Over the past two years this page has referred to trends in corporate (company) social responsibility, with a call to action for businesses to embrace these trends in a way that drives innovation and growth.
Why should you do anything about this? Many reasons, not least legal obligation, if the Better Business Act Campaign has its way. Launched with cross-party support, the campaign, which now has over 1,000 companies signed up, proposes changes to Section 172 of the UK Companies Act to make it obligatory for boards to balance the interests of people, planet and profit.
My 4M model frames the steps that businesses can take to enhance their CSR-ESG footprint:
- Motives: leading to commitment
- Methods: analysis and action
- Metrics: the KPIs to measure social impact
- Monitoring: reporting to internal and external stakeholders
Motives may vary – key is to start the journey and make a commitment. In this regard, the Good Business Charter – low cost, based on self-declaration – is an excellent way to signal intent.
Method? Understanding where you are now is a good first step. B Corp can help. Its free Impact Assessment tool enables deeper insights into what a business does well or badly, and helps develops a holistic view of your business.
Management systems
Knowing your starting point, you can take action. Readers may be familiar with ISO management systems, such as ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment), but less so with ISO 26000:2010. This provides guidance to all organisations, regardless of their size, on social responsibility:
- Concepts, terms and definitions
- Trends and characteristics
- Principles and practices
ISO 26000 is not an auditable standard. It is intended to encourage firms to go beyond legal compliance and helps integrate, implement and promote socially responsible behaviour, and support engagement with, and communication of performance to, stakeholders.
Social value
In 2012, the UK passed the Public Services (Social Value) Act, defining social value as ‘the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the relevant area’. Now, more than ever, organisations need to understand how their decisions and activities affect collective wellbeing.
To provide some structured help, the British Standards Institute (BSI) produced BS 8950:2020 Understanding Social Value – the first standard of its kind addressing social value in organisations.
It aims to help organisations understand and enhance their social value and contribute to global targets such as the UNSDGs. It outlines principles to help businesses recognise, account for and report on social value. It is suitable for SMEs, presenting an opportunity for them to recognise and enhance what they’re doing already, as they’re very often much closer to their local communities. It could also help win public sector contracts.
Purpose – what is your why?
There is growing pressure on businesses to reassess why they do business. Launched in July, PAS 808:2022 is a new guidance document setting out what it means to be a purpose-driven organisation (PDO). It gives guidance on what purpose is. It outlines the principles and associated behaviours and activities of a PDO and provides the basis for an organisation to:
- Embed purpose into policies, processes and practices
- Align purpose with decision-making
This is a fast-moving space. If you would like help and support in navigating these issues, get in touch. Don’t be caught on the wrong side of history!
To find out more contact Adrian Pryce at adrian.pryce@northampton.ac.uk or call 07720 297402
