Research has consistently shown that raising awareness of the company, especially in the age of technology, can positively impact your company’s profitability. Customers and employees want to support organizations that respond generously to the needs of a community and socially responsible people. It also promotes innovation and collaboration, and can even help you get funding from investors.
In short, it makes a better world if you not only become a more socially responsible business but also make your business a success. Of course, it is one thing to say that your company should give something back to the community. In fact, it is different to become socially responsible.
There are certainly many ways to be socially responsible. Here are seven options:
1. Create a social responsibility mission.
“Social responsibility is part of your company’s roadmap,” says Nikki Korn of Cause House, which helps companies improve their corporate citizenship. In other words, social responsibility must be part of the DNA of your business that shapes your values and the day-to-day decisions of leaders, managers, and employees.
An effective and socially responsible mission should focus on:
– Authenticity: Unenthusiastic donations and charity events will not be effective in the long run.
– Minimizing damage: Think about how to minimize the negative impact of your business, such as: For example, reduce the carbon footprint, pay the right people, and produce high-quality, safe products.
Think local: For example, your social media administrator might give your local non-profit organization time to start a social media marketing campaign.
– Focus on efforts that foster passion and teamwork in your team.
– Be transparent about the setbacks that your business is experiencing, and at the same time learn to become socially better and share your progress.
2. Define achievable goals.
The goal of ending hunger in the world is admirable, but it would be a massive undertaking that a small business could not reach realistically. Even if you said something like “quitting hunger in the world,” it often became a cliché.
Instead, take steps for babies and set goals that can be achieved. For example, start eliminating hunger for veterans in your community. Like any other goal you set for your business, make sure they can be measured so you know you’re heading in the right direction.
3. Target good talent.
“More new companies and companies that hire millennials are starting initiatives to support their communities and build them up early because it’s important to attract that generation of workers who want to work well while they work.” Kerri Golden, co-founder and general partner of the JOLT Fund, which provides start-up capital and mentoring for start-ups.
In fact, 42% of professionals interviewed by StaffTeam stated that having an organization involved in charitable activities influenced their decision to work there.
You can find these talented and passionate people who promote corporate and social responsibility positions in global forums such as Skoll World and Social Good Jobs.
4. Crowdsource ideas.
A working group specializing in “Social Impact” Weber Shandwick, 44% of Fortune 216 executives 200 used crowdsourcing ideas for programming the corporate social responsibility gathering. More surprisingly, 95% of those executives have found crowdsourcing to be “valuable to the organization’s CSR or prosocial efforts.”
Use digital tools to engage employees in the process of generating ideas, “suggests Lain Hensley, Director of Operations at Odyssey Teams.” Ask them what they want companies to take back to the community.
“Then use these ideas to create a corporate social responsibility culture that is more inclusive, democratic and participative.”
5. Cooperation with companies and related organizations.
Working with other small companies, you can discover creative ways to make the company better known. For small businesses, these opportunities can be found through the local chamber of commerce, local associations, networking groups or interviewing their neighbors. Businesses can also work with charities. For example, Subarus Share the Love Event donates millions of dollars to local and national charities.
If you work in a team with local businesses and charities, you will improve the local economy and the wider community.
6. Establish rewards and charitable bonuses.
It is no secret that charity makes us happy and happy. You can bring these feelings to the workplace by encouraging your team to be more benevolent. This not only makes your business more socially aware, it also increases morale and productivity.
For example, Deloitte offers unlimited free time for volunteering. Listen Up Spanish “gifts that relate to employee numbers by offering to donate a fixed amount for every successful sale.” You could also start a referral program where employees send out people who donate to charity or whole charities.
7. Imagine giving.
“Think less about giving something back and more about how the company does the same,” writes Matthew E. May at the American Express Open Forum. “It’s not about what the company does once it makes money (time and resource donations) or as part of its effort (sustainability of the supply chain) or even what it is not responsible for. A healthy philanthropic and community function is laudable, but what really happens is the way people do business every day.
CONCLUSION
Technology connects us like never before and makes it clear to what extent we are defined and anticipated by others: the way in which our ideas and identities not only belong to us, but are part of a human being’s greater ebb and flow.
