Exploring a CSR Approach: What It Is & How to Start

What is the CSR approach?

There are many three-letter acronyms in use in the corporate world, and it can be difficult to keep track of them all. One such acronym that has gained popularity in recent years is the CSR approach: corporate social responsibility. 

Corporate social responsibility is a business model focusing on four elements: 

• Environmental impacts: Environmental stewardship ranges from small steps, like reducing single-use plastic utensils in an office kitchen, to larger commitments, like reducing the company’s manufacturing emissions and carbon footprint.
• Ethical responsibility: Ethical responsibilities include fair treatment of customers and employees, regardless of their demographic, as well as maintaining transparency. 
• Philanthropic endeavors: Philanthropic efforts might include donating to charity, sponsoring fundraising events, or supporting employees in volunteer activities. 
• Financial responsibilities: A company’s stated CSR goals must be backed by how it chooses to allocate funding, ensuring a positive impact on people and the world. 

Following a CSR approach results in a variety of benefits, including:

• Cost savings. Certain CSR policies, like energy use reduction, add up over time. For example, the energy cost of one LED bulb is, on average, $6 less than the energy cost of one incandescent bulb per year. While this cost may seem minimal, replacing the bulbs in multiple entire office buildings has the potential to save thousands—not to mention that LED bulbs last 15-25x longer. 
• Attractive company culture. Increasingly, potential employees are seeking companies that share their values—the Edelman Trust Barometer that “having societal impact is a strong expectation or deal breaker when considering a job” for 69% of employees.
• Strong reputation. Similarly, 63% of consumers expressed that they “buy or advocate for brands based on my beliefs and values” (Edelman). Companies that stand for strong values are more likely to attract loyal, vocal customers. 
• Staying compliant. Rather than playing catch-up with new policies, staying compliant or ahead of the curb with environmental regulations keeps cost and stress down over time, while ethical practices reduce the likelihood of legal action from employees or stakeholders. 
• Innovation. Companies that follow the CSR approach may be forced to think outside the box. While this may be more challenging initially, they will be much more likely to find breakthrough innovations than those who don’t. 

How to get started:

1. Assess your business and set goals. Ensure that your goals are reasonable for your company. For a small company with one office, environmental impact or financial stewardship goals may look different than those of a global manufacturer.
2. Build a CSR team and engage stakeholders. If nobody has ownership over an initiative, it’s more likely to fail. Assign a team to lead the charge on your CSR goals, and ensure that your stakeholders are aligned on those goals. 
3. Identify opportunities and implement activities. There are two sides to implementation: external and internal.
   1. Externally-facing activities are driven by the world outside your office, such as changing materials in a manufacturing process, reducing carbon emissions at a plant, donating to charitable organizations, or removing single-use plastic from packaging. These processes may take years to fully implement, but have a large impact on how potential consumers view your company’s commitment to CSR. 
   2. Internally-facing activities impact those in your office most: from switching to compostable kitchen utensils, to organizing employee volunteer trips, to incorporating sustainability and compliance training. While the outside world may not see these activities, they improve company culture for current and future employees, and can be tracked and reported outwards. 
      

      

4. Measure and evaluate impact. There are a variety of ways to calculate impact—from financial to environmental to cultural. Measure as many metrics as you can, as different values will mean more to different groups; stakeholders, for example, might care about cost savings, while prospective hires will care about the culture created by following through on environmental values. 
5. Communicate CSR activities and impact with transparent reporting. While there are many benefits to implementing CSR for its own sake, communicating your actions and their results will help build trust with your customers, channel, and potential future employees, as well as improving culture within the office. 
   1. Some examples of transparency in CSR efforts include LEGO®’s annual sustainability reports, highlighting their move towards sustainable materials and packaging; Nike’s “Move to Zero” campaign, which aims to reduce carbon waste; and The Walt Disney Company’s ESG Reporting Center, which houses their annual ESG reports. 

Remember, you don’t have to do everything right away. Even choosing just one activity that impacts one of the four areas will show your employees and customers that you care. 

To learn more about how you can use online training to help your company align on CSR initiatives, contact us today. 

This blog post is part of a new series on sustainability—our next piece will be coming out within the month! 

Sources

We Do the Math: The Money You’ll Save Switching to Home LED Lights – CNET, What Is Corporate Social Responsibility? 4 Types, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): What It Is, How It Works, and Types, 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report_Jan19.pdf, How CSR Programs Reduce Cost and Boost Impact, Exploring Effective CSR Strategies: From Cost Reduction to Synergistic Value Creation • SLM (Self Learning Material) for MBA 

Published by: Jaime Fields