Do you know your CSR perception? Do you even care, much less even know what CSR is? With business recommendations being made or broken on social media, you should care if your company is perceived to be delivering on Corporate Social Responsibility.
According to the Reputation Institute’s 2013 CSR RepTrak 100 study, only five per cent of companies are seen as delivering on the promise of corporate social responsibility – which is unfortunate, considering companies spend in the neighbourhood of $100 million annually on CSR initiatives.
“CSR essentially speaks to who the company is, what it believes in, and how it is doing business,” says Kasper Ulf Nielsen, executive partner at the Reputation Institute. “It is a core element of reputation and can be used to help establish trust and goodwill among stakeholders. Almost half of people’s willingness to trust, admire, and feel good about a company is based on their perceptions of the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts.”
Four organizations that placed among the CSR RepTrak top four globally for 2013 also made the top four the previous year – Microsoft, The Walt Disney Company, Google and BMW.
For North America, Kellogg’s made the list for 2013, coming in second.
“This is an important tool for companies to use to improve support from key stakeholders including consumers, regulators, the financial community, and employees,” says Nielsen.
For RSA Insurance, the company sent broker partners and staff to Nicaragua to help build a school and resource centre for a local village last year – a socially responsible corporate initiative that they have chosen to repeat for 2014. (continued.)
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“Employees were invited to submit a short essay on why they should be chosen to participate on the trip,” says Elsy Sloan of MLS Insurance Brokers Inc. “There was an outstanding response from brokers and RSA employees across Canada.”
Last year, RSA sent nine broker partners and staff. For 2014, the number of participants has increased to 14.
“From January 4 to 11, 14 RSA employees and broker partners from across the country made their way to Jinotega, Nicaragua to build two homes for two local families to live in,” says Sloan.
Some of the findings from the study concerning consumer perception and opinion include:
- Only 17 per cent of consumers are willing to recommend a company that has a poor CSR reputation;
- 35 per cent believe that the 100 companies studied are good corporate citizens that protect the environment and support good causes;
- 59 per cent will go out of their way to communicate something positive about a company with an excellent CSR reputation; and
- 73 per cent will definitely recommend companies perceived to have an excellent CSR reputation.
The CSR RepTrak study included more than 100,000 interviews among the general public between January-February 2013, with markets in 15 industrialized countries that included Canada. (continued.)
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But looking beyond the numbers, the success of being a good corporate citizen can be seen in the faces of those that help, and those who are helped.
“I believe that charitable efforts such as these do have an impact,” says Sloan. “When they see brokerages giving back, it definitely says a lot about that person and the people working there.
“It was a positive experience for everyone – the community, myself, and my brokerage.”
