CSR -The Game Changer - Workshop by NASSCOM Foundation

With more and more IT companies operating in India taking the CSR route, it is imperative to strengthen these efforts and provide a forum for sharing practices. NASSCOM foundation did just this on July 21st when they organized a workshop "CSR - The Game Changer" in Bangalore for its member companies.

The participants were given useful inputs on CSR strategy development and alignment with business goals. Participants also involved in 'developing CSR strategies' as part of a case study to get a hands on feel for coming up with sustainable CSR strategies.

Indian Companies lead by Example in CSR

A recent article in Harvard Business Review by Dr Cappelli commends Indian companies for their social mission. The research covered 100 business leaders of top Indian companies and comes out with the finding that every executive interviewed described the main objective of their company in terms of a social mission.

The article draws on the examples of Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy's Pharma and INFOSYS among many other Indian companies. Of course the TATA's who 'also make steel' finds special mention for spending 65% of their profits for charity purposes.

The study concludes by saying that: "There is every reason to believe that these companies have done well precisely because they are doing good"

Another feather for Indian efforts in CSR, way to go...hope many more companies emulate the examples set by these top Indian companies

It is Official now, CSR keeps your employees happy!

In the ongoing discussions on CSR, it is often said that Companies use CSR to motivate and retain employees. Now a recent study by the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) confirms that Corporate Social Responsibility is a great way to engage employees and linked to how committed an employee is to the company.

Spanning over 2000 workers around the world, the CCL study sampled their opinions on their company's CSR. The main findings are:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility programs are linked to how committed an employee is to an employer
2. Employee perceptions about CSR remained constant during the depth of the economic decline
3. CSR programs are not a panacea for retention issues - CSR is related to organizational commitment but not to turnover, so companies can't consider CSR as a magic cure for all retention issues

The study has come at the right time when Indian IT companies are again struggling with attrition as recruitment efforts are picking up. It gives a fillip to CSR efforts as keeping employees committed and happy will sure impact the bottomline of any Corporate.

Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India released the Voluntary Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. The documents could be downloaded from the MCA website www.mca.gov.in

The comprehensive guidelines cover the core elements of Corporate Governance and CSR. Aimed at ushering in transparency in operations of small and big companies, the guidelines offer many suggestions. The CSR guidelines also specifies that every company should have a comprehensive CSR policy. The CSR policy should cover the following core elements:

1. Care for all Stakeholders
2. Ethical Functioning
3. Respect for Workers Rights & Welfare
4. Respect for Human Rights
5. Respect for Environment
6. Activities for Social and Inclusive Development

This is a progressive step and shows the intentions of the Government to bring in the much needed transparency and guidance for companies to discharge their social obligations. Hope Companies follow the guidelines in its true spirit and engage in inclusive and sustainable development

Business NGO partnership gets a boost in 2010

At the dawn of a New Year, we have some great news on CSR front. In a recent survey by Industry body ASSOCHAM, 70 % of companies prefer to work with NGOs to implement CSR projects. This is a trend that has been growing in the last few years and hopefully will usher in the much needed professionalism and transparency in the discharge of public and community service.

The survey also noted that 58% of companies preferred to work directly with Govt. departments. This is a revelation as many companies shy away from directly partnering with Government for development projects. It is highly likely that even in this scenario, companies still rely on NGO skills and knowledge in project implementation.

Overall, it is a win-win situation and many NGOs are happy to partner with companies as their more traditional sources of funding through donor agencies had dried up. NGOs need to gear up to make the maximum use of this growing trend