Building a Better Future: 4 Strategies for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Workplace

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy is only as effective as the employees who are responsible for executing it. This means that you need to build a workplace culture that values lean quality and social responsibility equally. 

As a business leader, you can build a better future by embracing motivational strategies that help employees embody your corporate social responsibility program. Even small changes, like recycling within the office, can make a big difference to your workplace culture.

READ: Unlocking the Power of DEI — Building Better Programs for Business and People

Implementing the ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is designed to ensure that all workers have equal access to the tools they need to be successful. As a business leader, you can take proactive steps to make your workplace more accessible like: 

  • Instal ramps and handrails 
  • Buy visual fire alarms
  • Implement automatic doors 
  • Ensure signage is accessible to all 

Go above and beyond your ADA responsibilities by giving staff access to accessibility tech like screen readers, magnifying tools, closed caption or sign language translation and large print materials. This will show that you’re serious about inclusivity and will build a better corporate culture in your workplace.

As a business leader, you’re also responsible for ensuring that consumers and clients can navigate your workspace. Current ADA guidance asks all businesses to make “reasonable accommodations” to help companies better serve folks with disabilities. Start simple by removing physical barriers to exit and entry. Over time, you may need to make more thorough adjustments, like sign language interpreters. If you’re unsure of how to proceed, consider speaking to your clients to find out what they want from your business. 

READ: 6 Simple Ways to Encourage Employee Wellness — Key Strategies and Benefits

Carbon neutrality

As a business leader, you can help combat climate change by building a carbon-neutral company. This may take time, as businesses use a lot of energy, but the motivational boost will be well worth the effort. Start with simple steps like: 

  • Reduce emissions by hosting virtual conferences instead of physical ones
  • Rethink your supply chain and opt for low-impact vendors
  • Instal solar panels and switch to renewable energy sources
  • Offset any carbon that can’t be mitigated via reduction schemes

These changes may incur some short-term costs. However, climate-conscious staff want to work for businesses that take their commitment to climate change seriously. This means you’ll recoup your expenditures due to lower turnover and increased day-to-day productivity.  

READ: Becoming a Zero-Emissions State — How Alternative Fuels Are Transforming Transportation in Colorado

Ethical leadership

An ethical leadership model foregrounds the importance of your business’s values and champions the dignity of others. To become an ethical leader, you’ll need to audit your current policy and procedures to ensure that all of your corporate social responsibility values are aligned. 

Promote ethical leadership in your company by opening lines of communication. This will help you pick up on missteps and help you better understand the challenges that your staff face. Beware of bias when becoming an ethical leader — it’s easy to believe you’re doing a great job when, in fact, folks are scared to tell you the truth. 

Identify biases by offering anonymous reviews. Once you’ve gathered some data, use the reviews to make policy-level changes to your firm. 

Employee empowerment

Your employees are the backbone of your business. Without highly engaged, motivated staff, your company will fail. As a modern employer, you should do everything in your power to ensure that your people feel empowered at work and proud to say they work for your business. 

Start by overhauling your benefits and policies to include everyone. For example, if you’re about to run a new recruitment drive, review your job advertisements to assess the materials’ inclusivity. You need to recruit a diverse cast of employees if you want staff to feel empowered at work, but may accidentally alienate some applicants with gendered or restrictive language. 

Find unique ways to reward employees who champion your values at work. Put aside a budget for these boons, and give your star employees a chance to decide how they’d like to be rewarded. This ensures that your staff feels valued and can make full use of your empowerment program. 

READ: Navigating the New Era of Employee Engagement — Everything You Need to Know

The bottom line 

Corporate social responsibility is key to the long-term success of lean workplaces. By embracing CSR, you can build a better future for your business and your employees. Embrace simple changes at first — like using more inclusive language — and build on these by reviewing your CSR performance every quarter. 

 

Indiana Lee Bio PictureIndiana Lee is a writer, reader, and jigsaw puzzle enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest. An expert on business operations, leadership, marketing, and lifestyle, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.

Crafting Your New CSR Strategy for 2023

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs took a big hit as companies worked to navigate the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As companies got a handle on their business affairs, 2022 was the year they were able to ramp up their CSR programs back to full speed or at least consider incorporating a CSR strategy. As we look ahead to 2023, here are some key trends that you should keep in mind to either start or build out your CSR programs.

Using Volunteerism to Rebuild Company Culture

One universal consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic that companies in all industries are facing is the cultural shift that comes from returning to the office after working from home for an extended period of time.

READ — 5 Tips for Building a Strong Company Culture in a Hybrid Work Environment

With hybrid schedules becoming more of the norm, many new people are starting their employment during these hybrid or remote times. This is the perfect time to use volunteerism to help build connections among employees, even for those that are more introverted.

There is nothing like mucking a horse pasture or doing some grueling trail maintenance with fellow colleagues to create lasting connections and camaraderie! Increasing your volunteer programming within your CSR strategy will have a huge benefit, not only regarding those you are helping in your community but internally as well.

Connecting your CSR and DEI Programming

As Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programming continues to remain a top priority for organizations, you can use your CSR strategy to elevate your DEI efforts and create opportunities for your colleagues to engage with diverse communities.

Many companies provide training and educational sessions addressing DEI. Why not add a volunteer opportunity to provide colleagues with a personal way to connect with those in the community? For example, in honor of Black History Month, in addition to hosting our traditional cultural initiatives event, we also hosted volunteers and partnered with Communities in Schools to provide story times with elementary school students to share the influence and contributions of individuals of African descent. Aligning your DEI efforts with volunteer opportunities and charitable contributions to organizations focused on serving diverse communities will strengthen both your CSR strategy and DEI efforts.

Emergency and Disaster Relief Strategy

Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires, mass shootings, hate crimes, wars and a global pandemic … the world is facing a major increase in the number of natural and man-made disasters. Incorporating an emergency and disaster relief strategy will provide your company with the ability to quickly and meaningfully respond to such incidents, rather than taking a more panicked and responsive approach.

Consider which stage of disaster relief to focus on (i.e., preparedness, relief, reconstruction), which type of support to provide (hosting a campaign/event, investing financially, deploying volunteers, pro bono support), where to give, both geographically and frequency (which is particularly challenging), and your alignment with existing disaster relief organizations.

As you craft your strategy, take a look back at how the pandemic shifted CSR strategy (a “disaster” of its own sort) and take note of lessons learned. This is a good time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t in the event another major crisis comes along and CSR efforts have to evolve.

READ — How Business Leaders Can Embrace a Multigenerational Workforce

As we wrap up 2022, I hope you and your company plan to incorporate a more robust CSR program as businesses are now back to the new normal. For those just starting their CSR journey, B:Civic, a part of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, is a great local resource. As companies must navigate how to rebuild post-pandemic company culture, an intentional CSR program can be an impactful tool.

 

Jayme RitchieJayme Ritchie is Brownstein’s Community Relations Director.