This document is in: Briefing Papers
Corporate Social Responsibility And The GoodCorporation Standard
The GoodCorporation standard is an international benchmark to help organisations develop policies, systems and practices to manage risks so they meet the needs of all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, finance providers, Directors and the community at large. It has been developed by people who have achieved renowned success in growing profit and non-profit organisations with unblemished reputations.
Who supports it?
The GoodCorporation standard is endorsed by FTSE, industry regulators, the Institute of Business Ethics, Investors in People and many large and small public and private organisations who have been formally verified as meeting the standard. It is managed as an independent enterprise by experts in the field of corporate social responsibility. It has achieved international recognition for best practice.
How is the standard attained?
It starts with a simple self-assessment against the benchmark based on a short survey based on recognised best practice. This identifies management risks, opportunities for improvement and enables an action plan to be created by the management team to address issues arising. Once these risks have been mitigated the organisation may decide to be formally assessed or to continue to develop its own internal standards. Often both steps are taken to raise operational performance and reduce risk at the same time.
What external resources are available?
An accredited advisor gives expert guidance for Directors on improvement opportunities and operational paybacks. This is summarised in an action plan linked to supporting the organisations short-term and long-term objectives, reinforcing existing priorities. This avoids issues related to introducing “new initiatives” and ensures people are not diverted from their day to day roles. The use of benchmarking introduces proven success measures to improve working practices. There is no charge or obligation for an initial meeting to assess if and how the standard can help people and processes work more effectively.
What are the benefits?
Evidence from “The 100 Best Companies To Work For” shows that employers who build a culture of corporate social responsibility outperform others in a number of ways: they attract higher quality people through word of mouth; employees are motivated to stay longer; cross-functional teamwork stimulates more knowledge sharing; customers and suppliers allocate more resource to sustain the relationship; shareholders and public funders invest more readily; governance is based on shared values rather than regulated controls.
In summary, the standard enables more effective management across a wide range of operations to reduce costs, improve performance and sustain long-term growth with all the stakeholders who influence success. The GoodCorporation standard improves the triple bottom line.