When thinking of how to create a corporate social responsibility (CSR) culture inside of your company it is important to think about both the values of your company and also what CSR involves. In a general sense, CSR includes the parts of your business that do not have to deal with finance. Alexander Garrett of Management Today describes it as, “ethics; interactions with people inside and outside your company; and how you affect the planet” (Garrett, 1) in his article Crash Course in...Creating a CSR Strategy.
In terms of values, the social work that is done cannot go against what your company believes in. People will see right through your CSR report and begin to distrust your company; this means all of your consumers walk away. In a study done by Shital Jhunjhunwala, Assistant Professor of Finance, Institute of Public Enterprise, entitled Intertwining CSR with Strategy- the way ahead, there were social implications which claimed, “business cannot survive without society’s acquiescence nor succeed without its active support” (Jhunjhunwala, 1). For example, within a tech company, it isn’t wise to claim to love being green and being energy efficient if the products that are being sold use far more energy than other products on the market. This would demonstrate that not only do you not care about the planet, but you also think consumers lack the intelligence to find out that you are lying to them, not the best plan in any scenario.
Furthermore, while CSR initiatives have to start from the top-down, because nothing will be sustainable if the board is not supporting CSR efforts, employees have to also believe in the mission that is being encouraged. If the board decides that they want their employees to get a specific number of hours of volunteer work, ask the employees what they are interested in. If people are more interested in animals, begin a puppy and kitten initiative where they are able to support and volunteer with animal shelters; if they want to help the poor, create initiatives where they are volunteering at a food bank or building homes.
According to Garrett, these initiatives should not only come from employees but also customers and investors. It is important to know what people want from your company (Garrett, 1). One of the ways to do this is to be open with everyone, to never provoke sentiments that your company is untrustworthy. There are many ways to do this such as the use of social media. One of the methods that Garrett suggests is to give clear pieces of your CSR message but then also have ways for the public to see the full scale of all that you are doing. This could be a link online that leads to a full report of the initiatives that your business is taking. Along with being trustworthy comes accepting that the company is not perfect. It could be that the company never recycles and they serve every meal in Styrofoam. The important thing is also explaining how those behaviors are going to change. Let everyone know how you will do better but that it will take time and then explain to them your time frame for meeting different target goals (1).
Is this a step by step tutorial on how to make a perfect CSR culture? No. Every company is different and they will have to start small and find out what works best for their company, one does not simply know the best strategy for a CSR culture right away. This is just where to start, to find out how a CSR culture can work for both the company and society. The right CSR culture will do both and add value and sustainability to a corporation.