The accounts companies give of their approach to responsible and sustainable business are increasingly challenging – except in one area. On environmental impacts, supply chain difficulties and even product responsibility, CSR and SD reports are starting to provide a lively account of the dilemmas and trade-offs involved, along with the awkward questions asked by critics and (sometimes) performance data that aren’t all wonderful.
And yet, as Francesca Hicks observes in this month’s Speaking Out, when it comes to employees, these reports skirt around elephant-in-the-bedroom issues, like how much they are paid, the (growing) gap between highest and lowest, and the thorny issue of pension entitlement. They trumpet stakeholder consultation, but curiously fail to report what employees actually think about their employers.
Look at what the media report about business issues, and you’ll find lots of CSR issues – executive bonuses, retirement ages, maternity and paternity rights, internships and social mobility, and even stress and suicides in France. Those are the bread-and-butter concerns that citizens have about companies, whether as employees, consumers or voters, and that’s what CSR reports should be addressing as well.
And while I’m on my hobby horse, can I issue a plea not to use the word “unsustainable” when you really mean “unaffordable”? We report in this edition that Unilever has belatedly joined a long list of UK employers closing the final salary pension scheme. Never an easy decision, but don’t blow it by claiming, as the UK chair is quoted as saying, that it’s part of a commitment to “being a sustainable company in everything we do”.
Who gets the money and when – higher dividends, lower prices, more wages or, yes, secure pensions – are central questions for companies seeking sustainability to debate in their reporting. Put the facts out there, raise the difficult issues, ask employees what they think. Just like charity, CSR should begin (but not end) at home.
Mike is one of the founding directors of Corporate Citizenship, having worked with companies on their responsible business practice since 1987. His clients have included Centrica, Diageo, Ford, HSBC, Mars and Unilever.
An economics graduate, Mike is a chartered accountant by profession, having qualified with KPMG, and has previously worked as director of finance for a national charity.
Mike is also active in local government, previously a council leader and currently an elected member of the London Assembly. A member of the London Sustainable Development Commission, he was named by the Evening Standard as one of the 1000 most influential Londoners for his work on the environment.
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