What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility includes many elements, but in general it is what companies do to help others or the environment. Many years ago companies were only interested in their profit margin and keeping their shareholders happy. These days many have come to understand that for the greatest sustainability, employees, customers, the general community and the environment are all important.

They realise that if they are seen to be polluting the environment, for instance, they will get a bad reputation that will impact on their standing in the community and perhaps even their end profits. But if they are seen to be doing something to protect the environment then the man in the street will accept and embrace them, thus creating an element that is even more important than short-term profits, viz. sustainability and popularity.

It is not only about the environment of course, but also taking care of people - employees or the general public, or both. After all, in many cases it is the general public who makes or breaks a company, especially if they are selling products or providing services. If a company develops such a bad reputation for greedy profit at the expense of people, their sales will go down.

To this end there must be corporate volunteering to do the right thing because as yet there are no laws to enforce corporate social responsibility. Business volunteers will find that establishing ethical behaviours in the business is not so hard once they get into it and volunteering overseas is particularly rewarding.

Volunteering for a leadership development program is one good way to start as you can then learn what needs to be done in this area and develop actions to carry your plans through. Even within the company there will be many ways in which such ethics can be implemented to give employees the support they need. It might be as simple as ensuring that the workplace is safe, or beginning a program to help employees that may be addicted to the company's product.