Social Responsibility and Ethics in Manufacturing

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Customers, partners, and employees are increasingly moving toward companies that care about people and the environment and are no longer just about their economic profitability. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has thus become essential, even in the manufacturing sector. CSR defines an organization's approach to sustainable development by considering the environmental, social, economic, and ethical issues of its activities.

What Does Corporate Social Responsibility Mean? 
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the voluntary integration by companies of social and environmental concerns into their business activities and their relations with stakeholders. In other words, CSR is the contribution of companies to the challenges of sustainable development.

A company that practices CSR will therefore seek to have a positive impact on society while being economically viable.

ISO 26000, an international standard, defines the scope of CSR around seven central themes:

• Governance of the organization
• Human rights
• Working relationships and conditions
• The environment
• Fair practices
• Consumer issues
• Communities and local development

Does CSR Matter in Business? 
Increases employee motivation

Employee engagement is now an extremely important issue for companies. Employee engagement is often synonymous with productivity, quality of life at work, reduced turnover, etc. For a company, having engaged employees is a fundamental strategic objective.

However, today the concept of employee engagement is increasingly complex. In a progressively more fluid work environment (with telecommuting, co-working, digital, etc.), employee engagement is becoming less physical, and more “moral.” From now on, to engage its employees, it is the values of the company that play the most, its ability to mobilize on social issues, and to capitalize on this mobilization. In any case, this is what recent studies reveal.

“Research shows that about one in four employees is not only thinking about changing their jobs in the following months, but also changing them to pursue a job that’s more meaningful than their current one.”

A company with a strong CSR significantly increases its chances of attracting and especially retaining high-caliber employees. Many young graduates or workers are looking for jobs where they could have an impact. Because employees seek meaningful careers, a company with a successful CSR program can attract the best talent available.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the June 2022 issue of SMT007 Magazine, click here.