9.1 Corporate social responsibility
A company trading globally will have more challenges to achieve success when it comes to working environments, cultures, and social consciousness. A corporate social responsibility plan can help to improve employee engagement, it can boost shareholder value, and it can help with brand visibility. The human resource department is an essential element in this role. You will find you are responsible for ensuring your company has an effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme in place.
The HR department will play a role in the implementation of the corporate social responsibility plan, they will monitor how it is adopted within the company, and they will report on the success of the plan. Technology will help by reducing the company's carbon footprint when it comes to working, introducing, and monitoring the plan now and in the future.
Areas to focus on straight away include:
-Encouraging and implementing green practice solutions.
-Getting everyone to adopt a social responsibility culture.
-Celebrating the company's successes as they achieve CSR results.
-Sharing corporate social responsibility values with the employees and the local community.
9.2 Encouraging and implementing green practices
Green practices should be implemented as a way to reduce environmental waste and promote the company's focus on growth, ethics and, practices to develop corporate and personal accountability moving forward. The value of embracing green practices when it comes to corporate responsibility is something that is understood. Look at the direct impact utilities have on the company budget. Companies and private individuals focus on creating a healthier planet each and every day by reducing carbon footprints and recycling energy to create a green society in the future.
Some suggestions for where you can implement green practices include:
-Recycle waste including bottles, cans, and paper. Ensure the entire company is on board to make this system work.
-Collect food, clothing, and donations for people in disaster areas around the world. This may be due to a hurricane, a flood, or another type of natural disaster.
-Encourage teams to reduce their consumption of energy by turning off lights in rooms they are not using, turning off computers before they go home, and even carpooling to reduce their carbon footprint on the road. Some companies have introduced shared bicycle schemes, enabling team members to use a bicycle as transport and return it for the next person to use, thereby eliminating the need for a car during the day.
-Consider changing to laptops rather than desktop computers. Laptops tend to use up to 90 percent less power than a desktop PC.
-Put an end to your onsite meetings and business trips and focus on teleconferencing and VoIP
as a way to reduce your carbon footprint.
9.3 Create a culture
Any company responsibilities or changes will start in the human resources department. You may find it much easier to identify with younger employees, as they are probably already conscious of the environment and they can get excited about the implementation of the corporate social responsibilities in order to reduce the company's carbon footprint moving forward.
Top brands are suffering due to financial strains of pensions, travel allowances, and housing allowances, which may be offered from time to time. These days, more companies are adopting a pay for performance type initiative. Which means that you need a solid corporate social responsibility plan and strategy to rehabilitate existing employees and draw the attention of potential applicants for new positions.
Some ways the company can connect with the community and their employees include:
-The company arranges community volunteer programmes.
-The company will match the employee on any charitable contributions that they make.
-The company sponsors some local community events.
-The company encourages their employees to participate in food banks, fundraisers, and marathons for worthwhile causes.
9.4 Celebrate any successes when it comes to corporate social responsibility
In order to maintain the momentum of the corporate social responsibility programme, you need to celebrate successes. This means getting company leaders involved, praising initiatives, and giving the programme meaning.In a global workplace, celebrations will push the corporate social responsibility initiative forward, and it will also enable human resources to manage it effectively at all times.
Furthermore, you will ensure that the public are aware of the systems you have in place and the successes you have had. This must be focused in every area the company works in ensuring that the local population knows that the company is focused on being a part of the community and making differences where they are needed the most.
9.5 Key areas
There are three areas that need to be addressed when it comes to corporate social responsibility. These areas will help you ensure the programme is maintained now and moving forward.
These include:
-Relationship with the community
-Development and training
-A corporate social responsibility platform
-Relationship with the community
Community relationships should be encouraged by your human resources team. This includes charitable contributions, reward programmes, community involvement, and more. This can be done through a company newsletter, emails, and other communication methods. The communications should be directed to staff members, advising them of their manager's involvement in the community relations programme and any efforts that will be recognized or rewarded moving forward.
Development and training
This should be implemented in order to help employees understand the connection between the company's products and services and society. This should also include the local community and how employees can take part in various corporate social responsibility projects in order to direct and sustain initiatives.
A corporate social responsibility platform
A global corporate social responsibility programme and policy, which should be centrally managed, is imperative to acknowledge any successes and measurements. Focusing on a cohesive and clear global workplace, it is essential for the entire company to be on a single human resources platform, which will allow the distribution of the corporate responsibility plan.
A global human resource solution will enable the company to enjoy the convenience of flexibility to ensure the success of the employee and the employer. This will help manage a work-life balance in a changing environment by taking on social responsibility on a daily basis. For the human resource department, the corporate social responsibility programmes benefit from a business and a value based perspective. Your department will look at the people and business benefits of implementing a programme of this nature.
9.6 Strategy development
Every programme has a starting point. You can use this as a starting point checklist or a road map - a way to start the journey of corporate social responsibility from a human resource perspective.
Vision and mission
The first step to your corporate social responsibility strategy development is the vision and mission on which you base your successful CSR on. This means identifying the values, mission, and vision of the programme. Identify how the HR department can support this development, what upgrades can be made, and how to initiate ideas.
The human resource department can bring opportunities to the senior members of the company, helping them identify why a corporate social responsibility programme makes good business sense. The first step is to make CSR part of the company's operating framework. This means employees and employers will need to be involved in its development.
Strategy
Once the values, vision, and mission have been defined, then the company is ready to develop the corporate social responsibility strategy. A human resources member must be represented throughout these stages to ensure that they have a say in the implementation and strategic direction of the plan moving forward.
Remember, human resources will have the perspective of the employees and the employers, which is valuable when it comes to implementation. In many instances these days, companies put human resources in charge of the corporate social responsibility plan and strategy. This means human resources plays a valuable role in strategy development and helps to drive the strategy forward.
The HR department will make CSR part of the employee code of conduct and they will be responsible for the implementation and drafting of the code. The human resource manager is the one that is responsible for employee codes and, therefore, they are the ones who need to be involved in this process from the onset.
Companies these days pay very close attention to reduce frauds, which means that directors are also concerned about ethical cultures within the company and are looking for 100 percent compliance with the code, which shares their ethical values. This means that the code is the ideal stepping stone to share the company's social and environmental decision making.
9.7 Planning and recruitment
Planning and recruiting a workforce is something that takes analysis, verification, and confirmation. The planning stages include the analysing of workforce competencies, identifying competencies which may be required in the future, and comparing them to the present workforce of the company. This will identify any gaps that need addressing, along with any surpluses.
From here, the human resources department will be responsible for planning to build a workforce that will accommodate future needs. They will evaluate the entire process and ensure the company's goals and objectives are met. Any company that adopts corporate social responsibility will need to identify the skills and competences and how they relate to the current sustainable economy.
This will include any security constraints, energy or resource scarcity, and changing expectations of the government and society as a whole. You will need to identify the corporate social responsibility competencies and any gaps in terms of structural changes. This is often referred to as the green economy and is a systematic transformation that requires new skills and competencies. Everything, even the recruitment of new employees, how they are integrated into the company, and how they are developed and trained, will now focus on the company's corporate social responsibility vision and ensure that any new employees are trained and developed with this particular focus in mind.
In many cases, if you are working for a company which has embraced corporate social responsibility, then this will be developed in the brand and incorporated into their perspective when it comes to identifying the employee values. This means companies are profiling ethics relating to CSR as part of their recruitment, marketing, branding, and promoting to ensure that they create a value based culture at all times. Employee volunteer programmes are values that the company expects from employees and this can relate to numerous community involvement programmes now and moving forward.
Orientation
Orientation is the ideal time to give new employees a clear vision of the company's mission, vision, and corporate social responsibility core goals and values. It is imperative that every employee is excited and wants a part of this programme. All new employees must have an orientation and the CSR must be part thereof. This means providing them with information regarding the corporate social responsibility commitments, policies, issues, and engagements.
It is worthwhile to cover how the company measures the corporate social responsibility performance, how it is sustained and reported, along with reward programmes introduced. Every new employee should be handed a copy of core values for CSR and they should also receive training on a regular basis.
Many employees with have direct corporate social responsibility duties, which can range from the payroll clerk through to energy manager. It is your responsibility to ensure that those with direct responsibility get the specialist training that they need, enabling them to prioritize CSR issues with confidence and ease. Working in a company that embraces corporate social responsibility means that you need to ensure every employee gets adequate training and you understand that CSR is job relevant.
This means that they should get the same quality of training as the health and safety training that they receive. During orientation, you can take this moment to identify how the new employee will be associated with the company's corporate social responsibility strategy and goals.
Performance Management
Performance management is a role of the human resource department, along with recruitment, development, and compensation. You are in the department that focuses on setting performance standards, monitoring results, and identifying objectives moving forward. As a HR manager, you will want to include corporate social responsibility elements into performance plans, team goals, and job descriptions. You will also want to focus on CSR when it comes to your incentive and compensation programmes.
The phrase “you get what you pay for' is seen in so many industries and situations each and every day, but this is one term that all human resource members understand. A company that rewards on performance is likely to have profit focused behaviour when it comes to their teams. Not rewarding for good performance will lower morale and, in turn, profits will drop. The same applies with the corporate social responsibility programme: rewarding and recognising those who take part and giving incentives to embrace CSR is an ideal way to ensure it works within your company.
Performance reviews should be used to identify how the employee has focused on their corporate social responsibility goals either for the company or on a personal level over a set period of time. The corporate social responsibility should be found in incentive programmes, targets, and salary packages.
Non-financial measures for performance reviews include employee engagement, health and safety, customer satisfaction, company reputation, green policies, and more. Every employee needs to be made aware of the CSR and how it impacts their performance review. Take note of the company's corporate social responsibility and start adding this to every employment contract moving forward.
As job requirements and roles change within the company, you can take this opportunity to include CSR in the job description, ensuring that it relates to each and every employee within the company over a period of time. An incentive programme can influence the outcome considerably. Senior employees will be able to influence those below them while working with a CSR strategy that works.
If you are faced with resistance from employees, then you have to identify where the problems lie and why they are not embracing the corporate social responsibility programme with open arms. This may be due to their values or concerns being overlooked in the long run. You can usually identify concerns in the interview process by relating questions to CSR and ethics and asking the employee how they feel about this type of system. You can also include this in exit interviews, asking employees leaving the company for their views on the corporate social responsibility programme and commitments by the company.
FACT
It takes an average of 52 days to fill an open position, up from 48 days in 2011
Source: glassdoor.co.uk
9.8 Corporate culture
Human resources departments are an imperative part of team building, corporate culture, and change management processes within a company. They work on the growth and adaptation of changing marketplaces and how this affects the company. There are times where companies will use outside help when it comes to change management to identify the best strategy moving forward. The only way culture changes can be sustained and achieved is when they are driven from the inside, usually the human resource department.
Change of both mind and behaviour comes through building awareness, generating desire, role models, and developing knowledge. This should all be reinforced using an incentive programme. Culture change needs to be changed at the top of the ladder, which means by the managers and executors within the company. They should demonstrate the company values and ensure these values are followed down the ladder to all departments and team members each and every day. This brings meaning to the term “lead by example.'
These values must be reflected in every single process within the company from attracting and recruiting new employees to rewards, incentives, decision making, and more. Keeping the corporate social responsibility values alive can be a guide when it comes to team alignment and change management. A change management approach must be used to incorporate corporate social responsible ethics throughout the company at any time. It is possible to group people based on their readiness to accept change and give them the chance to lead their colleagues by example.
9.9 Employee participation
Employee involvement is essential to the success of any corporate social responsibility programme. They are the first step when it comes to the values, mission, strategy, and vision of the programme. Employees who are engaged and consulted on new programmes being developed within the company are more likely to get involved.
Keeping employees engaged and enabling them to participate in the introduction of the corporate social responsibility programme will ensure that they are more likely to participate moving forward. Employee engagement is seen as a key driver for shareholder values within a company and is essential to corporate performance on a daily basis. Corporate social responsibility needs to be acknowledged by employees in order to achieve success.
Introducing initiatives, using orientation to keep employees up to date, and taking steps to provide further training are all ways to ensure employee participation in your corporate social responsibility programme now and in the future. Employee engagement is the corporate social responsibility programme that the employee will work to align their working experience with their home and community values. They will remain motivated and loyal as employees. Many companies in the future will welcome these employees andinvolve them in key decisions
9.10 Programme development
Corporate social responsibility programme development is often the responsibility of human resources who will implement, develop, and drive the programme forward. Diversity, wellness, flexible times, and work-life balance policies are all part of the corporate social responsibility programme and this is why company human resource departments play such a vital role in the management and maintenance thereof.
A company that is focused on reducing carbon footprints will develop programmes which can help employees use alternative transport such as bicycle sharing, bicycle lock up areas, showers, and more. They will allow employees to work remotely and will provide employees with stress management, health and fitness, and lifestyle assistance to ensure wellness at all times. Volunteer programmes can help deliver corporate social responsibility goals. This could include an unpaid leave programme which enables employees to pursue their own projects such as volunteering abroad for a few months.
Of course, to run a successful programme, it will need management support, communication, and role modelling. In the HR department where procurement is one of the responsibilities, the CSR commitments should be taken into consideration when it comes to purchasing. Choose a sustainable buying policy and integrate that into the company's environmental objectives to ensure its success and that CSR goals are met. If you are working in a human resources department that is responsible for procurement, then you will want to request proposals to identify suppliers who will meet the company's corporate social responsibility objectives now and moving forward.
9.11 Communication
A corporate social responsibility strategy needs to be implemented and developed, and this is done using effective communication to convey the objectives, corporate direction, performance, and innovation of the programme. Communication can be in the form of social networking, intranets, blogs, websites, videos, team briefings, electronic newsletters, and so much more. The aim of communication is to keep the teams notified, updated, and motivated to ensure they meet the corporate social responsibility programme of the company at all times.
Role models within the company are useful in communicating the corporate social responsibility values to employees on a daily basis. Communication should be used to engage employees and help them identify the corporate social responsibility mission of the company and help them build on this. Bear in mind that employee engagement relies on communication from the CEO, the board, and senior management.
Failing this, employees will lose their motivation and without effective CSR commitment at a higher level, the entire system could crash. This gap needs to be closed with communication from senior staff members. Consider doing a poll within the company to identify how employees feel and to communicate the corporate social responsibility of the company:
-How eco-friendly is your house?
-Do you know how much water you use when brushing your teeth?
-How do you and your family reduce household waste?
-What is the best and most economically friendly way to wash your car?
-Do you buy Fairtrade products for your home?
Identifying the responses from employees can help the company communicate the corporate social responsibility message effectively, ensuring that everyone understands what the company wants to do, the direction they want to take, and how they want their teams to be involved.
9.12 Measurement
Measuring, celebrating, and reporting successes can get everyone excited about the programme. It is essential that employees are kept up to date on the company's corporate social responsibility performance, enabling their engagement to be measured and reported effectively at all times. This is often carried out by sharing a corporate social responsibility report which is issued on an annual basis. These reports will disclose the engagement scores and their responses to various questions, including how aware they are of the CSR strategy and that they understand it.
Turnover, employee development, health and safety, and diversity can also be used to reveal the company's corporate social responsibility commitment. Employees should be consulted when designing the corporate social responsibility report. This will determine how it is received and approved by the board. This enables you to ensure that the CSR performance report is taken seriously by everyone, from the board to the employees to the public.
In order to identify the corporate social responsibility objectives, it is important that any milestone, no matter how big or small, is rewarded, shared, and celebrated. The more employees see an improvement in the process and hear of the successes along the way, the more likely they are to get involved moving forward.
Module summary
This module covered corporate social responsibility within the human resources department and the company. You learned the HR role when it comes to corporate social responsibility. You also learned about green practices and key areas you need to focus on. This module also gave you valuable insight into developing an effective corporate social responsibility strategy for your company.
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