The Unexpected Connection Between Boardrooms and Playgrounds
At first glance, corporate sustainability strategies and children’s rights might seem to occupy different worlds. One belongs to boardrooms and quarterly reports; the other to schools, families, and playgrounds. But here’s the reality check: every business affects children’s lives. If your employees have kids, if children use your products, if your supply chain stretches across communities where families live, you’re already a stakeholder in children’s rights, whether you’ve thought about it or not.
On December 3rd, 2025, this connection took center stage at Athens Plaza hotel. UNICEF Greece and CSR HELLAS hosted “Children’s Rights & Business: Benchmarking the Future”, a conference that presented results from Greece’s first comprehensive assessment of how businesses integrate children’s rights into their operations, titled “Greek Business Sector and Children’s Rights: An Assessment”. The research, conducted by The American College of Greece Research Center (ACG-RC) in collaboration with UNICEF(notably the first of its kind globally for the organization) delivered insights that ranged from encouraging to uncomfortable.
What the ACG-RC Team Set Out to Discover
The ACG-RC research team, comprising Pavlos A. Vlachos (Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean of Research & Innovation at Alba), Athanasios Krystallis (CoEFTL Executive Director and ACG-RC Director), Toula Perrea (Assistant Professor and CoEFTL member), Konstantinos Tzioumis (Associate Professor of Finance), Aristotelis Alexopoulos (Director of Applied Research & Innovation at Alba), and Rania Assariotaki (Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs), designed this assessment around a fundamental question: Do Greek companies understand their role in protecting and promoting children’s rights, and more importantly, are they acting on that understanding?
Using a mixed-methods approach that combined surveys with focus groups, the team measured perceptions from two critical perspectives: company executives and young people themselves. Why perceptions? Because perceptions shape behaviors, actions, and ultimately, reality. The assessment was organized around five pillars: corporate governance, workplace conditions for young employees, environmental responsibility, supply chain management, and restitution and reporting mechanisms.
The participant profile tells us something important about Greek business: 71% of employee respondents work in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. These aren’t multinational giants with dedicated sustainability departments but they’re the backbone of Greece’s economy, often operating with limited resources and guidance.
The Commitment-Implementation Gap: When Words Outpace Actions
The study revealed a pattern that should make every corporate leader pause: approximately one-third of executives believe Greek firms meaningfully advance children’s rights. That leaves two-thirds who don’t.
The research uncovered a fundamental commitment-implementation gap, particularly visible in the corporate governance pillar. The quantitative data reveals what looks like social washing: company executives say they’re committed to upholding children’s rights, but there’s not enough actually being done or communicated properly. The qualitative insights from focus groups add a crucial layer: corporate representatives want to do something, but they don’t know how. There’s no training material, no clear roadmap from intention to action.
Companies say they’re committed to children’s rights, often equating this commitment simply with not using child labor. But the reality is far more complex and demands far more action.
Adding another dimension to this picture, the research examined “meta-perceptions”; what executives believe other companies are doing versus their own organizations. This comparison is revealing because meta-perceptions are probably closer to reality than the rosier view executives have of their own companies. The gap is stark:
- Corrective actions: 28% say their company does this; only 8% think others do
- Partnerships: 27% versus 5%
- Training programs: 26% versus 6%
- Transparency: 24% versus 5%
- Supplier evaluation: 23% versus 6%
That 18-20 percentage point difference reinforces what the commitment-implementation gap tells us: there’s a significant disconnect between stated intentions and actual practice across Greek businesses.
What the Youth Are Really Saying (And It’s Not What Companies Want to Hear)
If the executive responses raised questions, the youth perspectives delivered answers which were direct, unfiltered, and frankly, skeptical. Representatives from the UNICEF Greece Child & Youth Advisory Board (CYAB), Dimitra Mprousali and Nikos Xanthakis, didn’t mince words during the interactive panel.
“The research findings show that the youth do not trust companies, they don’t think companies have as a goal to uphold their rights”, they stated clearly. “There might be clear policy in individual companies’ strategies but the youth do not recognize this”.
Why don’t young people see these corporate initiatives? Not because they don’t care, as 95% of UNICEF Greece CYAB members participated in the study. The disconnect runs deeper. As the youth representatives explained, corporate actions simply aren’t visible in their everyday lives. “Not enough happens so that it reaches youth ears”.
Their call to action was unambiguous: “Research is important and we acknowledge your intentions but action is paramount and not just intention and theoretical questionnaires and discussions. Only action will bring results”.
The research data backs up their frustration: over 50% of surveyed youth reported feeling unheard. This isn’t teenage angst but a legitimate stakeholder group telling businesses they’re missing the mark.
The Global Context: Why This Research Matters Beyond Greece
Maeve Bayles, UNICEF’s Global Corporate Partnerships & Sustainability Specialist, provided crucial international perspective that elevated the conversation beyond Greek borders. “This research is very important”, she emphasized, confirming it as the first assessment of its kind globally for UNICEF.
Ms. Bayles presented a compelling exercise that visually demonstrated something many businesses overlook: she asked conference attendees to stand if children were stakeholders in their business. The criteria were straightforward:
- Children are end consumers of your product or service
- Children are exposed to your marketing or advertising
- There is a risk of child labor in your value chain
- Your employees have children
- Children live or play in environments where your business operates
Every single attendee stood up.
“Businesses have been child blind even if they have to do with children”, Ms. Bayles observed. “Children are stakeholders in every business, in every sector”.
She also addressed the challenging current environment where ESG has become controversial in some circles, noting that 63% of FTSE 100 companies are “green hushing”, meaning they stay quiet about their impact work for fear of backlash. Her advice? “It’s not the time to be silent but smart and communicate what you’re doing. Cause in an increasingly polarized and complex world, one cause remains constant: children”.
Data from the Axios Harris Poll 100 reinforces this: companies that maintained their DEI commitments have better reputation scores than those who didn’t.
When Intentions Meet Reality: The Corporate Response
The corporate representatives on the panel, Achilleas Ioakeimidis (Chief Sustainability Officer, PPC Group), Nancy Zachariadou (Director of Corporate Responsibility, Piraeus Bank), Anna Malti (Head of Corporate Responsibility, COSMOTE), and Smaragdi Talaki (Head of Human Resources, OFET), spoke about their sustainability initiatives, employee programs, and community investments. Their intentions appeared genuine. One sentiment echoed across the panel: “We all make a commitment here, that we do business with purpose”.
But here’s what’s striking: these very statements reflect the commitment-implementation gap the ACG-RC research revealed. After hearing from the youth representatives, one panelist acknowledged: “What I take away from what the youth shared is that we haven’t convinced them we, as companies, want to do business with purpose. We want to offer value to society but we haven’t found a way to showcase this to the youth”.
The word “showcase” is telling. Because as the youth representatives made clear, the issue isn’t communication or branding. It’s tangible action that reaches their daily lives.
Smaragdi Talaki from OFET touched on something crucial: “It is important to listen to the new generation as it enters the corporate force and learn from them, as older people might not be receptive to change. The new generation will offer inspiration for the future”.
The question is: are companies ready to not just listen, but fundamentally change how they operate?
What Government Leaders Brought to the Table
The conference also featured insights from government representatives who highlighted ongoing efforts and acknowledged gaps. Alternate Minister of Health Eirini Agapidaki discussed programs addressing children’s mental health, noting that “children are too anxious nowadays” and live in “parallel monologues” rather than creating shared experiences, particularly post-pandemic. Her ministry’s initiatives include free psychotherapy for families and programs addressing menstruation education, mental health, childhood obesity, and self-harm.
Minister of Education Sofia Zacharaki emphasized supporting the “human element” in education, from reducing barriers for teacher appointments to ensuring proper housing and technology for educators. Her message to the private sector was direct: “We are here for them [children]. The government might not be able to address all issues but there is a will to help the children and we ask private companies to contribute”.
The Investment Case: Why Children’s Rights Make Business Sense
Ghassan Khalil, UNICEF Representative in Greece, delivered a keynote that reframed children’s rights from moral obligation to strategic investment: “Every dollar spent on a child offers a ROI of at least 13 dollars”.
But his message went beyond economics. “Everything starts with children”, he emphasized. “The best support one can offer is for children and with children, private companies should take this into account when organizing initiatives. The future we work on will be the present of the children, so they have the right to contribute their voice”.
Mr. Khalil also highlighted an educational gap that perpetuates the problem: “Through child rights centers at universities in Greece, we teach child rights because adults do not know them”. If the people designing policies, products, and workplace practices don’t understand children’s rights, how can they be expected to uphold them?
Where Do We Go From Here? Turning Assessment Into Action
The ACG-RC assessment doesn’t just identify problems, it provides a roadmap forward. The recommendations call for:
- Explicitly embedding children’s rights into ESG frameworks and governance structures, moving beyond surface-level commitment
- Creating genuinely family-friendly workplaces that recognize employees’ roles as parents
- Strengthening supply chain due diligence with transparent grievance mechanisms
- Systematically engaging youth voices in stakeholder dialogue and decision-making processes
- Improving disclosure under EU sustainability standards, particularly as regulations tighten
Perhaps most importantly, the report calls for stronger collaboration among companies, business associations, government bodies, and child rights organizations to translate the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBP) framework into tangible actions.
The Ball Is Rolling…But Will It Keep Moving?
As the conference concluded, attendees noted that the ACG-RC research results provide an objective starting point for companies ready to move beyond good intentions. Alexandra Palli-Giannakopoulos, President of CSR HELLAS, thanked The American College of Greece (ACG) for a contribution that “allows us to move with higher precision and responsibility”.
The research itself, authored by a multidisciplinary ACG team spanning marketing, finance, management, and sustainability expertise from Deree and Alba Graduate Business School, represents the kind of rigorous, evidence-based approach needed to drive real change. Published in November 2025, it’s now available as a tool for any organization ready to honestly assess where they stand.
But tools are only valuable if they’re used.
The youth representatives left us with a clear mandate: “You look us in the eye when we talk… Since both us and you want to help children, we can convince other companies to contribute… We want to see companies systemically take into account youth voices. We want to see more youth representatives. We want to be part of decision making”.
They’re watching. They’re waiting. And they’re ready to call out the gap between commitment and implementation.
So here’s the real question for Greek businesses, and, honestly, for companies everywhere: Are you listening? Because as this first-of-its-kind assessment makes crystal clear, children aren’t just future consumers or employees. They’re stakeholders right now, affected by decisions made in boardrooms today. And they, along with the researchers, advocates, and organizations working on their behalf, are no longer accepting words without action.
The commitment has been made. The gap has been measured. Now comes the hard part: closing it.
Download the “Greek Business Sector and Children’s Rights: An Assessment” report
For more information about the Children’s Rights and Business Benchmark Assessment Report, contact Marina Drymalitou, Partnerships Officer at UNICEF Greece ([email protected]).
