As a business, we are all responsible for making a financial profit. But is financial profit the only factor that businesses should care about? This short article will explore the ever-evolving business landscape, why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of all businesses, and give tips and pointers to designing your organization’s CSR initiatives for the coming years.
The world is changing before our eyes and the changes affect all of us. The push of the Green Movement has accelerated everyone’s awareness regarding the importance of sustainability and ultimately the concept of giving more than we take from the world. Therefore, it is no longer the case that sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is just an optional initiative to do at their own leisure. Corporate behavior must change with the changing times, and to no surprise organizations around the world have adopted CSR into a main factor of consideration in forming their business strategies
What are the benefits of CSR?
- Corporate Values
Walk the Walk. We have seen on many occasions before, company values are things that are put up on a wall, forgotten about, and never acted upon from top management to entry-level employees. This leads employees to neglect the importance of the values of the company and ultimately affect corporate culture. Having a regular commitment to CSR programs that are aligned with your own corporate values prove to both your employees and external stakeholders that the company delivers its every commitment.
- Brand Image and Recognition
Make an Impression. With the general public regardless of generation seeing the importance of social responsibility, associating your company name with initiatives that support local communities or foundations will be greatly beneficial to the light in which your company is viewed. Remember, CSR programs do not always need to be in-house initiatives, sponsorships and donations to other well-respected event/foundations also contribute to the cause.
- Employee Engagement
Bring Your People Closer with a Common Goal. Undertaking a CSR initiative that matters to your people could make a huge difference in boosting morale, bringing people together from different areas of the company, closing the gap between top management, and ultimately employee engagement and commitment to the company. We need to always remember that employees are always more productive when they feel they are proud to work for your company.
- Employer Branding
Attract and Retain Your Top Talent. A strong record and commitment to initiating and participating in CSR initiatives gives your company an edge when it comes to the ability to recruit, develop, and retain employees. A company’s top asset is their people. Having the leverage and correct employer branding could secure a company’s future by having the best talent available to drive the company’s success.
Tips on How to Construct Your CSR Campaign?
- Look within – Establish and refresh corporate values, vision, mission
- Know your customers – Recognize issues that matter to your target market
- Find ways to give back – link your findings from step 1 and step 2 to find a common goal
- Advertise, Advertise, Advertise – Always show your internal and external stakeholders what you are doing. Be proud of your efforts.
CSR is a Win/Win scenario…
Taking all these factors into account, there is now a widespread acceptance of the fact that corporate social responsibility is no longer an extra business practice but a necessity. We all need to be prepared to incorporate CSR into our business strategies for a sustainable and successful future.
