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

Top 10 CSR Issues

CSR Asia released the Top 10 CSR Issues Report that highlights the top 10 CSR issues for the next 10 years in the Asia Pacific Region. The 2009 report ranks the following as the top 10 priorities:
1. Climate Change
2. Corporate Governance
3. Labour and Human Resources
4.Environmental Issues
5. Partnerships with Stake holders
6. Regulation and leadership from Government
7. Community investment and pro-poor development
8. Product responsibility
9. Professionalisation of CSR
10.Bribery and corruption
In this context of growing importance of CSR and sustainable development, the professionalisation of CSR is imminent. A new breed of young professionals with solid grounding in development principles and management techniques is the need of the hour. Current CSR practitioners and professionals should share best practices and develop a comprehensive curriculum for the education and development of CSR professionals.

The full report is available at the CSR Asia website

Teacher training for 21st Century

Education is the focus of many CSR programmes of corporate foundations and MNCs in India. When IBM launched its Smarter Education for a Smarter Planet Roundtable consultation in Chennai last week, there was a smattering of educationalists and NGOs who gave some insights into the role that teacher training plays in transforming school systems to become smarter and effective.

Panelists shared experiences from the field which showed that teacher education should be looked in the context of increasingly technology driven society. Teachers adept at using web 2.0 and social networking tools will be able to connect more with their students and peers and learn through collaboration and sharing.

More teacher training institutes have roped in specialists and professionals to train their teachers in using web 2.0 and other tools to align their skills to requirements of 21st century. IBM and many other IT companies too are sharing their technology expertise to make this a reality. 

The Education Plus page of The Hindu Dt. Nov 16th carries details of this story

CSR Credits for Indian Companies

Companies operating in India now have the option of 'earning' credit for CSR activities. They will even be able to trade these CSR credits in a CSR Credit exchange. This way companies that do not have CSR activities in their portfolio could 'buy' CSR credits from companies that have earned them.

Let us hope that this gives the needed fillip to CSR activities in India which is seeing a rapid upswing in these times of economic recovery.