Promoting CSR is almost as important as practicing it
For Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects to be effective, it helps to get your employees onside. If companies can't convince their own staff, they stand little chance of impressing other stakeholders. But according to research by Krauthammer, employees are increasingly unimpressed by their companies' CSR efforts. Around half of the companies surveyed were either failing to communicate CSR strategies effectively or, worse, were "reactive or inactive".
The survey, conducted in collaboration with the Universities of Amsterdam and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, examined employees' expectations and how well those expectations are being met. "There are gaps between what employees seek and [what they] experience," says Ronald Meijers, Co-chairman at Krauthammer.
Which is bad news for companies hoping to use CSR as a springboard for attracting and retaining talent. "Far from being passive observers, employees are already taking an active role in [social responsibility]," says Krauthammer's Steffi Gande. "They have a more critical eye on the performance of their employers".
According to some measures, UK companies are at least making progress. There are currently three UK companies in the top ten of the Covalence Ethical Ranking: HSBC Holdings (2), Unilever (4), Marks & Spencer (5). The rankings are classified according to criteria such as labour standards, waste management, product social utility and human rights policy. US chip-maker Intel is number one out of 541 multinationals. The rankings however don't reflect the views of employees, or customers.
"Given the turbulence in the economic and ecological climate, failing to identify and grasp low-hanging fruit such as resources efficiency, is simply incomprehensible," says Meijers, who adds that effective communication of CSR is almost as important as CSR itself. "I see an overall demand for reliability and consistency in the CSR arena. The message to organisations is: 'do what you say and say what you do'."
CSR strategies are at their most effective from a branding perspective when combined with an established marketing message, although to admit that CSR is practiced for any other reason than altruism is still considered taboo, even by marketers. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, one Fortune 100 company distributed free mobile phones to victims, yet decided to leave the phones unbranded rather than risk accusations of exploitation. That level of caution still exists, although some marketers are beginning to promote branded CSR events more heavily.
Mastercard's forthcoming social cohesion project, called The Big Lunch, is a partnership between the credit card firm and The Eden Project's Tim Smit. The aim is to get whole streets to sit down together and have lunch on July 19. The event uses the strap line "Turning your street into a neighbourhood: Priceless". Whether or not Mastercard can reach its ambitious target of persuading 61 million Britons to meet their neighbours, the campaign is a proactive response to any lingering ill-feeling produced in the aftermath of the credit bubble.
Many view the economic crisis as a failure of CSR: a breakdown of moral and social guidance. Professor Rob van Tulder from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam believes it is "perverse" to expect anything other than improved CSR to bring the world out of recession. "Everybody acknowledges that the causes of the economic crisis lie with a clear lack of CSR," he says. "On the other hand it is fiercely disputed whether the solution to the crisis entails stepped-up CSR efforts."
Posted 17 April 2009 : Director.co.uk
