Just because you have decided to go remote does not mean there aren’t plenty of opportunities for CSR available to you. Below are five ways to do corporate social responsibility as a remote or hybrid company.
Use Your Bank
Many organizations likely don’t consider how and where they bank part of their CSR. But it is. Depending on where you hold your businesses accounts, you are supporting (or deciding not to) financial institutions and their philosophies on things like investing in fossil fuels and credit policies for marginalized communities. If you choose more socially and environmentally conscious banks, you are deciding what your money will be used to fund.
Create a More Diversified Giving Portfolio
The first benefit of a hybrid workforce is that it may broaden the concept of local philanthropy, allowing your company’s giving portfolio to stretch beyond your headquarters. Each area where your employees live and now work provides a fresh opportunity to interact with local NGOs and expand your network of trusted partners.
You may include hybrid employees in contribution decision-making by encouraging them to recommend local NGOs for grant funding. You can better fulfil the requirements of the communities and stay on track with your company’s CSR goals by leveraging local experience. You can also work through your employees to directly reach diverse communities across a city, region or even the entire world, depending on where your employees are working from.
Focus on Inclusivity
After gathering referrals from your workers, you may need to analyze the NGOs to verify they align with your CSR strategy and there are no worries about their reputation. Begin with the ideals of trust-based philanthropy by actively listening to the needs of charities and collaborating freely with them. Then, solicit feedback from your hybrid workforce to discover which groups your employees trust and want to support.
Be About Employee Satisfaction
Employee retention is more difficult than ever, with more workers leaving their jobs than at any other point in the previous two decades. Many professionals are dissatisfied with the frequent changes in human resources guidelines on working from home or returning to work. Meanwhile, companies are adjusting to the continued global expansion of COVID-19 and attempting to safeguard their employees. In these situations, it is critical to listen to your workers in order to retain morale while still remaining agile with your philanthropic strategy.
Consider innovative methods to infuse purpose into the workplace, such as charity gift cards that convey your appreciation for your workers’ hard work while also allowing them to give to a cause they care about. Alternatively, provide chances for virtual skilled volunteering to bring meaningful work with community-led NGOs to the forefront.
Work Through Your Employees
With employees no longer in the office full-time, or at least continuing to work in a hybrid situation, there are new opportunities to carry out social responsibility through your employees. The best part is, doing so will make their lives better and easier. There are plenty of ways of doing this, from providing subsidies for public transportation and new bicycles to helping them improve the energy efficiency of their homes. This last strategy can help your employees dramatically cut down on their carbon emissions, especially during times of high energy usage due to climate extremes.
You can also make it easier for employees to do things like recycle electronics and help subsidize the purchase of local food so that they cut down on their food carbon footprint.
Be Flexible
Providing working parents with more flexible working hours can ultimately be conceptualized as a form of corporate social responsibility because you are making it easier for your employees to spend time with their families and raise and be well-adjusted members of the community.
Flexibility also frees up time that your remote employees can then use to volunteer and make a difference. Volunteering is a great opportunity to give back to your community, particularly when it is skill-based and nonprofits and educational institutions frequently require people with unique talents and knowledge to assist them from within or on specific initiatives.
However, many of these possibilities demand daytime commitments, and many talented individuals are already committed to their daily employment. The difficulty is a straightforward scheduling issue that can be resolved with flextime or flexible scheduling. Employees can change their schedules to accommodate causes to which they desire to contribute and support.
Conclusion
There are plenty of opportunities for meaningful corporate social responsibility even while people are working remotely. These initiatives involve thinking outside the box and a willingness to reimagine what it means to give back to society, but you can absolutely continue to be a socially and environmentally conscious company even if a large physical office space is no longer part of your operations.
