Corporate Social Responsibility

Among companies and businesses today, there is a trend towards undertaking what is called "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR). The basic idea of CSR is that companies should be doing more to ensure that the community they operate in is taken care of. This could take various forms - anywhere from feeding programs to livelihood projects, and even environmental cleanups.

It's a good concept, and I don't see anyone disagreeing with this in principle. The thing is, a great many companies that supposedly practice CSR are under the mindset that it is an opportunity for self-promotion. If one surveys each of these companies and tries to find out which specific department is in charge with CSR, then most likely one will be pointed to the company's public relations (PR) department.

There are many problems associated with practicing CSR with a PR mindset. On top of all these is the fact that a company's actions are dictated by what would benefit its own reputation, rather than what is actually needed by the community. And speaking of the community, most companies (which are located in highly-urbanized centers) do not really have an idea of which community they belong to, or which community needs their help. Worst of all, CSR is sometimes used to coverup a particular company's unfair treatment of its own employees.

I've worked for a company which undertakes various CSR projects in different provinces - and must have spent millions of pesos already to that end - but whose record of treating it's own employees right is downright dismal. Every pay date, there are at least 50 disputes (a conservative estimate - and this is just for one site) for reasons ranging from invalid deductions, non-payment of agreed-upon allowances, to actual non-payment of salaries. Curiously, with all these, it still has a good corporate reputation, no doubt considerably brought about by its PR machinery and well-publicized CSR projects.

One point that is so easily missed by companies like these is the fact that the foremost communities that they should be serving are their own respective corporate communities. If a company's leaders can't treat their employees right or treat them in a manner that leaves them gravely disadvantaged, then there is no moral reason to keep helping distant communities. As the old saying goes, one should clean one's own backyard first.

The more relevant social responsibility of a corporation is the responsibility of safeguarding the welfare of its own employees. Addressing the needs of some distant community while neglecting the interests of those who are occupying the lower ranks of the corporate hierarchy is not is not being socially-responsible - it is called hypocrisy.

If companies are really sincere in undertaking CSR projects then the following guidelines are helpful:

1. They should not advertise themselves doing these CSR activities. CSR is not PR.

2. They should not make participation in CSR projects mandatory unless such participation is expressly indicated in the employees' job contracts.

3. CSR being a corporate activity, it should be held during office hours and not during rest days or holidays.

4. Employees who choose to participate in CSR should have full death, accident and medical insurance coverage, regardless of tenure.

5. Participation in CSR should not be used as a basis for rating or promoting employees unless such is expressly indicated in the employees' job contract.

6. Most importantly, an index should be devised which measures employee satisfaction. If it is found that employee satisfaction falls below a certain prescribed limit, then a moratorium on CSR activities should be enforced. Resources should then be directed towards raising employee satisfaction before undertaking new CSR activities.