Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Your Business Should Care
3 min read
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means different things to different businesses. For me, it’s about businesses recognising that their success is a privilege and, as such, we have a responsibility to sincerely give back to our local community, and not just see CSR as a PR opportunity.
However, often the real challenge is choosing the right cause to support, there are so brilliant opportunities to make a difference. Aligning the values of your team with a charitable organisation is instrumental to effective CSR. To illuminate this, we just have to look at millennials.
A fresh take: corporate social responsibility
By 2020, millennials will make up more than 50% of the UK workforce. This shift should reshape your company’s attitude to CSR.
Each generation operates in a different way; what drives Boomers won’t necessarily drive Millennials or Generations Xers. This puts a lot of pressure on upper management to appease the needs of an ever-changing workforce.
In a study conducted by the Institute of Leadership and Management, millennials flagged concerns around their organisations social responsibility. In fact, 77% of the respondents said they felt their companies were far too occupied with their own agendas.
Millennials thrive in environments where they feel a sense of purpose. When turning up to work everyday also gives them the chance to do some good in the world, millennials are less likely to feel helpless and more likely to feel empowered. Employees are also more likely to see upper management in a positive light, if they feel the business is dealing constructively with wider socio-economic issues.
As such, there’s a lot to be said for engaging with your workforce on issues that matter to them, in order to identify the most suitable cause to support.
How has silverbean responded to this?
Just a couple of the amazing organisations we’ve had the opportunity to work with include Smart Works, a local charity that provides free clothing and interview training to local women who are unemployed. We also had the pleasure of working closely with Family Gateway, a local children’s charity, throughout the summer last year.
‘Whenever we do a bit of charity work, there’s a real sense of comradery across the Silverbean agency. Giving back to the community gives us all a chance to gain some perspective, whilst doing our bit to help those in need.’ – Amy Cousins, 24, Content Marketing Consultant
Key takeaways
- Effective CSR starts local, and taps into the values of your employees
- Millennials take up a large, growing chunk of the current UK workforce
- Millennials work best in environments where they feel a sense of social responsibility
- Volunteering at local charities and collecting food or clothes donations are just a couple of ways to do your bit
Do you have any advice on how corporations can do better to give back? Comment your ideas below!
By Damian Hall
About the author
Damian Hall works at Silverbean, a digital marketing agency in Newcastle, as their Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Silverbean, Damian worked as an international Executive Coach and Business/Leadership Development Consultant.
