An Effective Corporate Social Responsibility Programme

Transcription

1 An Effective Corporate Social Responsibility Programme 1 st November 2011

2 Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda Thomas Cook Heritage What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Key CSR Elements Community Relations Numbers and Trends Developing a Strategy Benchmarking, Management & Recognition Benefits to Businesses Summary

3 Corporate Social Responsibility Thomas Cook s Heritage Thomas Cook, a philanthropist, created the first package holiday out of a sense of social responsibility He believed that everyone would become better educated through travel Built on the principles of positive social interaction As far back as 1841 Thomas Cook was actively engaged in charity and community relations and was passionate about making a difference Today, this is part of what we call sustainability ensuring our business has a positive impact on people and the planet saving money and ensuring we are here for another 180 years.

4 Corporate Social Responsibility What is Corporate Social Responsibility? Your business dose not exist in isolation Employees, customers, suppliers and the local communities are all affected by your business and what you do CSR is about understanding your business impact Consider how you would use this impact in a positive way Be seen to be a responsible business Going beyond the minimum and following straightforward principles that apply to whatever size of your business Building a reputation sets you apart Companies often favour suppliers who demonstrate responsible policies as this can have a positive impact on how they are perceived by customers. Customers don t just prefer to deal with responsible companies, but insist on it! Reducing resource use Waste and emissions management doesn t just help the environment- its saves you money too! CSR can help you improve your business performance Looking ahead, you can cope with any new laws or restrictions. You can avoid costs such as wasted energy or paying unnecessary waste fees. Happy employees could mean improved retention.

5 Corporate Social Responsibility Key CSR Elements: Employees: How you treat them doing more than simply complying with legal requirements Training and development are a critical aspect of good retention Employees are better motivated and more productive. Leverage their expertise to support local community projects. Customers: Ensure that any collateral is written in plain English- no hiding anything in the small print Open and honest about your products Develop good customer relations processes..should something go wrong Listen to your customers. Understanding the wider impact of your business can help you develop new products and services. Suppliers: Chose your suppliers carefully. Check their employment, health & safety and environmental practises. Your reputation can be damaged if they have poor track records. Try to use local ones if possible.helps you support the local community and reduces energy wasted and or carbon emissions from deliveries Ask them if they have responsible working practise or their attitude to CSR.

6 Corporate Social Responsibility Key CSR Elements Local Community: A good reputation will bring local customers and increase sales You may find it easier to recruit A positive relationship with the local authority could make life easier for the business and in many cases local authorities prefer to award contracts to businesses with a record for community engagement Support local charities (staff volunteering or in- kind support) Sponsor a local event. Environment: Look at creating more recyclable products or less packaging Source more responsibly Buy more locally Work with suppliers/distributors who also take steps to minimise their environmental impact.

7 Corporate Social Responsibility...Numbers UK Companies Invested 1.4b in CSR 110m Beneficiaries Contributions as a % of pre- tax profits 1.41% vs. 0.82%(2009) 350,000 employees involved 46,000 organisations supported How do employees benefit? 43% develop job related skills How do people benefit? 44% improved their quality of life 2.9m working hours contributed by employees Source: London Benchmarking Group 2010 Annual Report

8 Key Market Trends How companies contribute Why companies contribute What companies support

9 Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Four Key Areas of Engagement Thomas Cook identified 4 main areas that would form the basis of its Community Relations & Charity strategy and consists of: Education & Industry: Given the current economic climate and Government cuts there are number of areas and opportunities that could be developed Employee Volunteering: Create an environment that encouragers employees to engage more within their local communities and support activities that will benefit the area or population Corporate Community Engagement: Company representation and involvement in the community and business groups is a way of gathering information and influencing government and regional enterprise Charity & Cause Related Marketing: Given the current economic climate expectations from charities for sponsorship and giving will increase.

10 Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Best Practice Education & Industry: Learning about Business & Enterprise: More than12,000 students attended education centres based at Coca - Cola factories across the UK. Employee Volunteering: Give As You Earn: Payroll Giving. Over 2,800 employees take advantage of the scheme donating over 250,000 to charities of their choice. Corporate Engagement: Charity & Cause Related Marketing: StreetGames -Young Volunteers: Investing 1m over 3 years. Each year over 3,000 volunteers receive training to coach children in various sports such basketball, rugby and athletics. The project operates in over 80 locations across the UK.

11 CSR Strategy Best Practice Benchmarking, Management & Recognition Benchmarking: Measuring success is essential in order to determine the impact of your CSR programme. There are a number of third party tools that can be used : Most FTSE 250 publish Sustainability/CSR reports online Business In The Community (BITC) London Benchmarking Group (LBG) Internal Reporting Mechanisms: This is a key element that will need to be put in place in order measure performance. Look to develop your own set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI s). Management Walk the Talk : Central to this is practicing what we preach - demonstrating to internal and external audiences our commitment to our CSR strategy. Management Standards: Consider working towards a recognised management standard example (Environmental Standard ISO14001). These can be used to publicise your ethical, environmental and social responsibility approach Recognition: An agreed programme across all the businesses communication channels ensuring a continual feedback process on how your CSR activity is working. Ensure that employees, customers, suppliers and the local community know what you are doing.

12 Corporate Social Responsibility Proven Benefits Businesses Risk Management: The way a company discharges its social & environmental responsibilities can impact on its licence to operate PR & Brand Reputation: People s direct experience of the behaviour of your business in the community is a powerful factor on whether they feel favourably towards you Positive Staff Impacts: Support for staff volunteering schemes in order to carry out good works in the community. Research has proven that staff have shown improvement in: Communication skills Ability to help others ( coaching/mentoring) Adaptability (be effective in different surroundings/tasks) Influencing/negotiations (resolving conflicts/persuading others Wining Business: More and more people want to buy from businesses they respect. CSR can be particularly effective for targeting ethical companies, public sector and not- for- profit organisations. Reward & Recognition: Celebrate success! An agreed programme of communication across all internal publications ensuring a continual feedback process on how both your staff and community activity is working.

13 Corporate Social Responsibility Summary Develop a CSR Vision Based on Key Principles The key principles that should be considered are: Have clear leadership, governance and values. Help develop employees and the future workforce to build successful working lives. Influence behaviour through your products & services Benchmarking and measuring success is essential in order to determine the impact of your CSR programme Manage social, environmental, and economic impacts in the supply chain. Invest in the communities in which you operate and those communities in greatest need. Network and work with other organisations and companies to promote action and greater change.