Make a Difference: Review - Our CSR stars of 2008

At the close of 2007, and in a forecast about the year to come, Financial Times columnist Stefan Stern observed: "Never mind rising sea levels: the waves of cynicism washing over corporate executives as they push their corporate and social responsibility agendas promise to become life-threatening in 2008. In the inevitable life cycle of management fads corporate social responsibility is now heading for the exit."

The announcement of the impending death of CSR may have been a little premature. But, as we prepare to look ahead to another year, perhaps it was just that Stern got the timing wrong.

According to Sam Mercer, workplace director at Business in the Community (BITC), CSR has never been more important, and is far from being on the way out. According to the director of the organisation that helps more than 850 organisations (who in turn employ one in five of the UK workforce), a lot of it is to do with how you define the term: "CSR means all things to all people," she says. "Personally, I prefer the term sustainable to responsible."

However HR wants to define CSR, she believes the first step in any responsibility project is always to build a business case for any programme. "It must make sense for the business," she stresses. "It must be properly resourced and planned, and it must be measurable."

It is just as well that, in her view, the cost benefits of using CSR to attract talent, reduce staff turnover, improve employee engagement and so on are, by and large, measurable.

Inextricably linked with business benefit is social benefit. Mercer gives an example. "If a project is about increasing diversity, then you may well source talent where it's not been considered before," she says. "That's good for the business, for society and the individual."

While CEOs may pay lip service to the notion that 'an organisation's workforce is its greatest asset', Mercer says it is the job of HR directors, through promotion of CSR, to put this into practice. "If a business looks at CSR, the starting point is in its own back garden," she says. "That means adopting sustainable employment practices."

But what happens to these grand notions during the prospect of a recession? She accepts businesses have to make money first. "But it can make more by being responsible, and if you act irresponsibly it can come back and bite you," she adds.

Companies get into greater trouble when they fail to listen to their workforces, she contends. "I believe in employee networks: Your people will tell you how to act." She sees a clear trend: "People are asking for diversity statistics. If there are only white males in your workforce, it is noticed as never before. Similarly if there are no women, no ethnic minorities, no disabled, people notice it. These companies will look increasingly out of step with society."

But don't tough times mean tough decisions? Staying with her example of workforce diversity, Mercer argues: "The real message is that CSR helps deliver productivity and better service. You can't put a stop to it because you will never regain credibility, internally or externally." Looking ahead she says: "Some will see CSR as 'nice to do'. But while it is easy to trot out this argument now we'll soon begin to see which programmes really have got traction and which of the rest is PR spin."

For Mercer, CSR activity can be seen as on a continuum from doing the bare minimum to comply right through to those who see such activity as helping them redefine their market. "If you are shaping the market, the prize can be massive," she says. "It might mean, among other things, being seen as an employer of choice, and that means being better able to pick the best, when that really matters."

And leadership is crucial. According to Mercer, CSR is a boardroom issue: "When a leader 'gets' it there's traction and, when they do not, the practices have less impact."

So which companies are 'walking the CSR walk'? HR magazine has revisited three organisations (Royal Mail Group, Colliers CRE and SimplyHealth), with exemplary CSR projects that were previously profiled in this magazine's Ethical HR column. Since first being profiled we look at what the outcomes of these projects have been, what business benefits they have derived, what has happened since we first spoke to them, and what is to come next.

None of those interviewed for the profiles below showed any sign of the FT's predicted cynicism or CSR faddism supposedly 'washing over corporate executives'.The projects and the wider CSR programmes of which they were a part, had been carefully planned against business agendas. They resulted from leadership and support from the top, unleashing talent, and commitment from employees.

But questions remain. Will CSR budgets be squeezed? That looks inevitable. Will CSR change and evolve? In responding to business, social and environmental pressures in the hard times to come it also looks inevitable. Is CSR on the way out? Companies like those profiled here will still face scrutiny against a triple bottom line of financial, social and environmental performance. So, as Mercer warns, these days there are very big corporate risks in showing CSR the exit. It seems however you want to define it, CSR is going to be with us for sometime to come.QQ] Matthew Pudney reviews CSR programmes each month in Ethical HR

Royal Mail Group

Payroll giving

The payroll giving scheme at Royal Mail Group (RMG), which includes Royal Mail, Post Office and Parcelforce Worldwide, is one of the largest in the UK. In the year to April 2007, employees raised £2.6 million, up nearly £440,000 on the year before, and added 7,000 participants as well. That means one quarter of the 180,000 workforce took part in the scheme via monthly donations. It's a level of support that is way ahead of the average 4% participation in payroll giving among UK workforces.

So how was it done? Kay Allen, the group's head of social action and inclusion, points to a deliberate shift in approach, beginning in 2006, involving a real push to embed payroll giving more widely via intensive and direct employee engagement. The measures have included bringing more employees more actively into the process to select one main corporate charity partner. For the past three years that partner has been Help the Hospices (HTH). Last year the scheme contributed £310,000 to HTH, against £248,000 the previous year.

Now, it's Barnado's turn. Behind the choice and informing the broader CSR strategy lies an engagement process encompassing an 'audit of passion' among 60,000 employees, focus groups, workshops, staff presentations and short films. This time staff decided they wanted an overarching focus on youth as well as emphasis on education, illness and crisis, and community.

Will employees be as generous next year? Allen reports much the same level of giving, so far. "In hard times, our experience is that people who own the least give the most. They know others are worse off because often they are close to them."

Allen and her team's work is driven by the business agenda, coming from and supported by the top level of the corporation. The group has a CSR board and it is chaired by chief executive Adam Crozier. It includes three managing directors from group operating companies. While they may set the top-line agenda, it's through the employees that the CSR strategy is delivered. "We are very passionate about tapping into community, and into a culture that already exists," Allen says.

No surprise, therefore, that Allen and her colleagues are keen to nurture local volunteer activity. She cites a typical example, a project for Children in Need, where a corporate infusion of £25,000 to buy fundraising buckets helped local staff raise £300,000, in one week. This time they are aiming to raise £600,000. That's the kind of leverage she is looking for.

The key to delivering the wider CSR strategy for RMG is, therefore, a huge amount of such voluntary activity and fundraising by the workforce. That is enabled by an effective approach from the corporate level to seed-corn funding.

"We are positioning RMG at the heart of the community," says Allen. "We do not take the credit, our colleagues do. And the charities we support are very good at publicising where we make a difference."

Colliers CRE Development days

For Colliers CRE, one of the UK's top 10 property advisers, CSR is a board-level issue. From April 2007 to June 2008 the firm ran a series of Working Together: Development Days with volunteer staff constructing eco-dome play-houses for junior school pupils, while also fundraising for The New Start Trust (NEST) and its housing, schools and community centre projects for orphans and homeless children in southern Africa.

Each development day in this flagship project consisted of an intensive eight-hour working session. After a successful pilot with Colliers CRE staff plus others from its client, Nationwide's head office in Swindon, the project was rolled out to six other Colliers CRE locations. Almost 330 people took part and the £70,000 raised has been used by NEST. In fact the money raised more than doubled the charity's expenditure budget in this area. In October, this year, Colliers CRE was judged winner of the Best Learning Programme category within the Managing Partners Forum's 'European Practice Management Awards'.

So how did this project fit into a bigger CSR strategy? "We always had a strong set of CSR values but our activities were dealt with in silos. Then we set out to draw the strands together," says Colliers CRE board director Paul Vockins, who, along with HR director Jenny Chandler, takes the lead on CSR matters. "The process started with getting board agreement to an audit and then developing a strategy," says Vockins.

Delivery is now embedded in functional departments from facilities to HR, the heads of which all join in a CSR working group. This also links with the organisation's Sustainability Action Group, providing client-focused environmental services.

What priority does sustainability get? For a business like ours, says Vockins, "sustainability in our own operations as well as our client offerings is very important". One challenge is "to get people recognising that sustainability means adding value not cost".

So how do they know the development days project delivered against its objectives? Through objective evaluation plus experience, it appears. Within the planning process each team's competencies were set out in advance. After each event, participants were sent a questionnaire. "We had secretaries through to directors, people you thought would not step up. But they did," reports Chandler. HR outcomes were also evaluated via the staff survey, with highly positive results. With specialist advisers plus NEST representatives on hand to give first-hand reports, those involved were all able to see for themselves just what impact their efforts were having in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.

The organisation has now embarked on a new main corporate CSR project, with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge. Called Colliers Green Focus, the pilot event is again being undertaken in partnership with Nationwide.

Simplyhealth

Million reasons to feel better

Perhaps for more than any of the other businesses profiled, CSR is fundamental to the Simplyhealth group. It encompasses a number of previously standalone health and wellbeing operations. At the group's core is HSA, formed as a mutual in 1922.

The group's Million Reasons to Feel Better campaign last year meant 15 smaller charities were on the receiving end of what was a substantial donation. Simplyhealth gave each of its 1,300 employees a sum of £774 to 'spend' with a charity. That equated to a £1 million giveaway. It was the first time the company had attempted to make all employees feel they had given such large amounts personally. The scheme involved staff voting on how the total sum would be allocated.

So how important is CSR to the business? "It's who we are," says the group's HR manager, Lee Nicholls. "It's about the way we treat our customers, our staff and the community. We have got to make money but it matters more how good we are than how much we make."

Simplyhealth has expanded rapidly. However, the acquisition of businesses, each with their own strong staff loyalties, has posed challenges."Now these businesses are all coming together under one Simplyhealth brand, we are involved in a huge employment engagement project," says Sara Brown, head of communications.

Against this challenge, CSR is seen by Nicholls and Brown as the number one driver for leadership and personal growth. Programmes are embedded into management processes and performance criteria. "We want staff to bring their personal values to work and know there's room for individuals. We want them to ask: 'Am I dealing with this in the right way or am I just ticking the box?'" says Nicholls.

What about leadership? Simplyhealth has a charitable committee with members drawn from the group board, which donates £2 million each year. It's from here that the One Million Reasons scheme was funded. Community charitable funds get another £500,000 for each main group location. In addition, some 200 days are allowed for volunteering activity by staff.

So where does sustainability fit? "We are ethical but not strongly activist," says Nicholls. "We do our bit within the streamlining of our operations and we also lay stress on internal sustainable practices and in engaging our employees."

So how do they know the project money was well spent? "We found the sectors, set the criteria and put together the proposal, including the donation mechanisms," says Nicholls. The One Million Reasons money went to general, uncommitted funds. That offers a lifeline for hard-pressed operational budgets, but it is not so easy to measure outcomes. "But sometimes we have worked with charities for years," says Brown, "so we know that they are making a difference and we can work with them long term to help steer stuff in the right way," she adds.