these rights translate into our business practices? How can we measure success in each of these components? And how can we ensure that these priorities assist the development of the planet and profit sides of a sustainable company? This will be a topic we will explore further.