Corporate social responsibility (or CSR) has changed the way companies do business in the modern world.
That’s because it feels good to do good in the world, which is why many prominent companies, like Starbucks and Ben & Jerry’s have embraced it.
Although the practice of including social responsibility in a company’s business model still has its naysayers, with some even going as far as calling it “greenwashing,” corporate social responsibility is here to stay.
While this is partly due to the feel-good feelings people get from doing good things for others, CSR also makes a difference in a company’s bottom line.
Many companies which have embraced social responsibilities as one of their core values often see more profit and are better able to attract top talent. While you might be thinking that your business is too small to incorporate some CSR practices, that actually isn’t so.
What Are Some Examples of CSR?
CSR comes in many forms.
When asked about his personal take on CSR, Pastor Courage Igene responded that his entire career is based on the principle of giving back to the community. “I’ll give you an example from my own life. I’m an author. My personal brand is author Courage Igene. I’m also the pastor of All-Nations Church. In both cases – with my church and with my personal brand – working with the poor is my passion and my CSR platform. In other words, individuals and companies that actively work for the betterment of society’s less fortunate have embraced helping the poor as their CSR, and this sets them apart.”
However, other companies look at social responsibility from an environmental angle, while still others look at it from a workers’ rights angle. Some companies even champion more than one cause. Basically, companies that incorporate CSR into their business models strive to make the world a better place; usually through the work that their companies perform.
That said, some companies will be involved in CSR causes that have nothing to do with their company’s actual product or service but that benefit the world in some way. For example, a local employment agency might take a day out and volunteer in a senior center.
Making the Most of Your CSR Efforts
For CSR to work as both a personal mission and as a business model for your small business, you must gear your efforts to not only doing the actual work toward your social cause – helping the poor, for example – but you must also make sure that your would-be employees, potential customers, and others in the community know about your efforts.
For example, according to SHRM.org, Capgemini, a company based in the Netherlands, was facing a severe talent shortage.
The company needed to fill 800 positions in both management and IT, two industries that are facing major talent shortages. In other words, there are more jobs than there are people to fill those jobs in the IT and management industries.
Since the company’s competitors were doing pretty much the same thing as Capgemini was to try to attract top talent, the powers-that-be at Capgemini decided to conduct a survey of management consultants and IT professionals about retention and recruiting. As a “draw” to encourage these professionals to do the survey, Capgemini gave poor children in India a week’s worth of schooling and housing through a foundation located in Kolkata.
People who responded to the survey – many of them qualified potential employees in IT and management consulting – were then given the option to submit their resumes and learn more about the company. To make a long story short, Capgemini got almost 2,000 resumes from qualified applicants from that survey.
Capgemini got its 800 new employees as a result of its CSR efforts. It’s important to note something else here. The lifeblood of successful companies is a well-trained workforce.
Many people in the workforce today, particularly Millennials, will turn down a job with a company that pays more to work for a company that’s more socially responsible. Capgemini filled the CSR quotient on both the employee and the charity side, which demonstrates how powerful CSR is in the job market.
What Can You Do?
Your company may not be in a position to hire 800 new employees. Most companies aren’t. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be socially conscious. Here are some practical ways that companies are putting CSR to work for them. These are examples that would work in large or small companies.
A company called Cascade Engineering rolled out some employee-designed carts. These carts allow the employees to pick up and save scraps from the production process/ area and reuse the materials, thus reducing waste in the landfills.
Other companies partner with better-known charities, like Habitat for Humanity. In these cases, the company in question will usually set aside some days where the employees don’t go to the office. Instead, company employees will spend some time working in the community.
If you need an even smaller, more manageable task for your office, then you can try putting out a food drive barrel during certain times of the year. Or if you manage a creative brand like Courage Igene, then you might start teaching underprivileged youth some writing or artistic skills as a way to engage with your community and to build in some CSR into your brand.
Finally, this type of community outreach works best if you let the public know. To that end, you could put information about what your company is doing in the community on your website, in recruiting brochures, in a company newsletter, etc. This allows you to spread the word about your community efforts and to attract like-minded individuals who want to support your business and the causes it champions.
