Laurent Le Pajolec is a passionate advocate for ESG, or Environmental, Social and Governance standards. In addition to being an Exco A2A Poland partner and board member, he is a member of the CSR committee for the whole of the Exco network, and ESG committee member for Kreston Global. He was recently interviewed by the International Accounting Bulletin on his thoughts on corporate social responsibility and its role in employee engagement. Read the full article here, or read a summary of his contribution below.
What is corporate social responsibility?
It is officially recognised as “the responsibility of companies for the effects they have on society” within the European Union. CSR is an inherently outward-looking standard, often supported by law, which considers the impact of a business’s ethics and behaviour on its stakeholders.
Implementing a CSR strategy
Laurent advises a seven-stage process for implementing a CSR strategy effectively. It needs to be a whole-organisation policy and takes robust planning to be executed effectively. The stages are;
Getting support and sharing experience.
Appointing a project manager.
Conducting an audit.
Define a strategy and an action plan.
Evaluate the necessary budget.
Implement the necessary action plan.
Measuring ROI.
Using CSR as an employee engagement tool
Laurent warns about the dangers of under-resourcing a CSR project, particularly as it has so many other benefits, other than complying with the law or reaching minimum standards. It helps you build a better corporate brand, attracting talent that syncs with the business’s purpose, creating a clear vision that all employees can share and be part of, and sharing these values creates highly engaged and motivated teams. This corporate culture could also be a great differentiating point between your company and your competitor, which attracts not only employees, but similar-minded clients, too.
KPIs – measuring your CSR plan for success
Whilst a balance sheet can measure some of the successes of a robust CSR strategy, such as reducing recruitment costs and business development, it is important to not forget to measure customer and employee satisfaction.
To discuss these issues with Laurent, please get in touch.