Good practice: Corporate social responsibility
What is corporate social responsibility?
No organisation operates in isolation. It interacts with society
through its suppliers, customers, neighbours, products and
services. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the process of
actively managing this relationship to the mutual benefit of the
organisation and society, maximising the positive interactions
providing employment, investment and support, and minimising the
negative, such as accidents, exploitation and pollution.
Governments, customers and the public have recognised that
without appropriate controls, organisations will profit at the
expense of others. This has led to a range of regulatory and
voluntary standards to make sure corporations consider their
responsibilities to society.
Corporate social responsibility is a relatively new term, but
it’s not a new concept. The 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices
Act, often quoted as the first piece of health and safety
legislation in the United Kingdom, is a 200-year-old example, while
the Climate Change Act 2008 is a more recent one.
There’s no single definition of CSR, as every organisation,
government and individual has a different angle. The Chartered
Institute of Public Relations defines CSR as “a concept whereby
companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their
business operations and in their interaction with their
stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”
The UK government extends this and sees corporate social
responsibility as “the business contribution to our sustainable
development goals. Essentially, it’s about how business takes
account of its economic, social and environmental impacts in the
way it operates – maximising the benefits and minimising the
downsides. Specifically, we see CSR as the voluntary actions that
business can take, over and above compliance with minimum legal
requirements, to address both its own competitive interests and the
interests of wider society.”
At first, CSR appears relevant only to the big blue chip
companies, but it’s at the heart of public sector organisations and
is vital to those organisations wishing to successfully meet the
needs of their customers over the longer term. The public and media
appetite for stories around this area is big, whether it’s climate
change, bankers’ bonuses or the recent allegations made against
BAE to
win contracts in Africa and Eastern Europe.
CSR is everywhere. The problem is that it has been difficult to
separate corporate spin from those organisations trying to make a
difference.
To tackle this, a range of schemes have been developed to
include third party verification. These include the development of
an ISO Standard, the
UNEP programme COMPACT 10, social equity schemes such as Fair
Trade, the Rain Forest Alliance or Forest Stewardship Council, and
reporting programmes such as the Global Reporting
Initiative.
The scope of CSR is broad, ranging from health and safety to
employment rights and ethical trading. The precise scope will vary
depending on your organisation’s operations, risks, desire and
stakeholders.
How does CSR apply to health and safety?
In these tough economic times, and with increasing media
interest, often the health and safety practitioner can be given the
task of looking at corporate social responsibility. So how is
health and safety linked to CSR?
Firstly, health and safety management is corporate social
responsibility because the aim to reduce deaths, injuries, and
occupational diseases has proven financial and social benefits. In
fact, it’s one of the best examples of how both aims are not
mutually exclusive. As health and safety professionals, we
understand that ‘tort of negligence’ is the concept of financial
compensation for social wrongs, and ‘reasonably practicable’ is the
legally acceptable relationship between profit and harm to members
of society.
Health and safety practitioners also have a wide range of skills
and competencies which relate across health and safety to CSR.
These include:
- an understanding of the concept, assessment and management of
risk
- the skills to engage with individuals, groups, suppliers and
customers every day to influence their ideology and risk
perception
- an ability to work throughout the organisation at a shop floor
and strategic level
- an appreciation of a management systems approach
- an awareness of the importance of communication and
consultation.
Health and safety and CSR are matters of scale. In health and
safety, we protect individuals from harm at a local level. If you
zoom out like an internet map, and consider the wider global
perspective of your supply chain, we call it corporate social
responsibility.
Is protecting a worker in Asia any different to protecting a
worker in your own organisation? CSR doesn’t have to be thought of
only in a geographical way – you can also consider the impact of
poor communication of redundancy, payment terms for your suppliers,
supporting work experience schemes, improving recycling rates and
saving energy as local programmes that effect CSR.
What do I need to do?
While every organisation is different, with unique impacts and
resources, the general approach to implementing a CSR strategy is
similar to the basic principles of any risk management programme:
identify, evaluate, control and review. The action plan below sets
out a basic approach to CSR.
Action plan
1. Start by getting senior management commitment.
2. Set up a project group. This should include workforce
representation. Decide whether you want to work to a verified
standard to be accredited to, or do you just want to use it as a
good practice guide.
3. Conduct a baseline review of the key issues in terms of
stakeholder and potential business impact. The areas for
consideration vary company to company, but typical areas will
include stakeholder concerns, health and safety performance,
workforce issues, supply chain, environmental footprint, community
impacts and ethical trading.
4. Develop a CSR strategy to tackle your key areas. Develop
targets and policies, roles and responsibilities, training and
action plans to be sure the strategy is effectively
implemented.
5. Establish a communication strategy to respond to stakeholder
issues in a transparent and sensitive manner. The strategy should
also cover regular reporting to stakeholders on progress and
marketing of the CSR strategy to internal and external
stakeholders.
6. Review the supply chain. If your organisation is at a stage
to consider a CSR strategy, it’s less likely that the key issues
will be internal, but your supply chain might be a different
matter. You’ll need to develop a programme to assess the current
status, develop a support and development programme and confirm the
status through auditing.
7. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and regularly
monitor and review the effectiveness and impact on your
organisation.
As can be seen in this model here,
health and safety is one of the core six pillars in corporate
social responsibility. The skills set you already use can be
applied in turn to the other five.
And this effort will be rewarded. CSR can bring a range of
rewards, including:
- a more motivated and loyal work force
- greater productivity
- reduced overheads and greater efficiency
- more sales and increased customer loyalty
- improved reputation
- reduced risk of prosecution
- access to investment and larger market shares.
So when it comes to taking on corporate social responsibility,
remember you’re already doing it. Draw on the skills of research,
adaptability and communication you use in your role every day.
Our thanks to Richard Ball, Head of Environment at Corporate
Risk Systems, for writing this article.
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