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Corporate Social Responsibility Explained: Why it's important for your business - YouTube
Channel: The Social Impact Show
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in this episode we discuss the
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fundamentals of corporate social
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responsibility
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including what it is what it means what
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are the benefits
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and how to start one for your business
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including some great examples
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and we're starting right now
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hi everyone i'm carl welcome to the
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social impact show
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where csr professionals get the latest
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strategies and tactics
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to develop and grow their goodness in
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csr programs
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make sure you're up to date with the
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latest csr trends and strategies
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by hitting the subscription button below
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hitting the little notification bell so
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you don't miss anything so today i'm
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joined by in-house
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goodness consulting expert nicole
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campbell and the topic we're going to
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discuss
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is what is corporate social
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responsibility so nicole
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can you give me maybe a little bit of a
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history
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on what corporate social responsibility
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is and what it actually means
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hi carl so nice to be here thank you for
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having me
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so csr is something it's one of my
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favorite topics i could talk about it
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all day fortunately for you i won't be
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but uh
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csr it's you might have heard of it
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being referred to a lot of different
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things maybe social impact
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philanthropy community investment
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and that's because csr or corporate
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responsibility looks different
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for every company and there's a reason
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for this it's certainly evolved over
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time and we'll get to
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you know what a high-performing csr
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strategy looks like a little bit later
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but
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to give you a bit of a history it
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started in the 1950s
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and the idea of philanthropy emerged
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with it was basically wealthy families
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donating large sums of money to
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causes that they believed were critical
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for societal health so it was generous
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but it was really reserved for the rich
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and then the idea extended to companies
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not long after so businesses
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felt like they had an obligation to
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ensure that they weren't harming the
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communities that they served or operated
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in
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and so it was more of a social license
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to operate than
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really anything else and then there were
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brand benefits that were seen from
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that so then comes the united way model
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which a lot of you
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may have heard of um it introduced this
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fundraising approach where
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employees were brought into the fold
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which it was really great to have these
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annual campaigns it brought in employees
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to give back but
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the approach was a little bit top down
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and so from our
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perspective it wasn't really as engaging
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could arguably be disengaging
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and has lagged since in terms of driving
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positive social outcomes and change in
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recent years so we move along to
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uh cause marketing and this is where
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brands were essentially recognized
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the consumer value of doing good so you
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started to see things like one for ones
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like tom shoes pledge one percent
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a bunch of other sort of cause marketing
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initiatives so then we get
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to the modern programs that have really
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taken
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off in the last decade and these ones
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that are
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empowered and they're authentic and they
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truly engage people
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in a personal sense of meaning whether
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it's donation matching
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to any cause that the employee cares
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about or even extending on to
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you know consumers and partners
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volunteer rewards to
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any cause and giving money to those
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people who actually go out and volunteer
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their time
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and allowing their people to actually
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extend that impact
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into their friends and family so the
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landscape now
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is often focused on the individual and
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the ability for them to make an impact
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in the way that resonates most with them
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and this is fast becoming the status quo
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with more companies embracing the sort
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of
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personalized approach does that sort of
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answer your question on the history
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it does and i think i want to follow
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that up with
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so i'm pretty new to this space and
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when you mention its focus on the
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individual
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i am starting to see is it more the
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individuals in organizations
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or is it corporations telling the
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individual
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i i think there's like there's i think
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that question is multi-pronged because
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more so like think about the generations
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too right you got like
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the generation zed and the younger
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millennials that
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are kind of demanding that
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accountability
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not just from the brands they buy but
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the brands they work for
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yeah that's a really great great
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question and i guess this steps back to
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what i was saying
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in that in the beginning you know every
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company's definition of csr is a little
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bit different
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and it depends on where they are in that
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journey that i just talked about some
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are still sort of shifting some of those
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more dated models and what they're
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solving for so a lot of csr programs in
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addition to
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doing well by doing good and seeing the
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brand um
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benefits of designing a solid program
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are really designing this from an
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employee engagement perspective so as
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you're
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you mentioned you know 50 of the
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workforce is going to be made up
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of those younger generations
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and 70 of those um according to
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a deloitte report said that they would
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take a 30
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pay cut to work for a company with
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social value so you have
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your future talent talent you have your
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consumers demanding
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that you're operating in an ethical and
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authentic way
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it's not the same as it used to be as
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well with csr reports like people
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reporting on the money they were
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investing if it wasn't done in an
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authentic way
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people expect it to be real both your
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talent both your vendors and partners
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as well as um boards now have a
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fiduciary duty to actually report out
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on these authentic practices too so
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these stakeholders to your point
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go far beyond even just the individuals
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and
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that are working for these companies but
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to a lot of different stakeholders
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and i think that goes into my next
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question and
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i know you kind of answered it where why
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is it important today
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there's a there's a lot of whys behind
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this um and part of it is just the world
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around us
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you know there's a lot of shifts in
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trust consumer trust and public trust is
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at an all-time low right now according
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to an edelman report
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and one of the actual trusted
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institutions where people
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see this group can actually drive change
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our businesses so businesses have this
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expectation
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to respond to the mass movements like
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black lives matter or huge environmental
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issues like even the
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um the fires are happening in california
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so
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the need is really there and then the
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expectations that go along with that so
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the people
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expecting these companies to take a
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stand and drive forward this change
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and also engage them in that process so
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that alongside some of the other things
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i touched on around
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engaging and recruiting and attracting
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talent would be
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some of the biggest drivers i'd say for
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why csr is becoming increasingly
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important
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so just following up the question on
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importance
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what are some of the benefits of
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corporate social responsibility
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i guess from both the individual level
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and the brand or company level yeah and
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i think it could even extend beyond that
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it's a really well-designed
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strategy there should be at least four
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stakeholders so
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you have the business where you can see
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benefits across the entire organization
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everything from
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the people team for attracting
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entertaining talent
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as one quick example of this we know
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that from a study that we did
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turnover is reduced by 57
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for employees who are actively engaged
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and their company's
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giving or volunteering effort so just as
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one example and
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if you're looking for more of those
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we'll probably be talking about those
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later and
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some further effort um episodes then we
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think about
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development so from the people team you
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know from a deloitte study 92 percent
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of respondents said that it actually
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improved their professional skill set
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92 thought that volunteering could
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actually help them
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improve their leadership skills as well
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and be more likely for
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promotions within the company from a
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profitability standpoint
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and within the organization they have 22
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percent higher profit
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profitability at 10 higher
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customer ratings and 80 48
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fewer safety incidences than their peers
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and that's according to gallup so
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that perspective there's huge benefits
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what surprised
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us in addition to all of the obvious the
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benefits of
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giving back one of the reasons a large
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cohort of their people were getting
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involved was because
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they wanted to role model pro-social
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behaviors
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to their kids and they wanted their kids
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to feel proud about what they were doing
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in their job so a lot of kids don't
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really understand what
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mom or dad actually does from a
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day-to-day but they can understand that
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their company allows them to go back and
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and give back to the community so i
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thought that was a really interesting
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one
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and then from another stakeholder group
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thinking about those not-for-profits
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that are
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getting these supports and the
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communities that they're affecting
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as well as even additional stakeholders
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i like
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partners and consumers that can be
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positively
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impacted um at scale you know when you
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think about all of the people
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around the world that are hardwired to
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do good businesses arguably
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in my opinion have the largest potential
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influence to actually create change more
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than
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almost any other institution out there
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so the benefits are huge and all
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encompassing
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if it's done right and remember if
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you're getting value from this video
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make sure to hit the like button and the
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question of the day i have for you
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is what does corporate social
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responsibility mean for you
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and if you've implemented in your
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business what were the impacts let us
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know in the comment section below
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i know you talked about you know within
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the business
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certain uh departments like human
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resources
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just starting to understand uh this
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industry
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is it just human resources
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communications that owns the cs
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the corporate social responsibility
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program um or is it like more of
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widespread yeah so um
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the the groups in which cesar report
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into
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is actually changing and historically i
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think they were just
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thrown into whatever business unit had
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the budget and that's again another
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reason why some of these programs
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amongst different companies are so
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incredibly different because depending
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on what
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business unit they report into the why
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behind these programs change
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uh just because the justification to
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have it in the first place you can
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you see them sometimes in human
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resources which i think is an excellent
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place especially
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if you are solving for employee
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engagement and trying to scale some of
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these efforts through your people
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but sometimes that's not where the
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budget comes from comes from
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so if you are a brand new csr
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professional
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or you are trying to reimagine it within
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your organization
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i honestly think the best spot to be is
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a direct line
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to even your ceo or a really
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direct governing body sometimes it's a
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board of
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directors from a foundation you know
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every company is a little bit different
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that allows you to have more influence
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over your programs
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to make decisions a little bit easier
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you know if you have a bunch of layers
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or you're sitting in a business unit
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that doesn't necessarily make sense so
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if you're sitting and say
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finance or legal you might not be able
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to solve for your employee programs the
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same way you would if you were reporting
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to the ceo
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or within human resources so it's
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definitely something to keep in mind
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other groups that are pretty common you
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see public affairs
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community affairs marketing or
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communications
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sometimes finance and legal because some
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companies
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had their programs in existence because
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of that license to operate
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and the requirement to actually give
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back a portion of their foundation
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money um so it really differs depending
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on where you're at in your csr journey
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so i guess to follow that up
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who decides the so you mentioned
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strategy so who decides that strategy
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in an organization when a corporate
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social responsibility program is is
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started
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is it top down like is it the ceo or the
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executive team or the leadership team or
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is it more like grassroots
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i've seen both um and it's really great
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when it's at both and but
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if for instance you're in a company
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where sometimes
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it's when a new ceo comes in or someone
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on the executive or c-suite team
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says hey i came from x company and we
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were doing all of these things why
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aren't we doing them here so
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often we'll see that and that's a really
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great spot to be
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because you already have that executive
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buy-in and a lot more
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a lot more ability to influence and
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design these programs
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ultimately though they don't have in
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most cases a csr expertise it's really
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up to you to create a coherent strategy
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or
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if you're a director or head of a
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foundation or anyone that's trying to
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take this
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charge to present to them and that's a
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whole different conversation of how you
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actually get that executive buy-in
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but then sometimes like we talked about
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before you hear
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people people have these expectations of
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their employers and so
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in a lot of cases it's coming from the
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bottom up they're hearing it on employee
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surveys or just in focus groups and
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things like that
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and so that sort of flurry of activity
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can drive
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the change but typically from the top
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down is where you'll actually start to
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see
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these programs get into place because
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they aren't cheap and
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the company has to be willing and i'm
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interested in investing in it and seeing
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that the value in it
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but if you are trying to design this the
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both and works and that
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if your executives are at least somewhat
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interested
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you can demonstrate the need for the
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business by actually talking to
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employees and get
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getting that feedback as a way to get
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that support and buy-in
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so just to follow up from who decides
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the strategy maybe you can give me some
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examples of um what a good csr program
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looks like
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that's a great question and you know my
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role i
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am so fortunate to work with a lot of
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companies so
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sorry for the cheesy analogy but i've
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really seen under the hood
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that's classified of so many csr
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programs
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first of all i love these analogies
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because under the hood and my favorite
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one is
[852]
open the kimono michael can i open the
[854]
kimono with you
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i could never understand why that was
[858]
always the big thing
[860]
is like in the common mic
[863]
of all the things that you could use you
[865]
used that one
[866]
and i just said anyway sorry i
[869]
interrupted but i thought that was
[871]
funny you interrupted me trying to open
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the kimono which is
[874]
rude exactly exactly so i'm going to get
[876]
back to that
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and so that's that's a question that i'm
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asked a lot and
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fortunately you know i've really seen
[882]
sort of what works and what doesn't work
[884]
and
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i think the components of a really good
[886]
strategy are that
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one it's it's authentic like it needs to
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come from the top
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and there needs to be some authenticity
[895]
around purpose and trying to do
[897]
good you can do well by doing good but
[899]
without that sort of top level buy-in
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the rest it is harder to follow other
[905]
components
[906]
are you are considering all of your
[908]
stakeholders and you really know what
[910]
you're solving for
[911]
so some some companies have had csr
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programs that just kind of flounder
[916]
you need to treat this like a
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business priority you need to have
[922]
a lot of rigor around your strategy your
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why you need to be
[926]
continually reinforcing this message
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within your organization so others see
[930]
the value
[931]
so they can get behind it because once
[933]
you have those top level champions
[935]
you're going to be getting more budget
[937]
you're going to be getting more support
[939]
and even more air time and you know
[941]
company-wide events
[942]
so those pieces are really important you
[945]
really need to factor in
[947]
all of your stakeholders um including
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your employees so
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if you have a csr program that has an
[953]
employee engagement aspect to it and
[954]
you're not asking your employees what
[956]
they
[956]
actually care about it's it's a new
[959]
point i don't even think you know how
[961]
can you engage your employees if you
[962]
don't know what
[963]
engages them so i always say think of it
[965]
almost like the way that you design a
[967]
product
[968]
or a service you need to
[971]
do your research you almost need to um
[973]
run focus groups to understand
[976]
the difference between what someone says
[977]
they care about versus
[979]
what they actually care about there's
[980]
disconnects there and as well
[982]
it needs to be um designed for employees
[985]
in the way that they have
[986]
choice and you're incentivizing that
[989]
choice
[989]
so um they can get back to causes that
[992]
are near and dear to them
[993]
versus just company causes you can have
[995]
both that's really important
[997]
and you need to really incentivize and
[999]
show your support
[1000]
through things like matching gifts
[1002]
programs volunteer awards grants there's
[1004]
a lot of ways that you can bring them
[1006]
into the fold that are really important
[1007]
and then lastly you need to be able to
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scale this so in addition to having a
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strategy in addition to
[1012]
having that buy-in and making sure that
[1014]
it's employee and
[1016]
stakeholder focused you have to automate
[1019]
you need to streamline that stuff you
[1021]
need to have and i know that i work for
[1023]
bernaby but i was a client first when we
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brought in benevolence so i feel
[1026]
credible to say this
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you have to be able to scale it through
[1030]
technology
[1031]
um and make it fun and gamified i'd say
[1034]
those are some pretty important
[1035]
components there's tons
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but if i were to simplify so those are
[1039]
good points uh do you have anything else
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to add
[1041]
yeah if you're a new csr practitioner uh
[1045]
give yourself don't beat yourself up if
[1047]
it takes
[1048]
a little bit of time don't you know dust
[1051]
yourself off if the first person you
[1053]
talk to
[1053]
doesn't support this you can do it and
[1056]
you're gonna be awesome
[1057]
so check out our next video here as we
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discuss strategies
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to develop a successful csr program for
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your business
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thanks for watching and we'll see you in
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our next episode
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