Corporate social responsibility in Employer Branding

Social responsibility is the future of business. According to the Your Cause report, globally, 64% of enterprises treat CSR activities as one of the key elements of the organisation’s development strategy. This is an extremely broad issue that can be pursued on many different levels.

How CSR fits into the employer branding strategy

First, let’s look at some statistics. 85% of UK consumers are more likely to support a brand with purpose. On the other hand, 1 in 3 UK consumers resign from starting cooperation with an organization whose activities are characterized by low social responsibility. Furthermore, companies that implement effective CSR projects have a significant reason to be proud – 85%of employees consulted about their company’s CSR programme said they were proud of their company’s reputation.

The conclusion is simple: if only the company has free funds, it should allocate a certain budget for implementing CSR activities. It is worth taking them into account when planning an employer branding strategy. Although CSR is a separate field from EB, they have common points – one of them is organizational culture. There is a synergy effect here: if the employer has a positive reputation, employees will be more willing to get involved in the proposed projects (e.g. charity campaigns). On the other hand, the implementation of CSR activities significantly improves the image of the brand and the involvement of employees increases.

Areas of social responsibility

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) goes beyond an organization’s obligations under the law. The ISO 26000 standard proposes to remove the “C” (corporate) from the acronym CSR in order to emphasize that social responsibility does not have to apply only to large corporations. It is an invitation to other organizations (including state and non-governmental ones) to take similar actions as far as possible.

ISO 26000 distinguishes 7 key areas of social responsibility (SR – Social Responsibility). We will illustrate each of them with examples of the scope of the procedure:

Organization management

• The method of managing the organization, including aspects such as:
• Finances
• Regulations and laws
• Organization structure
• Decision-making processes
• Procedures
• Development strategy

Governance should be based on considering and respecting each of the other six elements of social responsibility.

Human rights

• Respecting international human rights
• Avoiding knowingly or unknowingly complicity in violating these rights
• Taking action to detect and limit practices that are inconsistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Eliminating phenomena related to slavery and child labour
• Cooperation with entities that respect human rights
• Conducting an anti-discrimination policy in the work environment and outside

Fair practices towards employees

• Respecting labour law
• Striving to implement international standards
• Enabling employees to develop competencies
• Providing the best possible working environment and the necessary tools to perform it
• Promoting cooperation based on cooperation and dialogue
• Providing remuneration to meet basic needs
• Taking care of health and safety in the workplace

Natural environment

• Monitoring and verifying the impact of the organization’s activities on the natural environment, health and safety of the population
• Implementation of solutions limiting the negative impact (e.g. environmental pollution)
• Openness to dialogue and consultations on the actions taken, transparent communication
• Using resources from sustainable sources
• Supporting public activities towards environmental protection
• Educating employees about actions that they can implement themselves.

Operational ethics

• Anti-corruption policy
• Fair competition (e.g. pricing services at the market level)
• Respecting property rights
• Fairtrade cooperation with suppliers
• Fair treatment of consumers

Consumer rights

• Respecting the right to privacy (including personal data protection)
• Offering goods and services tested for safety
• Gender equality policy
• Fair advertising based on facts
• Providing access to information about goods and services so that the customer can make an informed decision about using the offer
• Promoting sustainable consumption
• Providing comprehensive customer service (e.g. the possibility of making a complaint in accordance with applicable law)

Social involvement

• Cooperation with the local community
• Creating new jobs
• Ensuring the possibility of developing skills for employees (including induction into the duties of new employees)
• Supporting the development of smaller organizations
• Spreading knowledge about social responsibility
• Reducing disparities between economic regions and social groups
• Promoting skills development and dissemination of modern technological solutions
• Contributing to economic development

Source:

Research CSR | ISO | YourCause