About

Being good for people is just good business.
Eskala is here to help.

We are a team of social risk & impact advisors that work with organisations to build the strategy, governance, systems, programs and skills they need to avoid harm and create positive social impact.

Every part of your organisation touches the lives of people - staff, customers, the community. How they experience your organisation significantly contributes to your success.

Managing this experience might look like fostering a safe & inclusive workplace culture, adopting an ethical sourcing program, conducting human rights due diligence over third parties or deals, embedding safety by design into your products and services, training frontline staff to identify and support vulnerable customers, or even establishing a grant-making or volunteering program. Each organisation’s approach will, and should, be unique.

Eskala exists to help you bridge the gap between intent and impact, because technical compliance so often fails to protect people and organisations are leaving opportunities to do good on the table.

We are here to help your organisation succeed by understanding, managing and communicating your social impact. We take a practical, ‘progress beats perfection’ approach and leave the jargon at the door. If our clients feel like they need a law degree or a social impact fellowship to engage with us, we’ve failed!

For more information on who we work with and what we do, check out our Services and see the FAQs below.

FAQs

  • We work with domestic and multinational businesses, industry peak bodies, governments, not-for-profits, and cross-sector working groups. This includes ASX200 companies and household names in banking & finance, retail, energy & mining, leisure & hospitality, essential services, and infrastructure.

    On the client side, we have worked with teams from all over the business. From professionals in sustainability, to procurement, corporate affairs, investment, customer service, financial crime, third-party risk, and internal audit, and with frontline staff through to the Board.

    This is because social risk & impact management is a whole-of-business responsibility, asking individuals and teams to do their bit - often without a dedicated specialist to figure it out.

    That’s where we come in.

  • Simply put, social risk is potential harm to people and social impact is a change experienced by people.

    Organisations carry risks of harm to people - to staff, customers, communities, and so on. This is unavoidable. However, risks can and should be managed so that harm is mitigated and prevented.

    Organisations can also change the knowledge, attitude, behaviour, or circumstances of an individual or group. This impact may be positive or negative, intended or unintended. Impact can be managed and measured to drive intended outcomes and avoid negative ones.

    These risks & impacts on people have transverse risks & impacts on the organisation. If you are familiar with the concept of ‘environmental, social and governance’ (ESG), social risk & impact is the ‘S’ of ESG.

  • There are many social risk & impact topics. Below are some common ones we see to give you a flavour, noting there is overlap because organisations have different ways of talking about them.

    • Workplace health & safety

    • Bullying, discrimination & harassment

    • Diversity, equity & inclusion

    • Psychosocial risk

    • Human rights

    • Modern slavery

    • Ethical sourcing

    • Responsible investment

    • Sustainable finance

    • Customer outcomes

    • Fair & equitable treatment

    • Safety by design

    • Safeguarding

    • Stakeholder engagement

    • Employee engagement

    • Community consultation / participation

    • Benefits-sharing

    • Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

    • Trust & social licence

  • Yes, there can be compliance reasons to do this work. For example, workplace health & safety and duty of care laws oblige organisations to take reasonable steps to prevent harm to staff and people likely to be impacted by their conduct. Government or grant applications for projects can also mandate a social impact assessment and management plan.

    It is key to think about the whole value chain here - modern slavery laws, for example, cover risk of harm to people in your supply chain, too.

    There are also ethical and purpose-driven reasons to act. Treating people fairly, with dignity and respect is simply the right thing to do. It earns trust, a good reputation, and grants social license to operate. Creating positive social impact may even be the whole reason your business exists! Your organisational purpose and values may be why you see this as more than ‘nice-to-do’.

    Whether you are being pushed or pulled to do this work - it’s worth it. Managing risk of harm to people is a strong foundation for any business, and contributing positive impact benefits both people and your business.

  • Organisations engage us at various stages, including:

    • Early discussions to understand and plan for meeting legal obligations, voluntary commitments, or achieving impact ambitions

    • Strategy-setting to provide expertise and facilitate engagement

    • Reporting, fundraising, or writing business cases for social risk and impact work

    • Measuring social impact

    • After an incident has occurred - a whistleblowing or media report, for example

    • Recruiting for a team member, but needing some support in the meantime

    • Seeking tenders or quotes for a project

    • Ad-hoc when an extra set of hands or expertise is needed

    Our team listens first to understand where you’re at and how we can help. We will never channel clients into programs or arrangements they don’t need.

    Pragmatic over perfect. Incremental steps. That’s progress, and you can approach us anytime to discuss if, when, and how we can partner with you.

  • Your employees, customers, investors, shareholders, regulators, community, government. The level of care and expectations will often be diverse.

    Current staff and future workforce care about how they are treated at work. They can also care about their role and your reputation when it comes to treatment of customers and the community.

    Customers & communities are increasingly conscious of the ethics of the businesses they engage with, and vote with their wallets. Bad news travels fast when customers & communities are treated poorly, and can lead to negative press, legal action, and more.

    Investors & shareholders seek to minimise risk exposure, and businesses that fail to manage harm to people in their value chain are more risky. If organisations can attract and retain staff and customers by treating them with respect, and avoid incidents that end up in the media and courts, that’s good for business.

    Government bodies will oversee, regulate and take enforcement actions to drive conduct that is in the public interest.

    Importantly, how do you want your business to treat people? What does social impact mean to you?

  • Our name, pronounced [es-ka-la] is made up, and came from a bit of wordplay. We think it has a nice ring to it and the business world doesn’t need another acronym!

    The inspo:

    • The word for 'stairs' in Latin languages e.g. escalier, scale, etc
      Social progress is achieved through incremental steps, and we help organisations chart theirs

    • The word ‘escalate’
      We offer independent expertise to help respond when incidents happen and prevent recurrence

    • The letters ‘SK’
      Shorthand for ‘specialist knowledge’, which is what our team brings and helps organisations to build

  • We are not actively hiring at the moment. However, whether you’re a seasoned professional or taking your first steps in a social risk & impact career, we love to meet new people! We are always growing our specialist network and may be able to connect you with teams that are hiring.

    Feel free to reach out to contact@eskala.com.au with a little bit about you.