Corporate social responsibility or CSR essentially refers to an organization taking full responsibility for its actions and the subsequent impact on its stakeholders, employees, society and on the environment. CSR isn’t necessarily something that companies engage in – rather, it is a mindset that companies and their employees have instilled in them and work towards it at all times. Companies with a CSR mindset are conscious about their operations, how their actions impact the environment, how they treat their customers and employees, and how their business contributes towards the society and solves problems in the long run.
CSR is not equivalent to simply donating money to a bunch of charities – rather, it involves giving back to society in multiple ways and contributing significantly, in addition to spending money for charity purposes. Such companies are conscious while devising policies for their employees, creating organizational structures and introducing new products or services, and hope to contribute towards the community in everything they do, rather than simply making a donation at the end of each year and gaining tax benefits.
CSR is extremely important for every organization to adopt, as in today’s competitive labor and economic markets, both prospective employees and potential customers hope to align themselves with an organization that exhibits responsible behavior, is involved in environmental protection and truly cares about society. This behavior exhibited by organizations subsequently contributes to them reducing turnover, increasing employee satisfaction, and attracting the best talent. For companies struggling to understand how to adopt a CSR mindset, listed below are four things they can do to achieve CSR within their organization:
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Adopt A Code Of Ethics
Your business should adopt a code of ethics that outlines how each employee and director within the company is to carry themselves at work. Any issues concerning ethics, values diversity, mutual respect, customer service, work demeanor, etc. would be guided by this moral code of ethics. Many evolving businesses are contributing towards society by including social and environmental goals in their code of ethics, a practice that was previously not very common. While your employees are likely to have a set of ethics embedded in their heads as it is, it is important that companies give them a written code that they can consult from time to time in a state of confusion.
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Align Your Business With A Cause
Your business should align itself with one particular cause, and then strive to either work towards it itself or donate to charities that are renowned and doing respectable work in the field. For instance, a company involved in manufacturing canned or preserved food could most likely align itself with the cause to end hunger. This cause could be achieved by donating a certain percentage of money for each sale towards either your own department that handles charity work, or a reputed charity organization such as Yad Ezra V’Shulamit that works towards ending child hunger.
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Commit Towards The Environment
Companies should commit themselves towards the environment and run on a set of goals that are designed keeping in mind the environment. Climate change is an ongoing concern which is essentially irreversible and immediate action needs to be taken by all governments, institutions and individuals cumulatively to work towards reducing the adverse effects of climate change. In fact, all these parties need to work in unison towards the cause. However, since most individuals can’t cause much of an impact themselves, they look upto established institutions and organizations to play their part and hope to contribute in one way or another towards the decided entity.
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Partner with Responsible Suppliers
Company supply chains can be the biggest source of social responsibility for most organizations. If companies are mindful of how they are sourcing their raw materials, they are likely to make or instill a change on the grassroots level owing to their massive operations and large scale manufacturing. companies can make sure that all their suppliers follow fair pricing and indulge in fair human resource and employee practices.
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