From employees to customers, from suppliers to your local community, from the building you reside in to the products that you make, social responsibility transcends all parts of your business. Ultimately, social responsibility increases brand equity, customer loyalty, employee engagement and the bottom line.
What are the key components of a sound social responsibility program?
Suppliers: You need to scrutinize suppliers you deal with. Do they create products that pollute? Do they maintain manufacturing facilities that harm the environment? Working with suppliers and distributors who take steps to minimize their environmental impact will be a wining proposition for your organization.
Employees: Employees are your most coveted asset. For the responsible business, this means doing more than simply complying with legal requirements - it means treating all employees fairly.
Local Community Involvement: Your organization needs to be actively involved in your community. Whether it is financially giving back or simply being a community advocate, working with your local community brings a wide range of business benefits.
Environment: You need to think about how what your organization does that affects the environment and what you can do to reduce pollution and waste. There are all sorts of ways you could think about reducing the environmental impact of your business, it is just a matter of coming up with a defined plan and moving it forward.
Who's doing it well?
Gap:
Excerpt -- At Gap Inc., we believe we should go beyond the basics of ethical business practices and embrace our responsibility to people and to the planet. We believe this brings sustained, collective value to our shareholders, our employees, our customers and society.
Starbucks:
Excerpt -- Since 1971, when we opened our very first store in Seattle, to today with nearly 17,000 stores around the world, we’ve always been committed to doing business responsibly and conducting ourselves in ways that earn the trust and respect of our customers, partners (employees) and neighbors.
Walt Disney:
Excerpt -- At The Walt Disney Company, we believe that being a good corporate citizen is not just the right thing to do; it also benefits our guests, our employees and our businesses. It makes the Company a desirable place to work, reinforces the attractiveness of our brands and products and strengthens our bonds with consumers and neighbors in communities the world over.
Great Resource:
CSR News - Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire
Best,
Denice MacDonald