Social Responsibility

What is environmental CSR?

Environmental CSR aims to reduce any damaging effects on the environment from your business processes. Activities may focus on:

• energy use
• water use
• waste management
• recycling
• emissions
• eco-friendly office and business travel policies

Some of these are significant from both environmental and financial points of view.

Advantages of environmental CSR

Green CSR can reduce business risk, improve reputation and provide opportunities for cost savings. Even the simplest energy efficiency measures can generate savings and make a difference to your business. For example:

• switching off lights and equipment when not in use
• reducing the use of water
• reducing the amount of paper you waste

Caring about the environment can increase revenue too. Many customers prefer to buy/service from responsible companies.

How to reduce your environmental impact

You can reduce your business' environmental impact in many ways. For example, you can:

• • create products that can be recycled
• • optimise your product life cycle
• • source responsibly (eg using recycled materials and sustainable timber)
• • reduce packaging
• • buy locally to save fuel costs
• • create an efficient (and fuel-efficient) distribution network
• • work with environmentally conscious suppliers and distributors

Ethical trading

Ethical trading focuses on protecting workers' rights throughout the supply chain. By treating your employees, your suppliers and their workers fairly and ethically, you can demonstrate corporate social responsibility (CSR).

What is ethical trade?

Ethical trade is about the purchasing practices of your business - and the steps you take to ensure that you and your supplier companies respect workers' rights.

The term ethical trading often implies socially responsible sourcing, which focuses on:

• worker welfare
• agricultural practice
• natural resource conservation
• sustainability

The leading alliance that supports ethical trade in global supply chains is the Ethical Trading Initiative.

Ethical trade and suppliers

Choosing your suppliers carefully can be an important part of your approach to CSR. For example, you might try to use local suppliers as much as possible. This helps you to support your local community and reduces the environmental impact of your sourcing, logistics and distribution practices.

When choosing suppliers, you should also examine their:

• employment practices
• health and safety procedures
• environmental policies

Customers are increasingly concerned about the wider impact of supply chains, for example on the local workforce and environment. Being associated with businesses that abuse the rights of their workers or their local environment can significantly harm your reputation.

Larger organisations often audit their suppliers to ensure that they follow responsible working practices. You could do something similar - simply asking them about their attitudes to CSR might be revealing.

You should also treat your suppliers fairly, particularly smaller businesses that rely on you. For example, on-time payments can make a big difference to them.

Ethical trade and customers

Your customers will want to know that you don't exploit the people who make and sell your products. To reassure them, you could:

• Create brochures in plain English and frankly disclose any 'small print' limitations.
• Be open and honest about your products and services. Tell customers what they want to know, including what steps you take to be socially responsible.
• If something goes wrong, acknowledge the problem and deal with it.

In return, you can expect customers to reward you with their loyalty. Listening to your consumers can also help you improve the products and services you offer them.

Local community

Community engagement is one of the key pillars of corporate social responsibility (CSR), alongside the concern with the workplace, the marketplace and the environment. Community involvement can take many forms. For example, some businesses choose to:

• support a local charity with financial contributions
• sponsor a local event
• organise clean-up events
• volunteer in local schools or community projects

For most businesses, it makes commercial sense to get involved in community-based CSR related to your product or service. This lets you use your expertise, and show the human face of your business at the same time. For example, some restaurants provide food to local homeless groups, while some builders give free labour and materials to community projects.

Look for opportunities that will mutually benefit you and your community - eg by generating publicity, or improving the neighbourhood around your premises.

Community and employee engagement

Many businesses include their employees in decisions about CSR activities. You can, for example:

• support charities that were chosen by your staff
• encourage staff to volunteer for community activities
• give staff paid time off for volunteering
• help employees to make tax-free donations to charity through 'payroll giving' As well as improving community relations, involving your staff in CSR can help motivate them and encourage their personal and professional development.

Advantages of community involvement for business

Working with your local community can bring a wide range of benefits. For example, for many businesses, local customers are an important source of sales.

Demonstrating commitment to your community can also improve your business reputation and, in turn, make it easier for you to recruit or retain employees.

A good relationship with local authorities can also help. For instance, some local authorities prefer to award contracts to businesses with a record of community involvement.