What is CSR?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is doing day-to-day business in a socially and environmentally responsible way. It is also known as Sustainable Development (SD), Corporate Responsibility (CR) and a whole load of other things. We're just using CSR for convenience

Why bother?

• Enhance the image of your business – Just adopting ethical practices will generate a professional, responsible, thinking, caring, honest image which will increase your customers’ confidence in your business
• Differentiate your business from your competitors – Being seen as being ethical will never be a disadvantage to your business and could be a source of competitive advantage
• Reduce costs through re-cycling and reduced energy consumption – reusing, recycling, and reducing your consumption of materials and energy will inevitably lead to cost savings
• It is becoming the ‘licence to operate’ – CSR practices are often becoming required as many territories become environmentally and socially aware
• Attract ethically conscious customers – It is becoming increasingly common for consumers to make choices based on the ethical reputation of the brand in addition to price and quality
• Aid the attraction and retention of staff – There is substantial evidence that employees will actively chose a business that they consider to behave responsibly and that working for a company that people are proud of can be a great motivator

...but don't just take our word for it! Click here for the evidence

Our top tips

 Save energy

• Switch off equipment and lighting at the mains when not in use
• Look into using greener energy suppliers
• Ensure your building is insulated and energy efficient

Promote 'green' travel

• Look at how staff travel to and from work and promote greener alternatives such as car sharing, cycling and walking
• Look at how staff travel to meetings during work time and look at the possibilty of combining trips or using public transport

Encourage local community involvement

• Encourage your staff to get involved in the local community through volunteering
• Offer work experience for local schools / colleges
• Look into payroll giving schemes for staff

   Minimise paper and packaging

• Print/photocopy on both sides of paper
• Don't use post-it notes - they're not recyclable
• Use e-invoicing

  Engage your staff in your CSR agenda

• Set up 'teams' to monitor progress on CSR activities and suggest improvement / alternatives
• Provide incentives for staff

  Use ethically sourced products

• Buy fairtrade tea and coffee for break time
• Use locally and ethically sourced stationary

  Reduce, reuse, recycle

• Use mugs instead of plastic / paper cups
• Donate surplus furniture / equipment
• Implement a recycling system to minimise your waste to landfill

  Tell everyone what you are doing!

• Put together your own CSR strategy (don't panic it doesn't have to be long!) - see our CSR strategy for ideas
• Include a responsible business message at the end of emails
• Communicate your activities and responsibile business message to suppliers and customers through newsletters and your website

What media4change can do for you

We can ensure your organisation reaps the maximum benefit from your social and environmental activities. To do this...

• we get to know your business – Firstly we will talk with you and your staff to make sure we understand what you do, how you do it, who your customers and other stakeholders are and what your priorities are
• we find out what you are already doing – You may be surprised how many of the activities that you have already adopted are contributing to your positive impact.  We will carry out an audit on your business to find out what you are already doing
• we identify areas for change/improvement – Based on the audit we identify activities that you could adopt and make recommendations based on what we believe should be your initial priorities
• we promote your ‘CSR’ message both internally and externally – We deliver training and communications to raise awareness of your ‘CSR’ stance and to gain buy in from your employees.  We then ensure that your ‘CSR’ message is publicised externally using both existing and new marketing and communications channels
• we work with you on an on going basis to ensure you keep your ‘CSR’ programme alive – We will monitor your progress versus the original recommendations and make new recommendations on and ongoing basis.  We will also ensure that your internal and external messages remain fresh, engaging, up to date and accurate

Useful links

Small Business Journey

The small business journey aims to help small businesses to realise more value by behaving responsibly

Better Business Journey

An excellent publication within the small business journey which provides guidance and actions to help businesses increase their profitability through behaving responsibly

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