The evolution of corporate social responsibility

Businesses have always known that giving back should be incorporated into their operations and corporate DNA. This is not something new. Many companies have made sure to carve giving back to society into the way they work and make a commitment to improving the lives of the communities where they live and work.

These days, corporate social responsibility has evolved beyond just creating token programs and policies that donate to underprivileged communities or planting trees once a quarter. Now, businesses are being asked to operate responsibly and make a positive impact in the world by putting sustainability as part of their DNA, looking beyond just profit, and helping accelerate positive change.

One would think that this would be a good thing. After all, is there a downside to businesses doing what they can to give back to the community? However, it’s become slightly controversial as well. Some companies may feel “forced” to look beyond profit which used to be the main focus of an organization. For many years, it constantly drilled down to the bottom line.

But now, businesses are also being asked to accept that they have a responsibility not just to their bottom line and to their stakeholders but also to the community and society. And again, that doesn’t just mean token CSR programs. This time this goes beyond just an environmental awareness program but doing what they can to mitigate climate change. Now, being a responsible company means an expanded look at what companies can do to control their impact on the environment – carbon emissions, supply chain, etc.

An expanded look at CSR, or corporate citizenship/responsibility as they call it now, means that companies don’t just do the PR version of giving back but work toward being a responsible business. This means ensuring employees have a livable wage, practicing ethical business practices, and trickling down all these good practices to their people.

The controversy comes in when companies feel “forced” to put this responsibility ahead of profitability. Corporate citizenship and responsibility work only when it is balanced with business operations. Many companies are beginning to realize that they also have a lot to gain by being responsible corporate citizens, especially these days.

One example is creating and launching learning and development programs in the communities. Education can use some help in the country, and many companies are spearheading talent development programs at the grassroots level. They are launching free education programs for the underprivileged and teaching future-proof skills to the next generation.

This is an excellent way of giving back to the community and investing in a future recruitment pool and creating new talents that will answer future business needs. When companies teach digital skills to graduate students, they are creating a new pool of skilled workers that they can tap and nurture moving ahead.

This is just one example. There are many other ways to carve social responsibility into business operations that don’t impact profitability and the bottom line. We can see several diverse examples today in top organizations that continue to do well and simultaneously invest time in creating sustainable programs and better employee engagement.

After all, if you take care of your employees, they will be more productive, efficient, and ultimately happy. Creating programs that put their needs first doesn’t only fit the bill on corporate social responsibility but also creates a workforce better positioned to be innovative and care about the company.

What matters most is finding a good balance between creating company responsibility and strengthening business operations. Woke capitalism doesn’t need to be controversial or daunting if done perfectly with corporate goals. If we all work together at every level, we can create a better world for everyone.

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It’s summertime now, but students are already looking forward to what the next school year will look like. While we remain on Alert Level 1, there still seems to be hesitation for kids returning to school full time. Despite more kids being vaccinated, it’s still quite scary to think of leaving grade school children in classrooms of 35 or more with the potential of still getting infected.

But, the clock is ticking, and this situation should be addressed sooner rather than later. Some pre-schools are starting to do in-person classes, although these are much smaller classes with better supervision. High school kids, on the other hand, can be more relied on to be responsible for following safety protocols.

At this point, it seems to be the grade school students that might need more supervision in class. Several private schools have already begun hybrid schooling, and it seems to be working so far. Perhaps this can be explored more in the coming school year as opposed to full-on everyday face-to-face. Much like working, we need to find better ways to do things, and this is the perfect time to do so on the heels of an unprecedented global pandemic.

Hopefully, our educators can come to a decision that is both beneficial to the kids and teachers and safe at the same time.