In many ways the results from recent surveys into employees’ expectations of companies’ CSR programmes is not surprising. Companies have long realised that their CSR credentials can help to attract and retain talented young professionals. However employees’ increasing demands for CSR in recent years has coincided with a sustained period of economic growth, where companies were frequently using CSR to help them stand-out in a competitive labour market.
What is particularly striking about these recent findings is that employees’ appetite for CSR remains undiminished even in light of the economic downturn. Employees appear to be more discerning than ever, able to distinguish between an ongoing genuine commitment to CSR and companies merely paying lip service to ethical issues. What does this say about the new generation of employees and how should employers respond, faced with continued pressure on budgets?
As people increasingly factor ethical criteria into lifestyle and purchasing decisions, it is natural that many are choosing to work for companies which have strong CSR credentials, drawing the link that such businesses are more likely to value their employees and treat them well.
For companies this means viewing CSR as a long-term investment. Undoubtedly, the recession has put enormous financial strain on business and created a more flexible labour market in the short-term. However most companies would agree that attracting talented qualified people remains a challenge and there are significant costs to losing good people. Moreover CSR programmes motivate and engage employees, something that is particularly important in these pressurised times when employee morale can be low. The challenge for companies is to make the most of their limited resources through strategic and focused programmes and to remember, that for many employees, CSR is just as much about open and honest interaction during these uncertain times.
Mitun is a senior consultant at Corporate Citizenship.
One in three UK workers would leave their employer for a new job if they could
A third of UK employees (33%) say they have not felt valued by their employer during the recession and would leave for another job if they could, according to a poll commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and released on January 4. Of those respondents who said their employer had shown appreciation for them in the downturn, 41% said they had no plans to leave as a consequence of this loyalty while just 23% said they would consider leaving regardless. Only 7% of respondents said they did not understand how their role fits within the big picture of the organisation they work for so lack of engagement seems more strongly linked to feeling appreciated than a lack of belonging. Contact: PwC
Mental health strategy will support employers to help staff
The UK government launched a new mental health employment strategy on December 7 to help more workers with mental health problems find, and stay in, employment. The strategy aims to reduce the £17.3 billion a year cost of sickness absence and improve the UK’s mental health. As part of a new package of support the government has launched nine pilot occupational health advice lines to support small businesses in helping their workers with mental health problems. These advice lines will give employers direct access to occupational health professionals and enable them to identify the services they need to help their staff.
Ethics in the workplace improved during the recession
According to Ethics Resource Center (ERC), which recently released the National Business Ethics Survey, whilst 78% of US employees say they or their colleagues experienced the impact of the recession, key measures of ethical behavior all improved since ERC’s last survey in 2007, shortly before the recession started. Measures of ethical behaviour included the amount of misconduct observed (fell from 56% in 2007 to 49% in 2009), the willingness to report misdeeds, the strength of ethical cultures and the pressure to cut corners. More employees said they had reported misconduct when they observed it; 63% in 2009, up from 58% in 2007 and overall, perceived pressure to commit an ethics violation (to cut corners, or worse) declined from 10% two years ago to 8% now.
CSR should be maintained even when budgets are tight
More employees (31%) would rather see their organisations maintain budgets for CSR/volunteering activities than cut back in the short term to preserve jobs (19%). This is the response from more than 1,500 staff interviewed for Human Resources magazine by Harris Interactive, in a poll released on December 2. According to the survey, just 5% of staff said their bosses had ceased providing volunteering opportunities, while 30% said budgets had remained unchanged, despite the recession. Just 7% of staff thought their company had put CSR on the back burner in order to ride out the recession. Female staff were most likely to believe CSR budgets should be maintained, irrespective of the economic slowdown – 32% vs 30% of males.
Executive pay: Co-op report reveals failure of firms to reform
Research by Co-operative Asset Management, found remuneration policy had gone in the wrong direction at half of 30 finance companies studied in the FTSE 350. Behaviour was slightly worse in the financial sector than in a comparison of 30 non-financial organisations, where 14 companies were found wanting. The research looked at banks, fund managers and life assurers, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life and Man Group, from the beginning of the credit crunch to August 2009. Only eight finance companies had taken steps to align executive rewards with investors’ interests. The steps taken by five companies were inconclusive, two were stable, four moved the goalposts so schemes would pay out despite missed targets, and 11 were classified as “shareholder unfriendly” because there was a net transfer of wealth to directors from other stakeholders.
Employers are non-committal when it comes to corporate social responsibility
Nearly half (47%) of UK employees consider CSR as an important feature when looking for a prospective employer, according to an employment study from Badenoch & Clark, released on December 11. However, 83% of workers in the study said that their employers lacked a genuine commitment to it. According to UK professionals, one in ten employers totally ignore CSR, while more than a quarter (28%) view it largely as a box ticking exercise. More than any other age group, it is those aged between 25 and 34 years – Generation Y – for whom CSR is most important. When looking at prospective employers, 55% of them say it heavily influences their opinion. However, they are also the age group least convinced by employers’ CSR efforts, with 92% recognising a lack of genuine commitment from organisations.
IBM tops Stonewall’s list of 2010 gay-friendly employers
On January 13, Stonewall announced its Top 100 Employers 2010, showcasing Britain’s best employers for gay staff. It named IBM as the best place to work in 2010 for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. In second place was Hampshire Constabulary and Ernst & Young came third. Ernst & Young also won the award for Employee Network Group of the Year and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was named Most Improved Employer. The Index is based on a range of key indicators which this year included the largest ever survey of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees, with over 7,000 participants. Gay staff working at the top 25 workplaces reported a satisfaction level almost 10% higher than workplaces outside the Top 100.
COMMENTS