3 MIN READ
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTION
- Building sustainable products
- Creating a charitable foundation
- Shaping your diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to effect social change
- Supporting charities and social enterprises
- Workplace volunteer allowances
Giving back can boost your brand and your bottom line. IKEA have been providing the UK with flat-packed fun for over 30 years and their success goes beyond great design and affordable prices.
They’ve managed to positively impact the wider world, with their sustainably managed forest products, commitment to diversity & inclusion and ethical framework. We like them because they meet our need to continually update our homes, but we keep going back because it makes us feel good to support companies who give back.
Can all businesses replicate these benefits for their communities, team and efforts to attract and hire talent?
READ MORE: Influence the influencers | How your employer brand can attract the right talent
Think beyond your product
Coca-Cola is a recognised brand worldwide that found a way to use its global appeal to do more than quench thirsts by starting the Coca-Cola Foundation.
Since 1984, it’s awarded more than $1 billion in grants to support sustainable community initiatives around the world, with $55 million dedicated to COVID relief. They’ve shown that a bit of lateral thinking can simultaneously solve a problem and appeal to talent that is looking for more.
Their commitment to diversity in their leadership and employee inclusion networks creates a better shared future for employees and customers.
Similarly, London charity The House of St Barnabas know that fighting homelessness means more than providing beds for the night, which prompted them to turn their Soho hostel into a private members club. The newly formed hybrid social enterprise and business, now allows them to partner with local restaurateurs to provide former residents with training and employment in the hospitality industry. This approach meets long rather than short-term needs, simply by re-purposing what they already owned.
Shared resources
Many large companies have HR policies that encourage staff to volunteer in the local community, but do you have a workplace volunteer allowance or even a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy? At the start of every year, our employees at Denholm have their annual leave allowance topped up with two extra days they can spend at any charity of their choosing, on our time. Accenture, lets employees donate days between projects to social good, such as charity involvement – adding extra hands and positively impacting their brand and Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Organisations like Giving Tuesday can be the start you’re looking for to celebrate your CSR achievements and drive employee engagement and talent attraction.
READ MORE: Three steps to better employee engagement and motivation
Be transparent
None of the examples above would work if they lacked authenticity. Our customer-centric world is littered with thinly veiled do-gooders and only sincere acts will do. Charities understand this apathy all too well and know they need to be transparent to win support and recruit top talent. Wateraid publishes all of its accounts online to show exactly how your money is spent and has seen an increase in donations as a result, far exceeding those of a typical marketing approach.
An outside view
It’s difficult to see the missed opportunities in your own business, so Denholm are regularly asked for our independent views of companies, industries and markets. Think of it as a by-product of our years in global search and talent acquisition, which has involved speaking to candidates from some of the world’s most innovative organisations. How can we help your business? Contact Denholm on 03303 359 818 or connect@denholmassociates.com for our support today.
