Content
This volume is part of a three-part publication series that takes a comprehensive look at the role of sustainability in sales. The basis of the study is a descriptive analysis, whose underlying methodology and sample are described in detail in the methodology section of the volume.
This second part of the series focuses on the aspect of social sustainability. The shortage of skilled workers is still at a record level worldwide. In Germany, around 82% of companies are struggling to fill vacancies. This puts Germany in second place in an international comparison and means it is struggling with this problem to an above-average extent (ManpowerGroup, 2024). More and more sales positions are also going unfilled - there are currently almost 31,000 sales positions (Kümpfel et al., 2024).
In the industrial goods sector in particular, the lack of capacity to sell what are often very complex goods can have serious consequences in the future. As a central corporate body, sales acts as an important growth driver (Sales Management Department, 2018).
In addition, the competitive working environment of sales employees with high pressure to succeed can also have a negative impact on employees' mental health (Habel et al., 2021). In studies, 76% of sales employees surveyed reported work-related stress and 51% had already experienced at least one symptom of burnout (Quinyx, 2024). 80% of sales managers are also convinced that chronic time pressure has a negative impact on the performance of sales employees (Ryari et al., 2020).
Against this backdrop, sales is under particular pressure to create attractive working conditions that allow employees to balance their social lives with their everyday work - a key aspect of social sustainability.
The following section takes stock of working conditions and their impact on the performance of employees in sales. Social sustainability is then brought into focus and a comparison is made between companies that play a leading role in the market in terms of sustainability (sustainability leaders) and companies that are more hesitant to implement the topic (sustainability laggards). The three pillars of sustainability (economic, social and ecological sustainability) are considered in particular.