Corporate Social Responsibilities

Introduction

The information below is a compilation of responses to a question about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) posed by one of the Beacon Company members. The responses have been collated under the following headings

• Definitions
• Aspects to Consider
• Examples of good practice
• Examples of CSR policies and statements
• Useful links

Definition

“Corporate Social Responsibility is probably one of those things that means different things to different people. However to us it means using the company and its employees to give something back to the community and world in which we live ”

Aspects to Consider

Environmental

• Recycling
• Energy saving and utilities control
• Greentravelplans
• Waste minimization policies and practices
• Environmental impact on the area in which we work, (local miles/ carbon footprint )
• Selection of environmentally beneficial equipment)
• Vehicle management eg. most effective route planning, use of alternative fuel eg LPG vehicles/biofuels, transport and traffic planning.
• Landscape and physical development plans

Management Practices - & HR

• Staff welfare
• Work experience for local schools
• Allowing staff time off to carry out Councillor, Governor or armed forces reservist activity
• Links with local schools, colleges, universities
• Apprentices and other training programs that go beyond what is specifically needed for the business now.
• Flexible work patterns to encourage recruitment of disadvantaged groups
• Family friendly policies such as flexitime, flexible working hours, flexible shift patterns, home working, study leave, environmental research on the local area…
• Providing work experience placements for schools
• Giving staff time off with pay to help schools with mentoring and mock interviews etc
• Use of IIP

Social

• Local sponsorship
• Charitable donations, especially to local groups
• Support (not just financial), for local sports clubs, schools, charities, colleges, churches, prisons, youth groups…
• Partnerships with disadvantaged groups through people like reemploy etc
• Supporting local volunteer schemes
• Interacting with the community
• Providing sponsorship for local youth teams to provide new kit etc.
• Getting involved with regional clubs and committee’s, such as Constructing Excellence, College Construction Forum, and Training Forums

Economic

• Providing good local employment opportunities.
• Procuring locally where possible
• Mentor support or interim management support for local smaller businesses, charities, schools etc
• Ethical trade policy
• Piggybacking schemes with local companies
• Local House purchase schemes for employees and immigrant workers
• Human rights issues
• Paying invoices promptly at agreed terms, to all suppliers
• Auditing suppliers practices, in terms of souring of raw materials, treatment of staff etc—looking at whole ethical picture
• Using local suppliers where possible

General

• Legal conformance.
• Continuous Improvement metrics with objectives and targets - perhaps with data on how these are set.
• Use local people in your business development planning
  

Examples of Good Practice

• “ The company has anti age; gender; breed species; sex; smoking; shooting; maiming; foxhunting; and anything remotely discriminatory polices in place and working!!!! “
• “We support quite a number of the local schools by providing to them second user IT equipment free of charge.”
• “ I am involved with our local council in helping school leavers prepare for seekingemployment”
• “We offer work experience to students during the summer period”
• “We pay our staff for jury service and TA activities”
• "We comply to standards relating to disposal of IT equipment“
• “We saved 300 tons of kitchen worktops hitting landfilllast year!!! so you can see why we are popular with the nationals all they have to do is use us and we can prove how much landfill/waste they have saved”.
• “We have processes that remove or limit waste”.
• “we use recycled products where possible”.
• “We encourage companies that work with us to be environmentally friendly”.
• “we support work experience schemes with pupils from local schools”
• “We visit local schools to make presentations to pupils”
• “We raise funds for local charities by cycling or running etc - 140 mile Coast to Coast Bike Ride ; 14 runners in the Bath Half Marathon; building a playground in an orphanage in Bulgaria
• “We support the village where we work”
• “We encourage the whole company to be involved in some way through out the year. CSR can have a very positive impact on company culture.”
• “As a company involved in sourcing we include our Ethical trade policy. Our ‘… Global Sourcing Principles’ is a brochure which we enforce with supplier audits and a regularly updated supplier questionnaire. On a local level we have a number of things, for instance the start up of an apprenticeship programme where we have taken on 10 16 – 19 year olds from school to train them and offer local opportunity for individuals that don’t want to go to University. We also have a Charity committee which reviews local requests and donates money to local charities each month.”
• “We liaise with local colleges and schools for future employment needs (i.e. looking for apprenticesor getting the college involved with in-house training requirements)”
• “We work with local council and/or charities to explore opportunities for waste (old office furniture, computers, packaging etc.)”

Examples of CRS Policies/Statements

Example One

“It is our aim to be commercially successful and committed to ethical, socially and environmentally responsible practices in the way that we achieve business success. We also recognise that a pragmatic approach is one that is likely to yield the most positive overall effect and build this into our approach to sustainable business. The main areas where we apply our efforts are:

Workplace

To provide and promote a safe, open workplace that is free from discrimination in any form. To work towards external recognition of this in the medium term

Marketplace

To provide products and services that meet the requirements of our direct customers and wider stakeholder groups. To promote our view of a sustainable business approach. To be viewed in the marketplace as an ethical business and a leader in the application of sustainable practices

Environment

To manage our business in ways that allow for the protection of the environment and to integrate our principles of sustainable development into our business decisions and processes. We will understand our environmental impacts and always act to reduce them where this can be practically realised

Community

Where we can we will seek to improve the situation of both local and wider communities that form our main stakeholder groups. We recognise that there is a limit to what can be achieved but this should never be a barrier to initiatives.

Example two

Environmental impact - we have a waste minimisation team who look at various areas throughout the business with a view to reducing waste and encouraging re-cycling wherever possible to reduce our environmental impact.

Community involvement - for example we support lots of local charities and fund-raisers offering various donations, and we also work with local schools to come up with new product flavours etc., and host school visits.

Health & Safety - we have paid H&S reps in all Departments throughout the business who conduct monthly H&S checks within their areas, and we are very pro-active in providing employees with information about H&S to ensure we provide a safe place of work.  We also operate a "Near Miss" reporting system so potential hazards can be identified and acted upon.

Employee involvement and development - we operate a Staff Partnership Forum with a view to providing increased staff awareness about the objectives and future of the company, and with the intention of building open and constructive dialogue, resulting in trust.  We also undertake lots of staff training and personal development - with a view to attracting and retaining the best staff.

Equal Opportunities - we endeavour to treat everyone with dignity and respect and this culture is continually developed throughout the whole company.

We adopt best working practices throughout the business, and work very much in a "no blame" culture.

Example three

Environmental – ISO14001 – Although we do not have to comply at this stage this is the standard we are aiming for. Our business does not impact very heavily on the environment in areas such as direct emissions or effluent. However, we try and reduce our energy consumption wherever possible and also re-use as much packaging material as possible. We try and minimize waste in all areas. We also benefit from these savings by reducing our operating costs.

Health & Safety – We are regularly audited and eventually we will have to comply with ISO 18001. We have an excellent H&S record.

Human Rights – We try and comply to all employment law and discrimination guidelines – I guess we should also try and restrict our purchases to be from countries that have a good Human Rights record – although the whole world seem to be ignoring China’s poor record on this!

Management Practices – We have a very low personnel turnover and we have many employees with long service records. All of the directors of the company have a strong feeling of responsibility towards the employees. Management training is provided where necessary. It is relatively easy to monitor within a small company – Morale here is normally high amongst all employees. We subscribe to an employee supportprogrammeso that all employees have access to a 24 hr support line for confidential advice. We provide a good pension and permanent health scheme. We provide sandwiches and free mineral water.

Community - We have strong links with the local schools and offer work experience placements. Also we partake in the Education Business Partnership activities. We sponsor local charities. We have donated money to assist the local school in their bid to achieve ‘Technology College Status’. We support local events such as the town Carnival. We have sponsored local football teams.

Useful web links

www.jsainsburys.co.uk/cr

www.unglobalcompact.org

www.crealy.co.uk/crealy_new_page_shared.aspx?page=S632927130243780000&ArchiveID=9&CategoryID=11&ItemID=163&src

www.tescocorporate.com/crreport06/e/society.html

Additional information

'POWER Devon - Resource Efficiency Club' - contact Business Link Devon & Cornwall on 0845 600 9966