How small businesses can make a big CSR Impact.

Companies that take their social responsibilities seriously set themselves apart from the competition and have better business outcomes. Yet half of UK businesses do not have a clear CSR strategy. With a lack of resources cited as the main obstacle organisations need to leverage their less tangible assets and think outside the box.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities are those that organisations carry out to mitigate the negative impacts and maximise the positive difference that they have on social, economic and environmental issues. CSR represents a commitment to maintaining socially responsible behaviour in an organisation through the workplace, market place, environment and community.

CSR is self-regulated as opposed to Environmental, Social and Governance (‘ESG’, which are often referred to as simply ‘sustainability’) criteria. These are a set of standards used to measure companies, for example by potential investors.

Factors influencing CSR include: stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, clients and the public; legal compliance and voluntary measures that go above and beyond those; and corporate governance – how executives are held to account and their ability to lead and challenge the business.

There is an emphasis on philanthropy and creating ‘Social value’ – for example inclusion, employment opportunities, protection of the vulnerable, health and wellbeing. This aspect of an organisation’s aims is often set out in its Vision and Values or CSR statements.

SMEs can make a relatively big contribution to CSR as their stakeholders often have better access to management teams, and vice versa, with less bureaucracy than in larger organisations. They can be more agile and respond well to change - able to more effectively embed values and behaviours aligned with their CSR strategy across the organisation, thus avoiding getting a reputation for taking a tick-box approach.

CSR matters to business because ‘doing the right thing’ matters to stakeholders. Research by LinkedIn found that 71% of professionals say they would be willing to take a pay cut to work for a company that has shared values, while 39% would leave their current job if their employer were to ask them to do something they have an ethical or moral conflict with. Studies show that younger generations increasingly make purchasing and employment decisions based on ethics and by 2030 two thirds of the workforce - and therefore those with spending power - will be Generation Z or younger!  CSR activities that align with stakeholders’ values result in: brand and reputation enhancement; customer attraction; and employee attraction, engagement and retention.

Some other business benefits are: energy usage and cost reduction; and proactive risk management.

Many of the impacts of CSR can be measured – for example reduced energy consumption and waste; and increased employee engagement and diversity – and some organisations take a balanced scorecard approach. Impacts and outcomes can then be reported to shareholders, clients, employees etc.

Everyone who’s part of the organisation…. And some that aren’t!

It’s vital that Leadership drive any initiatives forward, but they can also gather a team of employees around them who are passionate about CSR, effective communicators, and in positions where they can bring expertise, leadership, and change agency. The team should be given accountability for CSR objectives and access to resources to be able to meet them.

All employees can get involved at some level, whether that’s inputting ideas through employee forums, holding management to account through feedback, or taking part in community outreach programmes.

Line managers play an important role by embedding CSR goals in employee objectives, and reinforcing through feedback and rewarding successes.

Procurement staff should be involved, and uphold company values by monitoring suppliers to ensure they meet ethical and environmental goals.

In SMEs as well as large organisations Human Resources (HR) professionals often coordinate elements of CSR, and take responsibility for aligning the organisation’s values, culture and business activity. Other activities they might carry out are: encouraging decision-makers to review the ethics of business decisions; building people management systems that support ethical behaviours through appropriate reward and performance management processes; ensuring statutory employment obligations are met and exceeded; consulting with and educating employees on CSR; managing employer-supported volunteering programmes; and championing employee development and benefits.

Understanding stakeholder interests is not always easy, particularly where they are underrepresented in your workforce and board. So organisations can benefit from working in partnership with groups that protect or represent stakeholder groups. For example, when setting goals for improvement of diversity and inclusion organisations such as Stonewall, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Mencap can provide valuable resources.

First of all assess where your company stands and understand what you’re trying to achieve. Take a look at your current operations. What are your most significant environmental impacts? What social issues could you be addressing? What changes do you need to make to ensure good governance?

Identify your available resources and where they can have the most impact on CSR goals as well as where improvements can save or make the business money. Think further than your financial and tangible resources - perhaps conduct a SWOT analysis.

Ensure everyone on your team is on the same page and committed to the same goals by educating on what CSR means and why it’s important. Keep up to date on the issues that you’ve identified as particularly relevant to your organisation and industry by subscribing to newsletters etc from reputable sources - one to look up is the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and their 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the areas of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. The UN’s work has been a driving force for CSR and ESG.

Keep an open and inquiring mind, above all CSR issues can be fascinating and re-connect you with the world beyond the corporate. The saying goes that you learn something new every day …I recently attended a seminar on CSR and was inspired and alarmed by a presentation from Stronger Together about modern slavery. I naively thought that by ensuring Right To Work checks are rigorously followed I would be doing all I could to prevent enforced labour, not fully appreciating that passing the checks does not equal freedom for the worker.

Once you know where you want to improve, you can set specific objectives for the short and long term and create a plan of action. To help embed CSR ensure your initiatives are communicated to new and existing employees, and in particular publicise your successes.

Thinking about the non-financial resources you have at your disposal can help you come up with some great initiatives which become better embedded because they aren’t just seen as throwing money at issues.

Example: Your company would like to get employees using public transport more to reduce their carbon footprint. An obstacle to this is that trains and bus times to your site don’t align with company start and finish times. However, something that you can leverage is your ability to flex start and finish times. You might be able to do this to the point that rush hour travel is avoided completely, saving time, stress and money for employees, as well as reducing carbon footprint.

Clarify the areas of CSR relevant to your organisation and stakeholders. My knowledge, experience and business activities enable me to improve equality and inclusion, while also improving my clients’ business outcomes, through diversity management strategies. While I am committed to protecting the environment and appreciate that this will be an issue that my clients care about, there isn’t as much scope for me to reduce consumption and waste as perhaps a manufacturing business. I can however have a positive impact by helping leaders to create company cultures that promote and reward sustainable behaviours.

You might set some financial budgets around sponsorship, donations and volunteering for example, but it’s important to put measures in place to ensure these stay relevant to your CSR aims – for example my business’ are focused on equality, inclusion, good work, education, wellbeing and eradication of poverty.

Sense check your ideas - think back to your SWOT and those less tangible assets: For the previous example - flexibility of start and finish times is only possible if it doesn’t negatively impact the work; AND the culture supports it – i.e. employees that make use of this flexibility must not be seen in a negative light by managers or colleagues. If the culture is not supportive….what can you do to change it?

Being recognised for CSR activities, great organisational culture and happy stakeholders needn’t be the preserve of large organisations with big budgets and is a key to business success… so what are you waiting for?

Yvette Whitwam, Director of People and Organisational Development at Beanstalk HR Ltd.