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Corporate Social Responsibility - A Tool for Talent Acquisition
Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is a self-regulating business model that allows the company to be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders and the public[1]. The primary objective of engaging in CSR is to run the company in ways that enhance society and the environment rather than negatively impacting them. Through community service, philanthropy and CSR programs, companies aim to benefit society while promoting their brands and, in this way, they form stronger relationships with their employees, customers and shareholders. For example, Starbucks is known for its sense of social responsibility and as per its 2018 Global Social Impact Report they have set milestones for sustainability through pioneering green building, ethically sourcing coffee, creating a global network of farmers and contributing hours of community service[2]. Furthermore, Starbucks’ goals for 2020 include hiring 10,000 refugees, engineering eco-friendly cups and engaging in environmental leadership. This is a great example of engaging in CSR but for many companies, a tryst with community is not the motivating factor behind socially oriented business practices.
College graduates, students and even many working individuals aspire to “make a change” or “do something different” to “create a better world” and often this change is believed to stem from community service, philanthropy, sustainable business ideas or anything else which benefits the society – most of which form the premise of Corporate Social Responsibility. So, many companies have learned that the best way to attract passionate and driven employees is to advertise their work as a tool for social change[3]. Anand Giridharadas, in his book Winners Take All, gives a detailed description on how companies use CSR to make them seem more attractive than their competitors to these altruistically motivated citizens. There is growing evidence that a company’s corporate social responsibility activities comprise a legitimate, compelling and increasingly important way to attract and retain good employees. For example, in a bid to burnish their images as socially responsible companies, CEOs of high-profile companies such as Home Depot, Delta Air Lines and SAP recently pledged to deploy millions of employee volunteers to work on various community projects[4]. This method usually works because CSR humanizes a company and makes it seem to be a contributor to society rather than a board of directors obsessed with profit maximation – a pay check keeps an employee working physically but it alone cannot keep them engaged emotionally.
This “recruitment drive” can be related to the demand that every CSR initiative should deliver business results thus, distracting companies from the main purpose behind CSR which is giving back to the community[5]. So, companies attempt to hire and retain talented employees by marketing tailored CSR initiatives and this way they have great minds bringing out one great business result after another with a simple promise to “change the world.”
[1] James Chen, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Investopedia, (Feb. 22, 2020, 10:07 PM), https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp.
[2] Starbucks, 2018 Starbucks Global Social Impact Report, Starbucks Stories and News, (Aug. 13, 2019, 8:17 PM), https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/2018-starbucks-global-social-impact-report/.
[3] C.B Bhattacharya, Using Corporate Social Responsibility to Win the War for Talent, MIT Sloan Management Review, (Jan. 1, 2008, 4:54 PM), https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/using-corporate-social-responsibility-to-win-the-war-for-talent/.
[4] B. Grow, The Debate Over Doing Good, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, (Aug. 15, 2005, 9:30 AM), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2005-08-14/the-debate-over-doing-good.
[5] Kasturi Rangan, The truth about CSR, Harvard Business Review, (Feb. 1, 2015, 8:19 PM), https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-truth-about-csr.
- CSR
- Talent
- Social Change
