People management is central to successful Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives can enhance an organisationís reputation. However, such initiatives will only succeed if they get buy-in across the organisation and embed CSR within the business, according to a new report launched today from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). If they succeed in doing this, the report concludes, CSR initiatives can act as a powerful lever for attracting and retaining good people to work for the organisation.

The CIPD has been working with the CSR Academy to promote awareness and understanding of the DTI CSR Competency Framework. The new report, Making CSR happen: the contribution of people management, was commissioned as part of this co-operation and will be launched at the DTI today. Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Corporate Social Responsibility, will be joined by HR and CSR professionals to discuss how leading edge organisations are getting business benefits from their CSR programmes.

Duncan Brown, CIPD Assistant Director General, will outline key messages from the report

Andrew Dunnett, Project Director at the CSR Academy, will talk about the Academyís plans for the coming year

Diane Sinclair, Employee Relations Manager (EMEA) at EDS, will explain how the DTI CSR competency framework is helping the organisation implement its CSR agenda.

Research commissioned by CIPD and undertaken by CSR experts The Virtuous Circle studied 12 major organisations to explore how people management contributed to effective corporate social responsibility initiatives. These include Accenture, B&Q, British American Tobacco, British Telecom, HBOS and Prudential.

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, says, ìCSR can have a major impact on external and internal perceptions of an organisation. It can help employers address business issues, such as improved recruitment and retention, reputation and staff commitment. But organisations must also recognise that social and environmental reporting is not enough to protect an organisations image, and can backfire unless the organisation has genuinely embedded values and cultural change.

ìCSR is about building relationships with a range of stakeholder groups. In an increasingly knowledge and service-based economy, employees are the key stakeholders and many of the CSR activities reported are aimed at improving the employment relationship. But employers must also make sure they are consistent, and that what they say is reflected in what they do. This means ensuring CSR principles are reflected in the way the organisation manages its people and the processes it uses for recruitment and selection, training and development and performance management.î

The case studies illustrate the degree of overlap in practice between HR and CSR activities. Mike Emmott says, ìThe key message for HR professionals is that CSR offers them many opportunities to use their skills and experience to make a strategic contribution to the business. Without their input organisations may be accused of designing CSR activities mainly for external consumption. But where HR is involved, CSR thinking and behaviour needs to be driven right across the organisation and become an everyday part of its policies and practices.î

Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Corporate Social Responsibility, adds, ìThe research presented in this report demonstrates the value of effective people management as a way to develop and implement CSR principles across various business activities. HR plays a pivotal role in delivering responsible business practice, and should be central to a companyís engagement in the CSR agenda.

ìUsing the CSR Academyís Competency Framework in business learning supports the on-going work of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in this area. The business benefits of both HR and CSR processes are clear and, as CSR Minister, Iím very pleased to offer my support to those companies that have understood the opportunities and are responding to the challenge.î

Many organisations are currently looking for help with building CSR into their day-to-day operations. This is where the DTI CSR competency framework comes in. By breaking down CSR into manageable elements expressed in business language, the DTI CSR competency framework can be a valuable tool for organisations to use in re-moulding and refining their people management processes. One example of this from the report is EDS, which is using the framework to produce e-learning materials on CSR for its managers.