Jul
23
PSR and CSR
Filed Under Leadership, Community, CSR
Towards the end of my time with Ernst & Young I led a project to look at the firm’s CSR profile in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This was a fascinating exercise. I kind of sensed that my day job was about to end and when the chance to be involved in something completely different came up I jumped at the chance. ( hmmm… a topic for a future post ).
Anyway this was about 5 years ago or so and CSR was the big thing. Many companies had been socially responsible for a long time but did not label it ( or account for or report it) and some were forced to consider their CSR status by clients and customers who themselves were giving it more thought. I got the chance to meet many people who were involved in CSR activities within their firms.
Although CSR really covers the whole range of how an organisation interacts with its community - how it treats employees, suppliers and customers, sustainable practices including recycling, corporate governance and ethics amongst them it was difficult to encourage people of focus on more than supporting charities and giving something back. It was not, however, my job or intention to persuade anybody to do anything. I just wanted to understand where they were coming from.
This is where I had many interesting conversations with people about whether their “Personal Social Responsibility” should or should not be considered by their employer.
There is of course no right answer. For every person who would like time away from the office to do some good work there will be someone who would prefer their efforts to be anonymous. For every sponsored walk there will be those who want to do the walking and others who want to pay them to do so. It occurs to me though that I find myself often talking to people who personally and individually want to do something.
But what ?
For my own PSR I recycle and no longer take plastic bags in the supermarket, I am clear where I stand on a range of ethical issues, I pay my taxes and obey the law and I support a range of charities with which I have a connection. My PSR profile allows me to consciously not donate to a huge range of causes but to focus on a few special ones that are close to my heart. I take the bus/train instead of the car when I can. It’s a continuing thing for me - what appeals to day might be socially unacceptable for me at some point in the future.
Why not consider your own PSR profile. Realistically - like the companies I mentioned at the start - most people are already “socially responsible” in some way . It might be a good time to recognise what you are doing already.
While I am on the subject I wanted to share this website with you.
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