Jeremy Wickremer, director, Ideal Media

So when did compliance and marketing decide they were going to grab Corporate Responsibility for themselves? How come the HR and CR Director only started talking to each other when they saw the Times 100 Best Companies to Work For tables? I think HR needs to at the least start playing a bigger role in CR, and preferably start leading the way.

The branding teams at the like of M&S and Innocent soon grasped that they were on to a big winner with CR, meanwhile for most of us HR was playing catch-up taking note that we were either becoming a more or less attractive company to work for.

The initial HR benefits or pitfalls of a good / bad CR strategy are easy to identify in the impact on staff recruitment, retention and motivation. I see the big wins however in the ideal of developing a companies’ CR strategy from the inside out.

In the main the recent CR trend has been mostly driven by external factors; global social and environmental issues, regulation and law, and market forces. This means that most of CR strategy has been reactive. As companies have moved away from risk management and grasped the business opportunity in CR these strategies have become more proactive and strategic. HR represents the biggest, and mostly untapped resource, with which to develop a proactive, robust and long-term CR strategy.

The context of doing business has changed, and this means we need new skills and new ways to do work, and we even need to be different at work.
Just as the company reflects the demands and desires of the external market, the company also reflects the skills and values of those within. Who should be responsible for initiating organisational change based on employee behaviour, if not HR?

New skills have to be looked for in recruitment, new training implemented, and CR policies developed that create an empowering environment to nurture potential and retain the top talent. 

At Banco Real (ABN AMRO) in Brazil, a pioneer in CR before their buy out, all 45,000 of their staff undertook two days training in complex decision making for sustainable business, ie. making business decisions taking into account economic, social and environmental goals. 

How better to implement a robust CR policy than through our nearest stakeholders – our employees?

CR policy without the involvement of HR is flimsy, and will not hold up to close scrutiny. The consumer is savvy enough to realise advertising and PR can be rose-tinted. Trusted employees, however, can have a deeper impact on your stakeholders, and if they have built strong relationships built on shared values their voice is more likely to be heard in times of company difficulties.

Just as the motivation for materialistic growth drives us on, there is now a new energy driving us forward as we realise development must be more holistic to be sustainable. The growth of the company is a reflection of the development of the people within it and vice versa. To grow sustainably, corporate culture could do with relaxing its hold on determining the actions of staff and encouraging us to determine the action’s of the company. Sit back and watch the chaos ensue!

What I’m suggesting is that employees need to be empowered to make decisions based on social, environmental and economic goals, and we need to have the skills to do this. A lot of these attitudes and skills we have already. We may well think like this at home, looking after our family, saving on our energy bill, and tending to the garden, but on the way to work we’ll firmly dump these values in the nearest recycling bin before opening the office door.

The company environment had kept us cushioned from the people and planet we affect, but things have changed. Today in the eyes of the customer - our suppliers, our environment, and our global community has become inseparable from our business.

To adapt to this business leaders need a different attitude. We need to bring our values and humanity to work. Marketing and communications is essential in creating a buzz and motivation to act around CR, and its importance cannot be overlooked. However, there’s no point marketing the company as green or responsible if our customer service team is misinforming our customers and everyone’s leaving the lights on at night. A truly coherent CR strategy will start with its staff and the business and brand will develop naturally as the staff’s values and skills are left to flourish.

How does such an apparently product based company such as Michelin come up with the concept of onWay, where the product is “tyre + service” (punctured tyres are repaired free of charge)? The original business solution had always been to sell as many tyres as possible and this idea is suddenly turned on its head, with customers encouraged to repair old tires! How does this happen without empowering your leaders to think differently?

If an employee shares the values of the company, they will be an effective company ambassador, and added to their skills and knowledge, this is a significant asset. The advantages of developing an inside out CR strategy will be felt as the company develops innovative business plans and builds a lead in the marketplace.

As HR takes a more proactive approach to CR I’m sure we’ll see some really innovative sustainable business solutions. Companies don’t need a few isolated people thinking about social and environmental issues, but an awareness and encouragement to act throughout the whole company. In this way CR is just the way to do business. The companies that grasp the importance of the HR aspect of CR will have the most robust CR strategies, be able to retain the best candidates, and be the most successful. For many companies’ so far, HR+CR= business leadership remains a missed opportunity.

What are we waiting for?

The companies that are able to create an environment where staff express their values and operate in a sustainable business model will uncover a great asset and be the successful companies of the future. These companies will also be the same ones, that through business, will help us solve the global social and environmental dilemmas we now face.