Is CSR a PR Issue

1
Is CSR a PR Issue?

• Steve Carey FCIPR

2
What is a CSR Policy?

• A CSR Policy Defines
• how an organisation does business
• its responsibilities to those with whom it deals
• how it manages those responsibilities

3
What should a CSR Policy cover?

• As with an insurance policy a CSR policy
• should cover all aspects of the business
• Sales
• Products / services
• Marketing
• HR
• Financial responsibility and reporting
• Resource management

4
Legal Requirements

• Increasing legislation and regulation affecting
• how companies and other organisations
• interact with other corporates and individuals
• manage their environmental footprint
• safeguard the health safety of staff, products,
  animals, minors
• comply with restricted good lists (alcohol,
  gambling, credit, adult material etc)
• report to shareholders and investors

5
Legal Requirements

• Legislative and regulatory controls vary by
• sector, business and jurisdiction. Current UK
• EU regulatory requirements include
• Companies Act 2006
• EC Directive on Company Reporting
• The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act
  2006
• EC Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment
  Directive
• Equalities legislation

6
Why have a CSR Policy?

• Its more than a legal requirement. A properly
• thought through CSR policy will benefit the
• business. It
• demonstrates a constructive corporate assessment
  of how the organisation does business
• establishes corporate values
• defines its responsibilities to those with whom
  it deals
• highlights the rights of those it employs
• establishes corporate commitment to society
  (community, environment etc)

7
Job Done?

• Not a file on a bookcase. CSR policy needs
• to be
• Reviewed
• Revised
• Accessible
• Communicated

8
Review

• All policies should be reviewed on a regular
• basis.
• Organisations change
• Personnel change
• Market conditions change
• Legislation changes
• Essential to ensure the policy is up to date to
  ensure regulatory compliance.

9
Revise

• Revisions need to be made to deal with
• internal and external changes
• But...
• Who is responsible for drafting changes?
• Is there a process to ensure a corporate
  approach?
• Who has sign off?

10
Accessible

• If the policy is to have any impact it must be
  accessible.
• One size does not usually fit all
• One format is usually the wrong format

11
Communicate

• If you have a good story to tell...
• Tell it!
• No one else will do it for you.
• If you dont sow flowers dont be surprised to
  find weeds

12
Who are the Target Audiences?

• Analysts
• Business Partners
• Customers
• Employees
• Opinion Formers
• Regulators
• Shareholders
• Society in general (local, regional and global)

13
Target Audiences Analysts

• For quoted companies the CSR policy
• Provides corporate vision and values
• Addresses medium to longer term issues
• Enhances brand value
• Its not all about share price.

14
Target Audiences Business Partners

• Do they want to do business with you?
• Generates business confidence
• Demonstrates efficient management
• Differentiates you from competitors
• Its not all about price.

15
Target Audiences Customers

• We are all Greens now
• Increasing consumer environmental and ethical
  awareness
• Child labour
• A a day
• Green consumerism
• Fair Trade
• Ethical investment

16
Target Audiences Employees

• Do I want to work for you?
• Employees want to feel pride in the organisation
  they work for.
• I work for this really fantastic global company
  that is slashing its way through the Amazonian
  rain forest, using child labour at 50 cents a day
  and making a massive contribution to global
  warming
• Its not just about salaries and healthcare

17
Target Audiences Opinion Formers

• Press and politicians have the ability to
• make or break reputations. Their opinions and
  comment influence
• consumers
• regulators

18
Target Audiences Regulators

• If markets do not conform to the highest
• standards regulators can impose
• rules
• regulations
• restrictions
• Often to higher more demanding standards and with
  the risk of unintended consequences

19
Target Audiences Shareholders

• The growth in ethical funds and increased
• awareness of CSR issues is increasingly
• determining investment decisions by
• individual and corporate investors.

20
Target Audiences Society

• Increasingly companies and major organisations
  are seen as corporate citizens.
• Practicing what you preach impacts on public
  perception and brand values.
• Are you a good corporate citizen?

21
So how do you communicate CSR?

• Communicating a CSR policy will in part depend on
  the size, business sector and resources of the
  organisation.
• What works for one will not work for all.
• Audiences will inevitably vary for organisations
  in the private, public or third sectors.

22
Communications Tools

• Annual reports
• Corporate brochures
• Sales and marketing materials
• Advertising
• Point of sale materials
• Briefings

23
Communications Tools

• Direct mail
• Staff training
• Corporate identity
• Web sites
• Media relations
• Public Affairs activities

24
The Mayor and CSR

• All the London Mayoral candidates were
• asked four questions on how they see the
• Mayors role and that of the GLA in
• supporting business CSR policies in London

25
The Questions

• What are the top three priorities that you see
  for London in the area of corporate and social
  responsibility?
• What boundaries / benchmarks should be set for
  the measurement andreporting of CSR - and how
  could the Mayor's office support that?

26
The Questions

• What role should the Mayor's office play in
  promoting CSR innovationin London businesses?
• How can you sell CSR to your own workforce and
  help others to sell itto their staff?

27
The Response

• Ken Livingstone (Lab)
• Please send again as we do not know about it
• No further response!

28
The Response

• Boris Johnson (Con)
• Sorry we have lost the questions please send
  again
• No further response!

29
The Response

• Brian Paddick (Lib Dem)
• Dealing with request will provide later today
  once we have spoken to Brian

30
The Paddick Response

• What are the top three priorities that you see
  for London in the area of corporate and social
  responsibility?A. Large companies should
  develop a much clearer London-specific focus to
  their CSR activities by identifying where they
  have a particular contribution to make to
  London's special economic, social and
  environmental needs.  This should focus on skills
  and enterprise 'gap' whereby London has the
  highest regional unemployment rate at the same
  time as having the most dynamic economy and
  plenty of opportunities.

31
The Paddick Response

• B. Provide a framework through which those
• smaller companies who are willing and able to
• make a contribution to London's wider needs can
• more easily get involved, again likely to be
  focused
• on skills and employment but also with more help
  for
• them to address broader issues such as climate
• change.

32
The Paddick Response

• C. Public sector organisations in London need to
• develop a much greater understanding of the role
• business can, and can't, make. Too often
  companies
• are viewed as a provider of funds, not a genuine
• partner in tackling sustainability challenges.

33
The Paddick Response

• What boundaries / benchmarks should be set for
  the measurement and reporting of CSR - and how
  could the Mayor's office support that?
• The most effective way to develop activity on
  these issues is for the GLA and functional bodies
  to ask broad questions of companies in London
  about their CSR activity on the topics that are
  of central importance for London's
  sustainability, like skills, employment and
  climate change.  This should be done both in
  day-to-day dealings and when procurement tenders
  are being sought. This gives companies the
  freedom to report in ways that make sense for
  them and puts the emphasis on activity and
  performance, not on reporting.

34
The Paddick Response

• What role should the Mayor's office play in
  promoting CSR innovation in London
  businesses?Rather than presuming to decide
  what is innovative in CSR, the Mayor's office
  should support organisations and initiatives who
  are expert in this area.
• Mayoral recognition of award-winners from
  existing schemes to encourage 'best practice' and
  encouraging them to set the bar higher in terms
  of achievement,for example, is better than
  developing new and overlapping initiatives.

35
The Paddick Response

• How can you sell CSR to your own workforce and
  help others to sell it to their staff?The GLA
  is a corporate citizen in its own right and it
  and the functional bodies can do more on issues
  such as workforce diversity, 'ethical' and
  responsible sourcing, energy, resource and waste
  reduction, and communityengagement for example
  through staff volunteering. 
• The GLA should produce an annual account of its
  sustainability impacts. The approach should be to
  leadby example, not preach or dictate.

36
Conclusion

• Now that is using CSR as a Public Relations tool!
• Thank you for your attention.