In the first of a two-part series in PR News, Susan Nickbarg, principal of SVN Marketing LLC, a marketing expert who also specializes in corporate social responsibility, takes
a close look at what makes for effective communications in CSR reports.
Faking won't do in your corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. To succeed in CSR communications, be transparent and authentic. Stakeholders want to know from companies
that they generate profits in a fair and responsible manner.
CSR increasingly is becoming a part of business strategy, management, innovation and communications, helping management explain how the company is responding to the challenge
and opportunity of sustainability.
CSR reporting is a dynamic and changing landscape. For those more comfortable with fully defined practices, it can be difficult. A true CSR report should not be a puff piece.
It serves to communicate the brand, challenges and opportunities and performance as well as serving as a benchmarking tool.
The 2005 KPMG international survey on CSR reporting has, since its initiation in 1993, shown a steady increase where today 52% of the global 250 firms (1 in 3 Top 100
U.S.-headquartered multinationals) produce CSR reports. They officially joined the lexicon of business benchmarking. While many companies still harbor a wait-and-see attitude, the
top corporate leaders are moving forward - with an obvious knockdown effect.
The CSR report is a huge undertaking. Waste not. While you can spend billions entertaining customers or ensuring a logo is painted perfectly everywhere it appears, remember
that a CSR report also is a significant investment. CSR reports help companies to build trust, to benchmark, to enhance reputation and to manage risk. They attract investors who
rate your company as well as special-interest and activist groups who want to know your sustainability record.
Philippa Moore, an analyst at SustainAbility, a leading CSR think tank, advocacy and research organization headquartered in the U.K. (with offices in Washington D.C.,
San Francisco and Zurich), explains: "A CSR report should reflect the culture of the company. For a CSR report to be authentic and transparent, it must include good and bad
elements of the business and not omit information."
SustainAbility as well as consultancies like Environmental Resources Management can provide CSR report development-and-assessment services (concerning whether or not the
CSR report comes across as relevant). They also can assist on broader CSR strategy, helping to drive it forward. In addition, they can broker dialogue with such stakeholder groups
as the local community, government, employees, investors and NGOs, depending on the need.
If you don't already have a stakeholder-communications plan, they can guide stakeholder mapping, priorities, development and execution. Like any organization with an integrated
communications plan, the CSR section is broader than the CSR report. It contains its own intricacies, especially those relating to company-specific issues or in stakeholder
communications. As simple as it may sound, tactical elements may include: reports of face-to-face stakeholder convenings and workshops, meeting handouts, issues-update newsletters
and direct mail, and a CSR Web site.
Barbara Winter-Watson, partner and North American CSR leader with ERM's Annapolis, Md., office stresses: "Doing a CSR report brings people together across functions who
don't necessarily communicate or know one another. You see tremendous idea-sharing among employees or between the company and stakeholders, should they be invited to comment. This
in itself lends tremendous benefits to a company and, in the future, to other types of collaborations. Despite the collaboration required to produce a CSR report, it is
likely that legal, CSR and communications managers within the same company will not always see eye-to-eye on disclosure or assurance. If the CSR report doesn't release with
transparency and substance, the company will not be regarded as "walking its talk." Employees reading this report also know day in and day out what's being done in the company. If
its veneer, the integrity of the report can be questioned, it will not pass the straight face test.
One CSR report winner, the computing giant Hewlett- Packard, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., last year presented a three-year goals plan on a wide range of priority
issues, including electronic-waste reduction, improvements in the environmental and social performance within its extensive supply chain, and increasing global access to
information technology. It identified issues and how it's managing them. In the process, it became the 2005 recipient of the Ceres-Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants (ACCA) "best sustainability report" award. The Boston-based Ceres is a coalition of U.S. environmental and investor groups, while ACCA is based in Glasgow,
Scotland.
Ken Larson, director of corporate social responsibility at HP, knows firsthand that teamwork, research, and metrics are necessary with CSR reporting. "Before we started on our
CSR report, we did a competitor review. We looked at the various standards available to us - the AS8000, AccountAbility's AA1000, the GRI, the ISO, the U.N. Global Compact and
others," he says. "We decided among these choices what best fit our business, goals and needs for communications and continual improvement."
No matter how a company approaches the CSR report, a direct relationship between the communications and the CSR functions is important. Communications may be tasked to oversee
the CSR report, vet it in committee or handle only production. Then again, the CSR report may be outsourced entirely. If no CSR department is formed, PR must interact with those
responsible for overseeing corporate-responsibility efforts. This is imperative in order to interweave CSR business strategy, reporting and outcomes, and messages with other
corporate messages on a coordinated basis.
Jonathan Cohen, former AccountAbility program manager in the U.K. who now is executive director at the William James Foundation, in Washington D.C., has clocked years of
work in CSR, reporting and benchmarking conveys. "Many misbelieve that if you simply measure it you can manage it," he says. "Too many think of reporting as an end of its own.
Your job is not done if you are only data collecting and reporting instead of transforming."
Part Two of this CSR report series discusses framing a CSR report, highlights the Global Reporting Initiative, and details how such companies as Chiquita and Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters are developing their CSR reports.
Contacts: Susan Nickbarg, 301.588. 6430, [email protected];
Philippa Moore, 202.659.2898, [email protected]; Barbara Winter-Watson, 410.266.0006, [email protected]; Ken Larson, 916.847.0681, [email protected]