CSR and the communication professional

 

 

By Ingrid Selene

 

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Ingrid Selene is principal of the Communication At Work practice at Aon Consulting based in Sydney, Australia

 

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Corporate Social Responsibility is the latest “must have” strategy for large corporations. But is it a “must do” item for employee communication managers?

Yes.

First, a little background.

There are many different definitions of CSR, and there are large variations between countries and companies as to what issues they focus on in their CSR strategies. Broadly speaking, CSR refers to how companies engage with all their stakeholders and make socially responsible decisions that conform to ethical behavior and obey the law.

To date, a lot has been written about what CSR is, why companies should do it, how to develop and implement a CSR program, how to measure/evaluate/assess a company’s CSR credentials, and what reporting companies should be undertaking. In this article, I turn attention to CSR and the implications for the employee communication function in organizations.

Companies are joining the CSR bandwagon for a variety of reasons; usually it is not just because they think it is the right thing to do. It could be that they regard a CSR program as a way to:

• Promote the company and its products
• Enhance the brand image and brand values
• Reduce regulatory constraints on the business or improve the regulatory environment in which they operate
• Facilitate a better, more cooperative working relationship with local communities
• Attract and retain employees
• Create a better work environment for employees that increases productivity and/or supports other strategic objectives
• Gain inclusion in ethical investment funds.

Finally, some companies may be reluctant supporters, purely introducing CSR programs to meet corporate law requirements in the country where they’re listed on the stock exchange.

Most of these strategies for taking up CSR can’t be achieved unless there is external promotion of the company’s CSR activities. Governments, local communities, customers and potential employees need to be told about a company’s CSR activities if they are to have the desired impact. It is therefore not surprising that from a communications perspective companies have focused on their external PR, promoting their CSR credentials to the external stakeholders.

Less attention has generally been given to the internal promotion of their CSR activities. Opportunities are lost because of this bias, and the potential return from a company’s CSR investment not maximized. Aligning the internal communication to the values and goals of the CSR program is essential if CSR is to become embedded in the organization.

This is, of course, is where you come in.

Internal communications and CSR

It is time now for the focus to shift to the implications of CSR for internal, employee communication and the role that this function should play in supporting a company’s CSR objectives. At Aon Australia we are now going through this transition—for example, having undertaken much of the work to develop our philanthropy program we are looking at how we communicate this program internally and promote the associated activities to our employees.

While the internal communications team can (and should) be consulted when a company is developing its CSR strategy, and our views on the proposed policies, activities and programs sought, we can’t control these factors. What we do have is some control and influence over the CSR-related communications to employees. These communications can enhance, ignore or potentially contradict the company’s CSR strategy. It’s therefore important that both what is communicated and how it’s done aligns with this strategy.

CSR and what we communicate

First addressing what we communicate—there are two categories of CSR communication in which we might be involved:

• Special, one-off projects to internally promote a CSR initiative, e.g., the introduction of an employee payroll deduction scheme for charitable donations.
• Inclusion of CSR messages within existing internal communication vehicles on an ongoing basis. Articles in newsletters, features on the intranet (such as a CSR topic of the month) and feedback surveys that measure awareness of the CSR strategy are just some of the things to be considered.

In addition, we should consider:

• Proactively adding a CSR perspective to stories, articles, presentations on other topics
• Avoiding communications that conflict with the CSR strategy.

The options you have to promote the company’s CSR program, heighten awareness and provide regular information and updates, will depend on your employee communication infrastructure. The important issue is that we should be considering the company’s CSR goals in our advice on all communications and everything we produce, just as we should be taking the company’s vision and values into account.

We have a particular responsibility when it comes to the communications we produce for the CEO and executive team. We know that employees won’t see CSR as important to the company unless these messages come from the top, and are seen as being important to the senior management.

So when we are preparing communications to be issued by this leadership team we need to put them through a CSR filter. Is what we’re saying consistent with the company’s CSR strategy and values? Does it enhance or contradict these values? Should something else be included that further supports our CSR program? Does the method of communication reflect the values espoused in the CSR strategy?

Obviously these considerations shouldn’t be to the exclusion of other business objectives, or have higher priority, rather they should be in addition to them.

The internal communication teams can’t support the CSR program unless they’re well briefed on it, and have a process in place for keeping up to date on the company’s CSR strategy and activities. They also need to be aware of the external communication activities that are being undertaken relating to the strategy. In those organizations where the responsibility for all these functions come within the same department this should not be a problem. Formal structures, regular meetings and protocols may, however, be helpful if a number of different areas of the organization are involved.

Part of CSR is how we communicate

Regarding how we communicate, there needs to be consistency between the values as espoused by the CSR program and both how we ourselves work and how we implement the corporate communications for which we’re responsible. There are a number of aspects to this that we should be aware of:

• Timelines
• Inclusiveness
• Responsiveness
• Consideration of individual needs and differences
• Respect for others

The individual CSR strategy of our company will determine the importance to us of each of these factors, their relevance and what specific issues we need to consider.

For example, if a company’s CSR program includes strong support for the local community then we need to support members of this community in our work force, e.g., by translating communications materials that come from head office into the local language.

Or, as another example, if safety is a key element of the CSR program we need to consider whether there are safety implications of a subject we are communicating about (e.g., a building refurbishment program). It might not be an essential, core element of the communication but it could be a good opportunity to reinforce the safety message and support this CSR goal.

In some organizations, the corporate communications department will also have the scope to devise and introduce its own projects that support the company’s CSR program. When I was the director of corporate affairs at Pharmacia, Australia, I was able to develop and implement an employee volunteer award. A key objective of this program was to demonstrate to employees that Pharmacia was a “good company with good employees” at a time when there was a lot of negative publicity about the industry and one of our company’s products.

It was a relatively simple program designed to recognize and celebrate the volunteer activities of our employees. I launched the program at a company meeting, made copies of the support materials and nomination forms available on the intranet, featured nominees in the monthly newsletter, and announced the winner at the end of the year with further companywide communications.

Acknowledging the contribution that individual employees make to their local communities can be important for all companies, and critical for the success of their CSR strategy. The strategy may be met with cynicism or derision if employees feel that their own efforts are being ignored.

Do you need to be a CSR specialist?

We live in a world of ever narrowing areas of specialization and sub-specialization, and the communication field is not immune to this trend. CSR has certainly become its own field of specialization. There are experts in devising CSR strategies, experts in measuring and reporting on CSR, and experts in implementing various CSR activities such as stakeholder engagement programs and selection of charitable organizations.

There is also some movement towards creating CSR communications as a speciality field. But as internal communication experts we should approach CSR as we do any of the other subjects we need to communicate.

We are used to learning and communicating about topics as diverse as the impact of a merger or acquisition, or the introduction of a new IT system. Just as you don’t need to be an M&A or technology expert, you don’t need to be a CSR expert. But you do need to be a strategic employee communications specialist who can develop a communication strategy that will support and enhance CSR within the company.

 

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