Posts Tagged ‘employees’
1. Household Food Waste: Opportunities for Companies to Provide Solutions
This brief is prepared by BSR and it offers a summary of solutions companies can strive for in order to help consumers reduce household waste. Read more
2. Human Rights Risk Atlas
The Research Report by Maplecroft’s Human Rights Atlas 2013 looks at how public protest and political dissent resulting from human rights violations increases the risk to businesses. Read more
3. Ethical Standards and Behaviour in Workplace
This survey report published by the Institute of Business Ethics aims to uncover the views of employees on ethical standards and behavior in their workplace. Read more
4. Ethical Consumer Market Report
A report by Co-operative Group examines the UK markets for ethical goods and services in 2011. Read more
5. Corporate Philanthropy in China: A Practitioner’s Guide for Foreign Donors
This research conducted by The Conference Board analyses the size and scale of China’s non-profit sector, explains its idiosyncratic political and cultural characteristics, and produces a practical guidance for practitioners on effective engagement in the nonprofit sector in China. Read more
6. Corporate Equality Index
Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2013 Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT employees. Read more
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Social Research Digest – January 2013
Summary
Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2013 Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT employees. It provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Key Findings
- Despite this patchwork of state laws, private sector employers have implemented fully inclusive non-discrimination polices at rates that are leaps and bounds ahead of lawmakers.
- 99% of CEI-rated employers provide employment protections on the basis of sexual orientation.
- 84% of CEI-rated employers provide employment protections on the basis of gender identity or expression — the highest figure to date.
- 89% of C EI-rated employers provide medical and comprehensive health benefits such as dental, vision, dependent medical and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)-equivalent continuation coverage.
- 65% of C EI-rated employers have complete parity in spousal and partner access to “soft” benefits (when such benefits are offered at all) such as bereavement leave, employee assistance programs, employee discounts and relocation assistance.
- 69% of CEI-rated employers offer a robust set of practices (at least three efforts) to support organizational LGBT diversity competency.
Author(s)
Human Rights Campaign Foundation
Source
1. Inclusive Business: The Next Frontier for Corporate Responsibility
In this report, Corporate Citizenship analyses a number of multinational companies’ Inclusive Business models in emerging and developing markets. Read more
2. Corporate Social Responsibility Influence on Employees
The paper by ICCSR analyzes Corporate Social Responsibility’s (CSR) influence on employees. Read more
3. Global Consumers Poll
The survey, conducted in collaboration with National Geographic, is part of a series of initiatives by The Regeneration Project in the lead up to Rio+20, a cross-sectoral collaboration that aims to accelerate progress in the transition to sustainable development. Read more
4. Migration of Women Workers from South Asia to the Gulf
The report analyses the processes, outcomes and problems associated with the migration of women workers from South Asian countries to the Gulf region, focusing on five major sending countries in South Asia – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – and six major receiving countries of the Gulf region – Bahrain, Kuweit, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Read more
5. Gender Equality: It’s Your Business
This briefing concentrates on gender equality and the responsibilities of business to uphold and promote it, recognising that business can have a positive impact on the lives and status of women as well as men, while enhancing companies’ own productivity and reputation. Read more
6. The Return on Investment Lifestyle
Natural Marketing Institute examines the underlying consumer trends and its implications to businesses. Read more
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Featured In
Social Research Digest – June 2012
Summary
The paper by ICCSR analyzes Corporate Social Responsibility’s (CSR) influence on employees. In the study authors integrate social identity theory and social exchange theory in a new framework.
Key Findings
- This framework explains how employees’ perceptions of CSR trigger attitudes and behavior in the workplace which affect organizational, social and environmental performance.
- This model bridges micro and macro researches on socially responsible behavior, articulates social identification and social exchange processes, and explains how CSR contributes to corporate performance by influencing employees’ behavior.
- This paper shows that CSR can influence social exchange dynamics as well as social identification processes within the corporation.
- It integrates these two mechanisms in a new framework explaining how CSR perceptions stimulate the adoption of workplace attitudes and behaviors that may ultimately foster corporate performance.
- This model provides a roadmap for studying how corporations, in doing well by doing good, can push their employees to engage in both efficient and socially responsible behaviors.
Author(s)
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
Source
Author: Cy Wakeman
Publisher: Jossey Bass
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 192
Leadership accountability is one of the most underplayed themes in sustainability today. This shows up when heads of companies receive massive bonuses that are not directly tied to corporate performance. It shows up in the way employee performance is evaluated – using inputs (what people do) rather than outcomes (what results they deliver). It shows up in the fact that 31 percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs (and 17 percent are actively disengaged). It shows up in the fact that “71 percent of workers think about quitting their jobs every day.” It shows up in the fact that far too many underperforming people remain far too long in organisations in which they are not positively contributing (and in some cases, they are actually causing damage).
Wakeman’s book was, perhaps, not written for the sustainability bookshelves. It was written for the Business Leadership, Management and Human Resources sections of business literature. However, its relevance for sustainability is compelling. Business sustainability requires leaders who deliver sustainable results through people. A business cannot be sustainable when only a third of the workforce is engaged or two-thirds are thinking about how to get out.
Effectively addressing important issues requires executives to stop managing and start leading. First of all, Wakeman writes, they have to “stop arguing with reality.” This means relating to the facts of different situations at work, rather than the stories we tell ourselves or making judgments.
Instead of trying to keep employees happy, leaders should focus on helping them understand reality, while empowering them to build their capabilities to deal with all situations that arise. If you want to evaluate the behaviour of the people you lead, you can take Wakeman’s Freak-Out Factor test, which will show you how your organisation or team measures up in terms of level of drama in the workplace.
Restoring sanity to the workplace is about the adoption of leadership behaviours that drive accountability. The problem with employee engagement surveys, writes Cy Wakeman, is that they don’t measure accountability. They are simply “invitations for people to critique their reality”. All you end up with is a list of “what would need to change in order for your staff to grace you with their performance”. However, one can never create a perfect working environment which meets everybody’s aspirations.
In leadership, playing favourites is “fair game”, Wakeman observes. “Too many leaders I work with have surrendered to the idea of mediocrity in order to never, ever offend anyone. Some leaders are so concerned with treating everyone the same that they are hesitant to give honest feedback.” Leaders should spend most of their time coaching the employees who are delivering the best results. In reality, leaders spend “on average 80 extra hours per year thinking about and working with a single person who’s in a state of chronic resistance”. These people won’t change and worse, the best employees will be dragged down by a negative office culture. The idea is to “compensate value, not effort” and give your focus to the employees who deliver.
Wakeman says your workplace is not a democracy. Ninety percent of the people in any organization at any given time are not key decision makers. Leaders need to set clear expectations and goals and focus the energy of their teams on working towards the desired results, rather than wasting hours complaining about why certain decisions are made. Offering constructive feedback is positive. Fighting against decisions that are not yours or your team’s to make is futile.
Reality–Based Leadership contains practical, mindset-changing and entertaining advice, anecdotes, tools, and recommendations that anyone who leads people in organisations should read. Just as sustainability relies upon a realistic assessment of business impacts on people, society and the environment and the formulation of appropriate strategies to improve these impacts, so leaders must confront the realities of how they behave in organisations, how accountable they are and how they leverage reality-based tools to ensure their sustainable contribution.
Adapted from a review originally published on CSR Wire (www.csrwire.com) on 8 March 2012
Reviewed by
Elaine Cohen, Beyond Business Ltd.
1. Corporate Equality Index 2012: Rating American Workplaces on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality
The Human Rights Campaign’s 2012 Corporate Equality Index chronicles a decade of progress in workplace equality. Read more
2. The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index
SolAbility has developed a model to measure the level of sustainable development of nations, based on 4 pillars: Natural Capital, Resource Intensity and Efficiency, Sustainable Innovation Competitiveness, and Social Cohesion. Read more
3. Measuring Financial Inclusion: The Global Findex Database
The paper provides the first analysis of the Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database, a new set of indicators that measure how adults in 148 economies save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Read more
4. The New Paradigm: Volunteerism. Competence. Results.
To get a handle on how companies are approaching corporate social responsibility, why they do it, what they perceive the benefits are, and how they are allocating their resources, Forbes Insights surveyed top-level management at consumer, financial services, technology, energy, and healthcare companies. Read more
5. Collaborating With Customer Communities: Lessons From the Lego Group
Between 2003 and 2011, authors engaged in a multisite research program to examine community development and user innovation among adult fans of Lego and to learn about Lego’s experiences and practices in working with external communities. Read more
6. Law Firms’ Implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights
This paper prepared by A4ID with John Sherman provides an overview of discussions conducted by leading law firms on human right issue in London in September 2011. Read more
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Featured In
Social Research Digest – April 2012
Summary
The Human Rights Campaign’s 2012 Corporate Equality Index chronicles a decade of progress in workplace equality. The HRC’s CEI report provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Key Findings
- 2012 marks the first year of new more stringent criteria regarding transgender health benefits.
- 189 participants earned the top rating of 100 percent, evidence the CEI has helped transform the American workplace for the better over the past ten years.
- In the first year of the CEI a decade ago, 13 businesses achieved a top score of 100 percent.
- In its debut year in which 319 participants were rated, the CEI noted that most of the largest U.S. employers fell within the middle of the ratings bell curve: workplace protections on the basis of sexual orientation, domestic partner health care benefits and some internal inclusion practices were becoming more common but transgender inclusion lagged.
- Year after year, participants have successfully used the CEI guideposts and HRC Foundation staff as resources to push themselves towards the gold standards captured by the CEI criteria.
- The CEI standards have most dramatically shifted the way the largest U.S. businesses have incorporated transgender protections and benefits in the workplace.
- In 2002, only 5 percent of participants included “gender identity” in their non-discrimination policy.
- Today, 80 percent of participants have implementing this basic, yet crucial, protection for employees.
- Even among non-participants, the CEI has helped create market norms where LGBT workplace equality is essential to staying relevant among competitors.
- The evolution of workplace protections among the Fortune 500 in the past decade reflects the progress seen among participating companies in the CEI, further demonstrating the improved landscape in which LGBT employees now work.
- Eighty-six percent of the Fortune 500 include “sexual orientation” in their nondiscrimination policies and 50 percent include “gender identity.”
- The majority of the total Fortune 500 — 60 percent — offer equivalent medical benefits between spouses and partners and 19 percent offer transgender-inclusive health care benefits, including surgical procedures.
Author(s)
Human Rights Campaign Foundation
Source
1. CEO, Social Media and Leadership Survey
The purpose of the survey is to better understand the connection between C-Suite engagement on social media, and the attitudes of customers and employees toward the brand. Read more
2. Profitable Growth Strategies for the Global Emerging Middle: Learning from the ‘Next 4 Billion’ Markets
A new PwC study outlines the emerging class of citizens and consumers defining a critical growth horizon for companies over the coming decade. Read more
3. Investigating the Relationship Between Protestant Work Ethic and Confucian Dynamism: An Empirical Test in Mainland China
This study examined the relationship between the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) and Confucian Dynamism in a sample of 1,757 respondents from several provinces in mainland China. Read more
4. Toying with Workers’ Rights: A Report on Producing Merchandise for the London 2012 Olympic Games
‘Toying with Workers’ Rights’ investigates the true life accounts of workers in China producing Olympic branded goods for the London Olympic games. Read more
5. Two Generations, One Future: Moving Parents and Children Beyond Poverty Together
The paper outlines the emerging case for and shares a framework for two-generation approaches. Read more
6. UK Grocery Retailing: Back to the Future?
Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, discusses of how UK consumers have not neglected their beliefs in the pursuit of value for money. Read more
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Social Research Digest – March 2012
Summary
The purpose of the survey is to better understand the connection between C-Suite engagement on social media, and the attitudes of customers and employees toward the brand. It surveyed several hundred employees of diverse companies, spanning in size from startups to Fortune 500 companies, and working at all levels of their respective organizations.
Key Findings
- Executive engagement on social media channels raises the brand profile, instills confidence in a company’s leadership team, and builds greater trust, brand loyalty and purchase intent for its customers.
- Survey findings overwhelmingly confirmed that C-Suite executives who engage in social media are viewed as better equipped to lead a company, communicate values and shape a company’s reputation in today’s changing world.
- Specifically, the survey found that more than 80% of respondents believe that CEOs who engage on social media are better equipped than their peers to lead companies in a Web 2.0 world.
- What’s more, 93% of respondents believe that CEO engagement on social media helps communicate company values, and grow and evolve corporate leadership in times of crisis.
- 82% of survey respondents said they were more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage in social media.
Author(s)
BRANDfog
Source
By Andrea Grace Rannard
Employee volunteering is widely acknowledged as an integral component of a company’s CSR activity. Yet, many companies don’t integrate it into their operations by giving staff time off to volunteer. And, for those companies that do, not all staff utilise it. So, do we take employee volunteering that seriously?
According to the 2010-11 Citizenship Survey, 25% of people volunteer on a monthly basis (1). If a company is a microcosm of wider society, then regardless of the formalised mechanisms to foster a culture of volunteering, people will not always engage with it.
Some companies are concerned that establishing a policy will result in huge uptake and adverse impact on core business. However, this can be refuted on two accounts: First, for any responsible employer, community investment via employee volunteering is core business. Second, offering employees time off to volunteer is a marathon rather than a sprint. For example, the FSA, who integrate volunteering into appraisals, offer employees up to 27 days of volunteering leave a year. Yet, only 20% of the workforce is engaged (2)
The main reason cited by people for not volunteering is a lack of time (3). So, perhaps addressing this barrier by formally allowing staff time off to volunteer will go some way in demonstrating a company’s commitment to CSR and employees without the fear of 100% workforce engagement.
Browsing through a company’s CR report, it is obvious that volunteering is a useful mechanism to report employee engagement and community impact. Yet, despite the importance of capturing outputs, there appear to be mixed feelings about embedding employee volunteering into operations, for example through appraisals and volunteering leave days.
From a company perspective, adapting HR procedures to implement new volunteering policies can involve significant resource. If the demand from staff isn’t explicit, why make company-wide changes?
Of course, employee volunteering arrangements can be made on an informal basis between employees and line managers, not necessitating formal procedure. The output remains the same – employees volunteer. Also, an informal approach may make volunteering more attractive.
However, as with any activity a company takes seriously – whether it is promoting diversity or sustainable procurement – formalisation is helpful to embed a company-wide culture and demonstrate commitment. Creating formalised channels for volunteering can also ensure a more robust data capture system, supporting wider CSR reporting. This includes generating personal case studies that bring reporting to life.
Another benefit of having a policy on volunteering is that it helps reinforce the company’s brand and reputation. Allowing volunteering leave can also make the company an attractive place to work, forming part of a wider portfolio of employee benefits such as training, pension and healthcare provision.
Finally, there is significant evidence to support the engaged employer argument (Gallup 2006, CMI 2008,MacLeod and Clarke 2009) including reduced staff turnover, higher levels of productivity and profitability, fewer sick days, increased levels of innovation and improved morale. (4-6)
References
(1) Department for Communities and Local Government (2011) Citizenship Survey: 2010-11
(April 2010 – March 2011, England), Statistical Release Number 16
(2) Corporate Citizenship (2010) Volunteering – The Business Case: The benefits of coporate volunteering programmes in education
(3) National Centre for Social Research in partnership with the Institute for Volunteering Research (2007) A National Survey of Volunteering and Charitable Giving 2006-07 (Helping Out)
(4) Gallup (2006) Gallup Study: Feeling Good Matters in the Workplace
(5) Kumar, V. and Wilton, P. (2008) ‘Briefing note for the MacLeod Review’, Chartered Management Institute
(6) MacLeod, D. and Clarke, N. (2009) Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement
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