How important is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in business?

Good Afternoon everyone! Ellie here from Sinclair & Rush with another blog post. This month I am talking all about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in business. The latest poll question I put out on social media came back with interesting results. The question and poll results are as follows:

“How important is Corporate Social Responsibility in business?” With the multiple choice answers of, very important, not important and I don’t know. The results were as follows: 50% voted very important, 25% put not important and the remaining 25% selected I don’t know.

It does not come as a shock to me that half of those that took part selected “not important” and “I don’t know”, because CSR isn’t necessarily something you would know about unless it directly affects your position; or you own the business. But CSR is something that every employee in a company should understand and aim to adhere to (It looks like 50% of you are doing this anyway!) The more of us that understand what it is and why it helps society the better it will be all round.

To begin, lets define Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, according to Harvard Business School Online, “Is the idea that a business has a responsibility to the society that exists around it…. Firms that embrace CSR are typically organised in a manner that empowers them to act in a socially responsible way to positively impact the world.”

Essentially, every business will have their own methods and strategies depending on what being socially responsible means to them. It will vary industry to industry. But the crux of it is that it shows how a business portrays itself ethically and morally. All businesses should want to ( as well as have an obligation to ) embrace CSR and implement it into their business model. It will ensure you are conversing with aligned customers and will help build a reputable brand, not to mention help our world and environment.

Now, we are going to briefly explain the traditional four categories that CSR is broken down into so you know what needs to be happening in your business.

Firstly, we have Environmental Responsibility. This is the view that companies should conduct their business as environmentally conscious as possible. As much as possible, companies need to reduce harmful practices within business such as decreasing pollution, single use plastics and general waste. Whilst also increasing use of renewable and sustainable resources.

Secondly, we have Ethical Responsibility. This means that businesses conduct their dealings in a fair and honourable way. Examples of this, are companies ensuring their products are not as a result of slavery or child labour. However, to go one step beyond, businesses may want to exceed minimum wage pay or offer company benefits outside of the required, for example. This demonstrates the respect they have for their workers as human beings, not just a number in the business. They may also want to portray a respectful working environment and have mission statements to support this.

Thirdly, we have Philanthropic Responsibility. This is the businesses aim to make the world a better place. It often means a company sets aside a proportion of their profit to non-profit and charitable organisations. This can be to establishments that align with the companies thinking or not at all. In some cases, businesses go as far to create their own charitable trusts. It is essentially giving money to charity for a completely selfless reason.

And the last category of CSR is Economical Responsibility. This is the idea that as well as making a profitable company, your aim is to develop financial practices that have an end goal of doing good for society, its people and its environment.

As you all know, I work for Sinclair & Rush UK, and as manufacturers of plastic, rubber and foam components, we know, all too well, we have a big responsibility to adapt our processes in accordance with CSR. It is even more important for us to ensure we are using as much recyclable content as possible because we are in the plastics business. We have dedicated departments that review our procedures often and we are proud of the many efforts we have gone to to preserve our planet. Likewise, when it comes to our ethical practices, our HR Manager works tirelessly to ensure we are not only in line with our responsibility, but exceeding it. This follows through to our charitable efforts we work on each year as a business too. Feel free to read some of the articles on our news section to support this statement on how we adhere to our CSR responsibility… News from the Plastic Manufacturer Sinclair & Rush | Sinclair & Rush UK (sinclair-rush.co.uk)

I hope this blog has helped you understand better what CSR is, how it is broken down, and why it is essential that every business understands their part and responsibility in society. Please feel free to get involved with comments, we love having you involved.

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Bye for now!