is no longer enough to tell your employees or your customers what you are doing to make the world a better place. They want to be involved. Engage them; allow them to participate. It will develop a life-long loyalty to your company.
Let customers volunteer with your employees. Let your Facebook fans vote on where you direct your philanthropy. Let your customers choose to help you reduce you environmental impact by making choices when they buy your services. Tell them what you are doing and ask them to join you.
4.
How can companies measure the business impact of their CSR programs? Set clear goals upfront( i. e. reducing water usage by 20 percent, reducing waste by 50 percent, or reducing carbon footprint by 80 percent) and simply measure to those goals. Benchmark yourselves, your own performance today, and then measure your improvement to it. Develop your own report card or score card. Measure where you are and are not making the grade. Communicate honestly. If you are not making the grade, this is where you can ask your employees, customers and suppliers to help you.
5.
How can spa and companies effectively engage employees to be part of volunteer programs? Select volunteer programs that match your business objectives and competencies. Whirlpool, for instance, not only directs its philanthropy and in-kind giving to Habitat for Humanity, but the cause of homelessness fits their business.
[ Empower your employees by ] giving them paid time-off to volunteer in company-sponsored volunteer programs. You are not only involving your employees but also showing them that, together, you can make the world a better place. Volunteerism is not equal to or all of CSR, but it is a fantastic way to engage people.
6.
What is the best way to communicate a company’ s volunteer or social work to the community? Right now, companies are trusted least to operate in society’ s best interest while nonprofit [ organizations ] are trusted most. The best thing to do is to ask directly that the nonprofit organization with whom you are working with communicate [ your CSR efforts ] for you. They are a trusted source.
“ People just like me” are the second most trusted source, so allow your employees to tweet, [ post on ] Facebook, [ write a ] blog, and communicate wildly about their volunteering [ initiatives ] with the company. Leverage the power of both social media and your employees as brand ambassadors.
7.
What are some of the common challenges when trying to align CSR with a company’ s core competencies? We live in a time in which the causes are myriad, and deeply passionate CEOs or employees come with pet causes or issues. Don’ t focus on an employee’ s pet issue if it is not your issue.
Kentucky Fried Chicken( KFC), for instance, partnered with Susan G. Komen. Breast cancer research is not KFC’ s issue, nor is breast cancer research a fast food company’ s competency. The campaign failed and was pulled early. Companies also take on too many causes. There are thousands of problems in our world today, but you will increase impact, have more solid metrics, and tell a more credible CSR story if you have one signature cause over a long period of time.
Consumer Segments that Demand CSR
Millennials: Research show that [ CSR ] affects the Millenials’ purchase and employment decisions. This group also controls about 89 percent of social media content.
Women: Female consumers demand products and services that are linked to causes that they care about. They want to shop for ethically sourced materials, want to know that the workers are treated fairly, and want to do work that has social and environmental benefit.
September 2012 ■ PULSE 41