Corporate social responsibility is vital
Jun 14, 2009
CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) is often referred to as an organisation’s action on environmental, ethical, social and economic issues. It emerged in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
HR INSIGHT with Paula Kyabaggu Mukama
CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) is often referred to as an organisation’s action on environmental, ethical, social and economic issues. It emerged in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
CSR is not only about values and accountability but also about the behaviour of an organisation’s people and its suppliers.
Everything that is found within the Human Resources (HR) responsibilities like training, recruitment, staff retention, policies and strategy involves CSR. Traditionally, HR and CSR have been led by the need for compliance and keeping up with new laws on employment as well as environmental, ethical and social issues.
Increasingly, HR managers are becoming crucial to the delivery of training to deal with these issues in terms of organisational objectives and strategy.
Research shows that high-performing businesses have strong CSR activities. Employees make greater contribution towards their organisation if they see it as more responsible. This in turn influences their decision to stay with the firm.
HR practices are heavily underpinned by ethical beliefs so good HR is the obvious basis for building trust levels across the organisation and providing a solid foundation for CSR. Successful practices of this kind not only build credibility and trust with customers and employees but have other positive effects such as improved recruitment and retention rates. It is also an exercise in future-proofing organisations since risks and opportunities are identified.
CSR is cross-cutting, therefore, it includes numerous issues like training and education, capacity building, leadership, health and safety, working conditions, human rights, stakeholder engagement and corporate governance.
Large multi-national companies were the first to identify CSR as a potential tool for improving performance.
Now through their supply chain, they are asking suppliers to comply with their standards. CSR is here to stay and the HR function is becoming central in the delivery of CSR in organisations. HR departments are responsible for many of the key systems and processes on which effective delivery of CSR initiatives depends.
However, much as it has become popular in some management circles over the past few years, a significant proportion of ordinary employees find it completely immaterial and many are not even aware what CSR stands for. More effort needs to be put into internally communicating details of any CSR activity a company is carrying out so that employees can spread the word.
If you have any HR related questions, mail
them to business@newvision.co.ug
CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) is often referred to as an organisation’s action on environmental, ethical, social and economic issues. It emerged in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
CSR is not only about values and accountability but also about the behaviour of an organisation’s people and its suppliers.
Everything that is found within the Human Resources (HR) responsibilities like training, recruitment, staff retention, policies and strategy involves CSR. Traditionally, HR and CSR have been led by the need for compliance and keeping up with new laws on employment as well as environmental, ethical and social issues.
Increasingly, HR managers are becoming crucial to the delivery of training to deal with these issues in terms of organisational objectives and strategy.
Research shows that high-performing businesses have strong CSR activities. Employees make greater contribution towards their organisation if they see it as more responsible. This in turn influences their decision to stay with the firm.
HR practices are heavily underpinned by ethical beliefs so good HR is the obvious basis for building trust levels across the organisation and providing a solid foundation for CSR. Successful practices of this kind not only build credibility and trust with customers and employees but have other positive effects such as improved recruitment and retention rates. It is also an exercise in future-proofing organisations since risks and opportunities are identified.
CSR is cross-cutting, therefore, it includes numerous issues like training and education, capacity building, leadership, health and safety, working conditions, human rights, stakeholder engagement and corporate governance.
Large multi-national companies were the first to identify CSR as a potential tool for improving performance.
Now through their supply chain, they are asking suppliers to comply with their standards. CSR is here to stay and the HR function is becoming central in the delivery of CSR in organisations. HR departments are responsible for many of the key systems and processes on which effective delivery of CSR initiatives depends.
However, much as it has become popular in some management circles over the past few years, a significant proportion of ordinary employees find it completely immaterial and many are not even aware what CSR stands for. More effort needs to be put into internally communicating details of any CSR activity a company is carrying out so that employees can spread the word.
If you have any HR related questions, mail
them to business@newvision.co.ug