Why companies engage employees in corporate responsibility and sustainability. A presentation taken from the online training course "Getting to Grips with CR" which will soon be available for registration and begins on March 24 2014. Contact courseinfo@stakeholderintel.com for details.

1. Why do companies engage employees
today in Corporate Responsibility and
Sustainability?

2. But first, why do they engage employees?
• Brand trust and reputation
• Increasing evidence CR major
factor in recruitment,
motivation and retention
• Numerous studies ‘prove’ this
• Viewed as major potential
source of innovation

3. Typical engagement issues: Internal
• Corporate environmental
performance
• Community and volunteering
work
• Anti-corruption and bribery
• Codes of behaviour/conduct
• Diversity, empowerment

4. Typical engagement issues: External
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Climate change
Global development
Waste and recycling
Biodiversity/environment
Social exclusion/innovation
Human rights issues

5. Most companies focus on internal issues…
• “Low hanging fruit”: Office
recycling/greening/cycle to
work etc are common issues
• Volunteering and community
engagement
• Fundraising for charity

6. Because they can get quick wins…
• Office recycling saves money
fast: e.g. centralised waste
areas
• Increasing drivers for
mandatory ethics/bribery
training
• Fundraising looks/feels good

7. And volunteering/community work is expected….
• 2011 - Committee Encouraging
Corporate Philanthropy
studied 184 companies with
regard to
community/volunteering
• These included 63 of the top
100 companies in Fortune 500

8. And volunteering/community work is expected….
2010: 94% of companies offered
a matching-gift program
(programs that match employee
contributions of cash or volunteer
time with a financial contribution
to the employee’s charity of
choice)

9. Donations seem to be going up…
2009 to 2010: 57% of companies
increased their cash
contributions to matching gift
programs
2010: 89% of companies had a
formal domestic employeevolunteer program
52%: International volunteering

10. Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility study 2009:
• Employee engagement is both a driver, as well as an outcome, of
corporate social performance and sustainable value creation
• Corporate [social performance] has both a direct and indirect
impact (via employee engagement) on the creation of sustainable
business value
• Social intrapreneurs – who are engaged [within companies] in both
[social] and commercial innovation – can improve corporate social
performance and enhance sustainable business value

12. Conclusions
• We see very few, if any
arguments AGAINST
engagement with employees
• Lots of “macro” studies
• New movement to consider
how CR drives innovation:
Alliance Boots one example
• “Intrapreneurs” concept
growing
• Traditional business case
strong and growing
• Cheap and easy to do
compared with say,
management of CR in the
supply chain