Helping build homes in Nicaragua or funding a pony sanctuary may seem far-fetched when you are looking for clients – but customers are looking as much at your corporate social responsibility as they are the products you have to offer.
RSA Insurance last year sent broker partners and staff to Nicaragua to help build a school and resource centre – and the feedback from clients and staff was so positive, RSA decided to return to that country again this month to help build homes for two local families.
“I believe that charitable efforts such as these do have an impact,” says Elsy Sloan, of MLS Insurance Brokers in Alexandria, Ont. “The overwhelming positive reaction I received from the staff members and my employers was so inspiring and was just what I was hoping for.”
In the small community of Alexandria, Sloan was able to meet her $4,000 fund-raising goal in only six weeks, asking clients and teammates to buy a ‘brick.’
“When they see brokerages giving back, it definitely says a lot about that person and the people working there,” says Sloan.
For RSA Insurance, corporate responsibility isn’t just window dressing, says Louis Vatrt, the director of engineering insurance at RSA.
“Corporate responsibility is no longer thought of as ‘fluffy’ and ‘nice to have,’” says Vatrt. “It is largely recognized now as being an integral part of a company’s strategy and its overall positive reputation. Companies see it as critical to their marketing efforts and it’s also an excellent recruitment tool in attracting top talent, particularly within the younger generations. Today’s new workforce entrants increasingly want to work for companies that share their own values and care about society and the environment.”
Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, does matter to people, according to the Reputation Institute. (continued.)
#pb#
The institute’s 2013 CSR RepTrak 100 study, shows that only five per cent of companies are seen as delivering on the promise of corporate social responsibility – which is unfortunate, considering companies spend in the neighbourhood of $100 million annually on CSR initiatives.
“CSR essentially speaks to who the company is, what it believes in, and how it is doing business,” says Kasper Ulf Nielsen, executive partner at the Reputation Institute. “It is a core element of reputation and can be used to help establish trust and goodwill among stakeholders. Almost half of people’s willingness to trust, admire, and feel good about a company is based on their perceptions of the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts.”
For more information on the CSR study and RSA Group’s efforts in Nicaragua, look in next week’s Expert Advice
column on Monday.
Aviva Canada recently announced its 2013 Community Fund grand prize winners – a contest that garnered millions of votes over a four-month judging process from September to December.
Sharing $1 million among projects from Alberta’s flood-ravaged Camp Gardner, an extracurricular anti-dropout school program in Quebec and a pony sanctuary in Newfoundland, it is Aviva’s way of maintaining a good CSR within Canada.
“We continue to be impressed with all of the great ideas entered in the Aviva Community Fund, and it's clear that areas such as an active and healthy youth lifestyle and environmental sustainability are near and dear to many Canadians,” says Debora Hendrickson, senior vice president at
Aviva Canada. “We are proud that this year's winners bring our donation total to over $4.5 million through 91 community and charity groups over the last five years.” (continued.)
#pb#
Launched in 2009, the Aviva Community Fund encourages Canadians to share ideas and vote online at AvivaCommunityFund.org for causes that are meaningful to their communities. After several rounds of voting to identify Canada's favourite ideas, a panel of independent judges is tasked with reviewing the causes and selecting the winners.
A good CSR perception is measurable, states the Reputation Institute. Some of the findings from the study concerning consumer perception and opinion include:
- Only 17 per cent of consumers are willing to recommend a company that has a poor CSR reputation;
- 35 per cent believe that the 100 companies studied are good corporate citizens that protect the environment and support good causes;
- 59 per cent will go out of their way to communicate something positive about a company with an excellent CSR reputation; and
- 73 per cent will definitely recommend companies perceived to have an excellent CSR reputation.
The CSR RepTrak study included more than 100,000 interviews among the general public between January-February 2013, with markets in 15 industrialized countries that included Canada.
