This year saw the entry into force of the new European directive on the information that companies with more than 500 employees must make public on corporate sustainability and non-financial performance. Other smaller companies will be obliged to do the same from 2025 or 2026, depending on the number of people employed, turnover or if they are listed on the stock exchange, among other conditions. The new regulation defines how the report must be drawn up and what must be reported, and establishes common criteria at European level to harmonise the reporting of accounts - the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
These rules or criteria are the regulated and enforceable reference on environmental, social and corporate governance issues. With regard to social aspects, the company will have to report on what affects its workforce (S1); other workers involved in the value chain (S2); other groups affected (S3), and, finally, on the scope of the impact on consumers or end users (S4). This area can be particularly apt for the world of business to definitively adopt the values of linguistic respect in communities such as the Catalan-speaking countries, which have their own official language that is a situation of weakness in many socio-economic areas.
This transparency can be an opportunity for the suggestions, complaints or concerns of customers to gain visibility and avoid a detrimental reputation of the company's products and services
Under this chapter, companies must specify the actions they have taken to prevent, mitigate or put right negative incidences, real or potential, on the consumer, especially those that have to do with non-discrimination, access to products and services and responsible marketing practices. In relation to this, the latest data have detected an "increase in concern" and "social unrest" regarding respect for the linguistic rights of consumers in Catalonia. The increase in complaints indicates, therefore, that the lack of use of the language can be seen as a "negative incidence", which will continue to be so until an accommodation is found between the satisfaction of the client from a linguistic point of view and acceptance of the idea of a territory with its own and official language, without excluding others.
But not everything should be viewed from a negative or conflictual perspective. For the sake of transparency and accountability, the company will have the chance to disclose how it works with consumers or end users or their representatives in order to show whether the perspective of consumers has been taken into account in the company's decision-making processes. This transparency can be an opportunity for the suggestions, complaints or concerns of customers to gain visibility and thus avoid the reputation of the company's products and services being detrimental to business results. In this sense, therefore, transparency can increase trust between the company and the customer and, as a consequence, result in a rise in sales or expansion of the consumer base.