Corporate Social Responsibility Is Essential to Modern Business
A couple of weeks ago, the DATAMARK team could be found volunteering in the garden of The Mustard Seed Café in El Paso, TX. The Mustard Seed is a non-profit donation-based café that vows to feed anyone hungry. The menu changes from day to day based on the herbs and ingredients that are available.
This isn’t an unusual event. Our team deliberately reaches out to the local community because Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a key part of who we are. It’s not a marketing buzzword or the ‘nice’ section at the back of an annual report. At Datamark, it is something we practice and believe in every day.
Making Meaningful Impact Worldwide
Our website features more information on our flagship initiative, DATAMARK Gives Back. This initiative fosters a work culture that promotes corporate social responsibility and stewardship while remaining true to our core values – Treating Others with Respect, Acting with Integrity, Teachability, and Working as a Team.
These employee engagement initiatives occur in all our locations, not just the US. Some recent examples of different activities include:
- Donating backpacks to a local facility that helps children in crises.
- Meal Donation and food drives in support of local food pantries during the Thanksgiving holiday
- Volunteering their time at the local food pantry
- Supporting a child during Christmas through an anonymous giving program
- Helping people without housing by bringing in much-needed materials such as hand warmers, blankets, socks, and shoes for local homeless shelters.
- Coordinating blanket drives for the elderly in care homes in the El Paso, TX, and Juarez, Mexico areas
- Coordinated a Donation Drive for cleaning goods and supplies for an orphanage in Juarez.
- Volunteers hit the streets of Mumbai, India, to hand out food and supplies for children and the elderly in need.
We genuinely believe that our employees gain from these initiatives. It helps to bond them as a team while bringing them closer to the local community.
A Global Commitment to Social Responsibility
Trade associations, such as the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), have heard from their member companies that they prefer to do business with socially responsible suppliers and have added CSR metrics into their award nominations. Academic research supports this idea. Look at some of the statistics gathered here by Harvard Business School:
- Seventy-seven percent of consumers are motivated to purchase from companies committed to improving the world. In comparison, 73 percent of investors state that efforts to improve the environment and society contribute to their investment decisions.
- Twenty-five percent of consumers and 22 percent of investors cite a “zero tolerance” policy toward companies that embrace questionable practices on the ethical front.
- More than 55% of American consumers believe it’s essential for companies to take a stand on critical social, environmental, and political issues.
- Ninety-three percent of employees believe companies must lead with purpose. Nearly 70 percent of employees say they wouldn’t work for a company without a vital purpose.
These observations demonstrate that a strong focus on CSR is vital for your employees, clients, and investors. Most people today expect companies to have a greater purpose than just generating a profit.
The last bullet tells a story all by itself, though. How do you hire the best people if your company doesn’t have a purpose? It’s impossible because you will be limited only to the people that don’t care about their community. That’s not a desirable trait in anyone.
Bottom Line
CSR helps to give your employees a greater purpose beyond their job. It brings them together, but it is also noticed by customers and investors and therefore is essential for any company that wants to attract the best talent and new clients.
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