How can you overcome employee disengagement in CSR?

I’ve seen this working really well when we use employee innovation as the base of the CSR strategy. The organisation sets the overarching CSR goals but the reality of implementation can be bottom-up. Try asking your employees to solve for and come up with ideas to achieve CSR goals. Keep it simple. What ONE thing could we change over the next quarter to make the biggest impact? Small steps are more achievable and more likely to spark the collective movement you’re looking for. Next quarter, shift to the next idea. Action becomes the expectation.

We are trying to overload CSR with everyone's agendas. To me employee engagement, while important, is NOT the reason for CSR. For staff, HR is more than capable of organising the various traditional days etc. The CSR funds must be optimally utilised in the service of the community. I have seen too many examples of projects where the core objective is sacrificed to meet the needs of such tokenism.

A dual top-down and bottom-up is required. While we may find several employees willing to engage, the scale is achieved only when the management also gets involved. Allow employees to bring in fresh ideas and allow them to take ownership.

We should focus on more than just meeting bureaucratic goals, especially with the increasing complexity due to policies like the CSRD. Companies do face VUCA challenges, and it's crucial not to lose sight of why CSR initiatives were initiated. They hold significant power and tools, making employees and managers influential roles. However, there's a common lack of deep understanding about CSR. To truly engage employees, we must move away from vague and uninspiring language. Instead, we should explore the fundamental purpose of our organization, its role in society, and the impact it has. This approach shifts the focus from checkbox CSR to a genuine understanding of an organization's purpose, ensuring that no one remains disengaged.

Encourage employees to report instances where they've observed positive impacts arising from the organization's activities. Create internal mechanisms for employees to share their insights and success stories

Absolutely spot on. When more and more people are engaged in CSR decision making and implementation reviews, it brings greater involvement rather than a handful members in the CSR team shepherding the responsibility.

I've seen this work really well in some CSR projects that I've worked in. When employees are given the ownership to either choose or suggest CSR projects, they become more engaged and invested in the implementation.

Alligning your company's sense of purpose with your employees is key to your CSR activities. In the decision process engage your employees by seeking to understand what would make them proud to work at your company, what types of organizations they feel you can make a positive impact on, and how to establish a positive legacy that makes everyone proud to participate in. Be cautious about recognizing and rewarding individuals for activities undertaken by many or by a group. This can lead to feelings of bitterness and preferential treatment. Reaching objectives and milestones is usually a group effort and should be recognized as such. Each team within a CSR department is contributing to an outcome, so success should be shared accordingly.

Some reward system should be established with clear guidelines, to reward employee who have excelled in demonstrating and achievement of CSR goals.

Encourage employees to report instances where they've observed positive impacts arising from the organization's activities. Create internal mechanisms for employees to share their insights and success stories

Engaging employees with CSR is NOT about aligning CSR activities with their interests and values. The focus of the corporate responsibility strategy and activities should stem from corporate impacts - both positive and negative ones. Only then will employees understand how CSR is an authentic part of the company. Employees will disengage without that authenticity. Of course, getting a diverse group of employees involved in determining what are the key topics to focus on (the so-called materiality analysis) is a great way to drive engagement.

You can do this meaningfully and effectively through an employee volunteering programme that aligns with your CSR goals. Good programmes help meet workforce objectives as well as build values-based engagement.

It is important to provide work processes that support your employees in their CSR activities. If a company provides opportunities but doesn't give volunteering days or similar time-off-support for employees to carry out the actions, the gesture is contradictory to the message.

I couldn’t emphasize enough the importance of aligning employees’ own interests to company CSR initiatives. I have ample experience with clients where this made the difference. In general employees are reluctant to join if they sense that the initiatives are not honest enough, when they suspect “greenwashing”. If they can be involved already in the planning that solves the problem, the activities will feel genuine to everybody - as they they truly are. Participations improves radically and it also has a positive effect on employee satisfaction! An added advantage.

Integrating CSR elements into employee reviews can be an excellent way to show to employees a company's committment to CSR, especially at the director level. Skill development is also key. By investing in CSR related skills and attributes it is making clear to employees that CSR is being considered an element of your company identity and culture.

Monitoring to determine the effectiveness of the programs is key. The information gathered is useful not only to illustrate the outcomes at internal and external level but also to redirect as needed the processes as the data will clearly indicate how the implementation is taken place

It is important to be authentic in choosing focus areas for development. When engaging with employees for input first you make them be engaged and they have an interest in keeping the corporate social responsibility agenda alive. It is important to remember that they are members of the community and therefore it is in their interest to also personally be involved at an individual level.

Simple way is to create culture : Joy of Giving!!!!! Automatically forcefully participation in CSR will convert in to voluntarily engagement in CSR That's it. ??

In overcoming employee disengagement in CSR, I've found success through initiatives which fosters genuine connections between leadership and staff without work-related discussions. We blended CSR with employee volunteering, dedicating specific months for global volunteering, encouraging hands-on engagement. Additionally, by linking CSR with sustainability and D&I, we made it personal and relevant. Communication is key: sharing CSR stories, accomplishments, and ensuring that everyone feels a part of the narrative boosts engagement. Lastly, having employees directly witness the impact of our CSR projects created a personal bond and commitment.