If our time in COVID-19 lockdowns taught us anything (other than public health and safety is important, of course), it was that our jobs aren’t just a source of income for us. Our jobs can give us a sense of community, belonging, and connection to something larger than ourselves.
As our time at work takes up the bulk of our weekly schedule, it’s only natural for modern employees to value the overall impact that their workplaces hold, whether within the industry they occupy at a global scale or in their immediate communities at a local scale.
Many job candidates of today may even ask company representatives about their business’ social initiatives, like corporate giving schemes or business charity donations, during job interviews to gauge whether the organization’s values align with their own.
In this regard, a business’s ability to outline and uphold its corporate social responsibilities can actually impact its overall employee turnover rate. Investments in their corporate social responsibility (or ‘CSR’) may even influence company profit margins, as a brand’s social awareness is becoming increasingly crucial to the conscious consumer.
But what exactly is ‘corporate social responsibility’? And how can businesses leverage this business model to boost employee job satisfaction and strengthen and solidify their customer relationships? We’ll answer these questions below, providing some examples of social initiatives modern companies can implement to fulfill their CSRs today.
Practice corporate giving
As you may have deduced, CSR is a business model developed to support modern organizations in maintaining social accountability. In other words, CSR initiatives are effective strategies that allow businesses to ‘do their part’ and make meaningful contributions to their communities. The phrase’ meaningful contributions’ can encompass many types of social initiatives, but one of the most popular is corporate giving schemes.
Corporate giving is the term used to describe any donations made by a business towards a charitable organization, social cause, or any kind of philanthropic initiative. These donations can be either monetary or in the form of resources like donated products or equipment. Opportunities for corporate giving typically involve companies participating in charity events like fundraisers.
Remember that there is an important distinction between ‘corporate giving’ and ‘workplace giving.’ While the former refers to any instances where a business provides donations as an entity, workplace giving programs allow employees to make donations themselves, usually by making salary sacrifices.
For example, an employee participating in a workplace giving scheme may opt to give $5 off their weekly earnings towards a cause they support, equalling up to $260 annually. As you can see, incremental workplace giving can have just as much impact as businesses making larger lump-sum donations.
Donate your time
As we briefly mentioned, there are more ways to make a social impact as a company than making monetary donations. However, charitable business donations can significantly support the impact of not-for-profits, social enterprises, and other philanthropic projects that may be receiving that financial support, the gift of time and engagement can also be a source of power for many philanthropists.
With this in mind, business owners can encourage their employees to donate their time to a cause they stand behind and their money. You may allow your staff to volunteer at their favorite not-for-profits or for any charities your business is looking to support.
These volunteer opportunities may include taking a team excursion and closing your office doors for the day or simply allowing your employees to use their annual leave to embark on their own volunteering projects.
Suppose any of your employees also serve as members in community groups or associations like their local fire safety services. In that case, it’s highly probable that your workplace already recognizes community service leave and maintains infrastructure with HR to simplify this leave application process. If your workplace hasn’t done so yet, implementing community service projects can be a fantastic way to fulfill your CSRs.
Invest in sustainability
In the face of climate change and environmental degradation by large corporations and conglomerates, maintaining sustainable business practices is undeniably paramount to making a positive social impact as a business.
Modern businesses continuously trying to lower their carbon footprint effectively demonstrate to their consumers that they’re not interested in taking advantage of the Earth’s resources to make a quick buck.
Instead, a company that invests in bolstering the sustainability of its business practices and routine operations is ultimately communicating that they’re in it for the long haul – and they are looking to build not exponentially but conscientiously.
And yes, there is more to investing in sustainability than just securing a few recycling and green waste bins for your office space! There are numerous avenues for modern businesses to invest in their sustainability, including installing motion sensor lighting and swapping out their fluorescent lights for more energy-efficient LEDs.
Similarly, assessing your office’s heating and cooling can also significantly reduce your office’s carbon footprint. Even maintaining a hybrid work schedule for your employees can positively affect your business’s sustainability. Fewer office days mean decreased energy usage and lower utility bills and overhead costs.
For larger-scale corporations, investing in your sustainability can also involve assessing the efficiency and resource consumption of your business as a whole rather than from workplace to workplace. This can include streamlining your supply chain management to reduce transportation or production emissions, making your workplaces and company products greener in one fell swoop!
Practice ethical marketing
So you’ve been able to implement all of these sustainable initiatives into your workplace and business operations. What next? How do you communicate these significant changes to your consumer base? By developing an ethical marketing campaign to promote your greenification, of course!
As you may have guessed, ethical marketing is the process of marketing a business by promoting what benefits that company provides to its consumers and social or ecological issues. The best ethical marketing strategies can differ from industry to industry.
- For example, agribusinesses may highlight their land conservation efforts in ethical marketing campaigns.
- In contrast, companies within the telecommunications sector are more likely to focus on hot-topic issues like digital security and privacy.
- And if your business produces goods like fashion or homewares, your ethical marketing campaigns may highlight any green production initiatives you’ve implemented as part of your CSR strategy.
Working with your in-house marketing team or a dedicated marketing agency would be best when developing ethical marketing campaigns. This can help ensure that the social message behind your campaign is communicated as succinctly and respectfully as possible.
Use your platform to educate and offer support.
Suppose you’ve implemented an effective, ethical marketing campaign. In that case, your business has likely garnered its fair share of attention in the public eye and on social media platforms.
Suppose you do have a decent level of user engagement on social media. In that case, your business should consider using this new and potent platform to continue projecting your CSRs.
You can do so by being vocal about social or environmental issues your business feels passionately about or is even impacted by. And if you support any charities or NGOs working directly to correct these concerns, give them a shout-out on your corporate social media accounts or share any initiatives these groups spearheaded.
Using your digital platforms to join and perhaps even start conversations can help further solidify your business as a compassionate and driven presence in and around social and environmental issues impacting your consumer base.
Practice what you preach.
The final and concluding tip we’ll share is ensuring that your business and brand actively practice everything it ‘preaches’ or projects. It’s one thing to use your business’ platform to join the conversation, but it’s another thing entirely to take action off of the conversations that you’re participating in.
If your company isn’t able to ‘put its money where its mouth is’ so to speak, then it could give the impression that your business isn’t built on facilitating positive change but is only looking to capitalize off of the attractive external image that accompanies being vocal about social issues.
To avoid being accused of practicing performative activism, you’ll want to ensure that there are actions and initiatives to back up what you’re saying online. For instance, if your business goes on the record stating that it frowns upon employers refusing to pay minimum wage, you’ll want to ensure that every member of your staff is being fairly remunerated. The last thing you want is for your business to be labeled hypocritical by media outlets. There is indeed such a thing as ‘bad press.’
Identifying, outlining, and maintaining CSRs is a process unique to all companies, with their size, product offerings, and the industries they operate within all playing a role in deciding which social responsibilities you genuinely have an impetus to uphold.
One or two of the abovementioned CSR initiatives will significantly add to your business’s social impact schemes. Get a social impact team together, do some research and brainstorming, and you should be able to start making a difference in the very near future.
