Corporate Social
Responsibility Part One

How the introduction of knitting, hulahooping and karaoke can improve your company’s bottom line

Series by Jennifer Kiwala

In a day and age of fair-trade and organic consumerism, with an increasing number of people volunteering and taking working holidays, it is no wonder that there is now a movement towards bringing this philanthropic way of being to our workplace–our home away from home. Many are lobbying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the new business ideology that will do just that.

Our European cousins and American neighbours are alreareas of focus do vary, most looking at their economic, environmental or social impacts, but the outcome only tends to be consistently positive if designed with the truest intention at heart. It is no longer enough to have a policy or procedure to hide behind–organizations must be seen to be doing, not just talking about the latest trend in business management. As Chad Holliday, Chairman and CEO of DuPont, states, “Our role as a global leader is to move in a direction that achieves a more sustainable future everywhere–where important societal needs are increasingly met, one where environmental impacts are continuously reduced towards zero, and one where the early movers achieve superior financial results… For long-term success, a business has to view sustainability as ‘fundamental and lasting change’ and not ‘protecting the status quo,’”.