Ethics in employment: social responsibility begins at home

HR professionals may be unsure about the tangible benefits of ethical employment policies but they are certain that employee volunteering and other CSR activities are good news for business, according to research released today (13 August 2004) by IRS Employment Review, published by LexisNexis.

The specialist journal surveyed 51 organisations to find out how UK employers are adopting ethical policies (see notes to editors). The full survey is available in issue 805 of IRS Employment Review (www.irsemploymentreview.com).


Key findings include:

Almost seven in 10 (68%) 35 organisations have introduced an ethical employment policy and almost one in 10 (9.8%) plans to develop one in the future.

More than eight in 10 HR professionals (88.23%) believe that the HR function has made a genuine difference to the organisationís ethical profile by promoting positive behaviour and relationships in the workplace.

More than half (58%) say that ethical employment practices have made a real difference to the organisationís success.

Just over half (51%) of the respondents surveyed felt able to assess the impact of ethical employment policies on areas such as staff loyalty, morale, productivity, recruitment and retention. Recruitment is most likely to be affected positively and productivity the least but in many instances, no effect was reported.

No organisations reported any negative effects.

Seven in 10 (70.5%) respondents said that they had seen no evidence that employees or job applicants are concerned about the corporate ethics of the organisation - compared with 29% who had.

Around two-thirds of respondents are involved with either community or charitable work. The most popular are cash donations and event or project sponsorship.

Becoming involved in community or charitable work and helping others - to enhance corporate image - are the two most frequently cited reasons for adopting CSR.

More than half (52.9%) of the organisations surveyed said they have a formal CSR policy, compared with 37.2% that do not.

Just over one in 10 employers (11.76%) have a CSR manager or equivalent role heading the CSR policy within the organisation.

Two thirds (66.6%) of those surveyed say their overall approach to CSR has not changed in the past few years

IRS Employment Review managing editor, Mark Crail said:

ìPolicies covering the fair and ethical treatment of employees vary in nature and coverage. From our surveyís findings, it seems that there is no guarantee that an ethical employment policy brings tangible benefits but HR managers report that it can be beneficial.

ìEmployers have some way to go before they are convinced about the long-term value of stand-alone ethical employment policies. Unless the results can be measured and shown to be beneficial, progress is likely to be slow. In the meantime, employers are more likely to commit to CSR activities that bring greater public recognition such as volunteering and charitable donations.î