HR’s role is to embed Corporate Responsibility into the DNA of any organisation ensuring CR is not just a management buzz word but actually impacts on how people in an organisation act. This ranges from recruitment practises, training, engaging, reward and recognition, and even disciplining – all of which come under the HR umbrella, it’s down to us to turn the intangible into measureable actions and behaviours.Through strong leadership, clarity and consistency around CR it will happen as people understand what needs to be done and why it needs to be done. Our roles as leaders speak volumes ensuring messages cascade down effectively making sure CR is instilled in our people, letting us make a difference, and isn’t just PR which may ultimately damage our credibility.
Recipe for PR+HR= CR. First –HR may influence the leadership that CR is good for business. How will depend on the business. Second - Transform the nice words sent on pamphlets with photos of the smiling and grateful about its value, with a review of policies, rewards, and behaviours that reflect the values implicit in CR. For example, make it real by: reducing economic inequality between highest and lowest paid in your business, rewarding the involvement of staff in voluntary work by recognition and time out, involving staff in fund-raising and the choices of recipients – not only those communities on the doorstep of business.
I think a key contribution that HR can make in embedding corporate social responsibility is to develop systemic practices that support the understanding, promotion and application of organisational values and the behaviours associated with them. At the RNLI our values are concerned with being selfless, courageous, trustworthy and dependable and we recruit, reward and develop our workforce on this basis. If you get this foundation right, it will naturally support a stance that encourages an awareness of one's responsibility and impact, not just within the organisation but also in the wider community.
The starting point to any discussion in this area must be the values of an organisation the business strategy designed to deliver on the ambitions of the firm. CR, when done well, has an important role to play in HR - the development of the employer brand, helping build credibility with employees and clients, contributing to recruitment, retention, engagement and development of our people. All of which must be focused on HR being a true partner to the business if both HR and CR is to be sustainable.HR provides a tangible route to embed elements of an organisations CR commitments and ambitions for example our decision to pay the Living Wage to suppliers, or our School Leavers Programme helping young people access the profession. But ultimately addressing issues such as climate change, ethics, human rights and supply chain management have to be part of an overarching business strategy.
BT knows the difference between CR with, and without, HR. It’s about taking things beyond the bottom line. Talking the talk is PR, walking the talk is CR, and action by a whole organisation, inside and out, is embedded sustainability.You can make some progress with pockets of enthusiasts and teams of CR professionals. That’s not enough. Embedding means everyone. It's values-based and needs a ‘whole system’ model. We have to be resolving the issues that everyone relates to.HR is uniquely the keeper of the values and behaviours of an organisation. HR has to make it easy for people to do the right thing to make it part of the DNA. Embedding sustainability is more than the 'business' - we have to involve the whole organisation, the whole person and their whole communities. Our people make it happen.
Top organisations understand that taking responsibility means thinking beyond legal requirements, customer expectations and shareholder pressures in managing all aspects of the organisation and its supply chain. ‘We have a letter from our solicitor....’, ‘We are only providing what customers want ...’, ‘Our shareholders wouldn’t agree to ....’ or ‘Procedures were followed but have since been tightened....’ – are all becoming increasingly unacceptable justifications for any actions that pollute, exploit, mislead, discriminate, cover-up, injure or impoverish. The default response of many organisations to the emerging ethical and environmental challenges of the 21st Century is often procedural, relying on systems, targets and codes of conduct. Too often their usefulness is more in deflecting pressure after something has gone wrong, rather than in acting to improve day-to-day management and reduce risks. Ultimately corporate responsibility depends upon promoting a sense of responsibility in management decision-making and in the way everyone in the organisation thinks about and does their job. That makes it a fundamentally HR issue.
Embedding corporate responsibility is not about what you say, but what you do - it’s all about changing behaviours, and in my view that is an area where HR can and should make a unique contribution. We had a good example in my own organisation. Having promoted Green Travel with businesses in our area, we had to look at our own practices. In practice that meant reviewing our approach to two areas dear to all our hearts – car parking and car allowances. We’ve now restricted both to those who can show a good business case for using their cars for work. How to do it? As with most culture change, it’s about showing there’s a good reason to do things differently – the environmental arguments were clear, and so were those about practicing what you preach. It’s also about being clear that change is going to happen – the discussion is about how. I wouldn’t claim this is easy. But if corporate responsibility is going to mean anything it has to be demonstrated in the way an organisation does business on a day to day basis – and because organisations are basically about people, that means how employees behave. HR has a key role in influencing that and in designing the processes which support it.
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