Social responsibility, sustainability low priorities for
Canadian business owners

Without pressure
from shareholders and government regulations, the majority of
Canadian private companies have placed Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) low on their business priority list unlike
their public counterparts. In fact, about half (48%) of Canadian
private companies don’t have a CSR plan in place, according to a
new PwC report.

The survey found only 21% of respondents currently have a CSR
plan aligned to the business goals and 29% plan to have one in the
next three to five years.

This is largely because the majority of Canadian private
companies view it as a “nice-to-have” rather than a priority
(53%).  However, in an era of greater regulation for
environmental and social responsibility practices, this could spell
trouble for private companies who lag on CSR.

Moreover, these companies are missing out on opportunities to
differentiate themselves from their competitors and attract a
growing number of social and eco-conscious employees and
consumers.

“Many of these issues that are currently being dealt with on a
voluntary basis could very well be regulated in the future,”
says  class=”xn-person”>Mel Wilson, associate partner, Sustainable
Solutions Group, PwC.

“Companies would be wise to start
operating as if there were regulations already in place, so they’ll
be in a better position when those regulations actually come
along.”

CSR can be a competitive advantage for businesses, but the study
revealed that only 30% of respondents saw it as such.

And despite the fact that a commitment to CSR can be a draw in
attracting top talent, none of the respondents who had CSR plans in
place were communicating their plans in their recruitment
initiatives.

“Embedding CSR into a business is a good way to stay ahead of
competitors and attract talented recruits, however, many businesses
may not fully understand these benefits or know how to start,” says
Wilson.

Private companies may be even more inclined to adopt CSR plans
if they understood the opportunities they may be missing out on.
Many private companies, for instance, operate in the middle of the
supply chain, selling services and goods to large
multi-nationals.

Increasingly, multinationals are becoming more vigilant in
eliminating vendors in their supply chain that are not aligned with
their risk tolerance or approach to CSR.

“This means private companies have to meet the CSR needs of the
end-buyers in order to compete,” says Wilson. “In this new business
environment where social and environmental issues are front and
centre, private companies should get ahead of the curve or risk
being left behind from a competitive standpoint.”

Wilson recommends the following steps to creating a socially
responsible and sustainable business:

• style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
  Create a longer-term vision. Senior management has to
  articulate what CSR means to their organization. There has to be a
  dialogue inside the organization between management, the board of
  directors and employees, and extended externally to stakeholders.
  “What is the organization going to look like in 10 years as opposed
  to six months from now?” says Wilson.
  
  
  
  



• style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
  Identify what the impacts of your company’s operations are on the
  environment and on people. “Assess those impacts from the
  style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
   
  standpoint of whether you can improve upon style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    them to
  be environmentally efficient,” says style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    Wilson.
  “The financial equivalent would be style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    looking
  at the organization to see if you can be style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    more
  efficient.”
  
  
  
  



• 
  
  style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
  Measure CSR performance in a quantitative way as much as
  possible. The study found the majority of private company
  respondents (80%) with CSR plans in place track their progress. “As
  long as style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
   
  sustainability is viewed as a qualitative, feel good style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    concept,
  it allows companies to get away with a style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
    lot.
  They need to move into a set of performanceindicators that are of a
  quantitative nature,” says Wilson.
  
  
  
  
  
  



• 
  
  style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
  Communicate that performance to your key stakeholders.
  This includes shareholders, customers, style=”margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000; padding: 0px;”>
   
  employees, potential recruits and the communities where you
  operate.
  
  

style=”margin: 13px 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px;”>
The PwC Pulse Survey on CSR polled 82 private Canadian companies.
For the full report,  href=”http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/private-company/our-approach/publications/pulse-survey-2011-04-en.pdf”
target=”_blank”>click here