Program Description:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the principle which drives businesses to support communities and people without expecting direct financial returns. This principle is best demonstrated when CSR practices are used to connect the business to the community by supporting social issues and interests. The difficulty is finding a balance between doing good for the community and its constituents and making sure the practices benefit your business as well. This program covers CSR methods, tools, principles and practices, the ethics of CSR, communicating CSR, as well as the challenges of CSR and how to deal with them.

Who should attend?  

• Individuals interested in understanding how to design and deliver a CSR strategy and make CSR activities beneficial for both business and society.
• Professionals in private companies, NGOs, local, regional and international organizations and governments who are currently involved in CSR, or who would like to be involved in CSR, and wish to apply and embed the concept of CSR in their institution.

How attendees will benefit?

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the history, concepts, and Caroll's four-part definition of corporate social responsibility
• Outline the reasons why CSR is important in the public and private sectors
• Recognize how business ethics, CSR and corporate governance are converging
• Illustrate the evolution and revolution of CSR
• Implement the ten rules for effective CSR communication to reach optimal communication outcome
• Create a competitive advantage by identifying various CSR challenges

Vision, mission, values and strategy
• Initiate or support the development/upgrade of a vision, mission and values framework to incorporate CSR
• Involve employees (and other stakeholders) in the development of mission, vision, values framework
• Support the development of the CSR strategy; champion or drive if necessary
Codes of conduct
Embed CSR into the Employee Code of Conduct
Workforce planning and recruitment
• Evaluate the need for CSR / Sustainability skill sets in your future workforce
• Identify key CSR competencies and gaps
• Incorporate CSR into the employer brand and the employee value proposition
• Incorporate CSR into recruitment programs
• Include CSR questions in recruitment interviews, the offer letter and early employee contact
Orientation, training and competency development
• Incorporate into the orientation and probationary review process
• Provide regular job specific and general CSR training
• Incorporate a CSR dimension into career pathing and succession planning programs
Compensation and performance management
• Integrate CSR into job descriptions, annual performance plans and team goals
• Incorporate CSR into the formal and informal reward system
• Support business units in developing performance evaluation systems that foster CSR behaviour
• Integrate CSR into the annual performance review
• Incorporate CSR into exit interviews
Change management and corporate culture
• Align organizational change management programs with CSR values and principles
• Segment your workforce by state of change readiness and tailor change activities accordingly
Employee involvement and participation
• Involve employees in the development of the vision, mission, values and CSR strategy
• Foster CSR employee awareness and action through events and CSR champions teams
• Support employees and their families in learning about and taking action on their social and environmental concerns at work, home and in their communities
CSR policy and program development
• Develop CSR policies and programs in HR mandate, e.g. wellness, carbon footprint, employee volunteering, etc.
• Foster personal sustainability among employees
• Require HR suppliers to demonstrate CSR commitment and progress
Employee communications
• Communicate your CSR objectives, plans and progress to your employees
• Raise awareness of CSR through regular employee communications
Measurement, reporting and celebrating success
• Incorporate CSR measures into employee engagement surveys
• Measure and report on progress toward CSR integration goals
• Celebrate small wins and major milestones