Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a program that companies put in place to encourage employees to connect with their community on their company time. Proud businesses like Starbucks, LinkedIn, and Deloitte have been leading their employees with bonuses like giving back to their community. They’ve focused their efforts on paving the way with excellent labor policies, donating to charity, increasing fair trade, and more. 

Working for a socially responsible company says a lot about how companies care for their employees, and what that could mean for your career. Say, if a company allows you to give back to your community on their paid time to share with your fellow coworkers, they more than likely will hear you out when you open the table to negotiating your salary. 

Surprisingly enough, 76 percent of millennials look for employers based on their CSR initiatives. Giving back to the community and your employees have officially turned out to be a key trait top talent looks for when job searching. Not only can these opportunities give you the comfortability to move up at a company, but it also has benefits for companies that want to cut down on their operating budget or increase their consumer loyalty. 

Turns out, companies and their employees are able to reap the benefits of giving back to their communities. Keep reading to see how you and your team are able to get involved to sustainably grow your business while giving back to everyone involved. 

The Pros to Practising CSR as a Company

With social media taking the world by storm, your business’s reputation and brand recognition is one of the most important practices when scaling your business. Not to mention, if you’re marketing your positive social impacts for the world to see. Businesses that have started their own CSR programs have seen a remarkable positive difference in various aspects of their operations. For instance, companies are able to increase sales by 20 percent, increase productivity by 13 percent, cut employee turnover by 50 percent, and increase company shares by 4 percent. 

Even though those are amazing positives for your business, there are a couple more pros when practicing CSR with your team. 

Utilize Social Media for a More Loyal Following

When implementing company CSR initiatives, show them off to your followers! That way, your brand will be seen by those that may have not seen your material otherwise. Sharing your CSR efforts can increase consumer loyalty and trust, inform your followers about ways to give back to your community, and encourage others to do the same. By doing that, your consumers feel inspired and as if they are giving back to their community every purchase they make. 

While you’re doing this, always be transparent with your audience. The more real you are over social media, it shows your audience your honest reasons for giving back to your community rather than your wallet. Along with that, be honest with your employees to foster the same results and loyalty. 

Foster Stronger Professional Relationships 

Investors and stockholders want to invest in companies that are loyal, give back to the community, and show a promising ROI. When implementing CSR practices across your team, that proves exactly that. Consumers will resonate with your mission and values while giving back to your community and employees. This will foster a loyal audience that will provide the evidence of a strong standing and successful business model to land you the right investors and talent. 

You’ll be able to grow your business to new heights with top talent, and successful professionals around you. They’ll feel strongly about your mission and values to help you reach each goal you make. 

Cut Down On Your Operating Costs

There are various different ways you could go about CSR when it comes to your business model. Some companies are able to cut down on their paper usage, electricity, and enforce more recycling throughout the office. While this cuts down on your overall maintenance costs, this can help save you and your company a little more cash. 

Depending on your business and where your waste may come from, brainstorm different ways to cut down on it. Different ways of doing that are; pollution prevention strategies, foster better innovation for wasteful products produced or increase disclosure practices that lead to greater visibility among stakeholders and other partners. 

By showing your authentic business practices, you will be able to attract strong talent to help lead your team to the right investors and other supporters. It’s a true win-win situation! 

Establish a Loyal Customer and Employee Base 

As we discussed in the previous sections, being authentic, transparent, and supportive of your community and team, you grow a strong customer base that can increase your businesses ROI. Along with that, you attract strong talent that believes in your business practices, mission, and values. This can in-turn, build engagement, decrease employee turnover, and grow successful talent that’ll help grow your business day by day. 

To check out the top 9 companies that have CSR benefits and what those CSR practices mean for your career, check out Mint’s infographic.

What Is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Author Bio:

Kayla Montgomery is a digital content marketer who helps Mint create helpful and compelling stories worth sharing. Her background in digital marketing and creative writing has led her to cover unique topics ranging from business to lifestyle. In her spare time, she enjoys working out, writing for her own blog, traveling, and exploring all the in’s and out’s Austin, TX has to offer. To learn more, connect with Kayla on LinkedIn