Corporate social responsibility is starting to play a bigger role in a rapidly changing world

It's been said that this very moment is the slowest pace of change you will experience in the rest of your life. The world is always changing and ever faster due to global megatrends such as pandemic, war, climate crisis and artificial intelligence. Instability has taken the place of predictability. At the heart of the change, however, are us humans. Social responsibility is emerging more strongly in the public debate and corporate responsibility alongside the more known economic and environmental sustainability.

Social responsibility is emphasized in the operations of the domestic ONNI, which operates in the social and health sector. ONNI employs around 6,000 Finnish social and healthcare experts and helps and supports tens of thousands of its Finnish customers through home care and social services, public healthcare services and first aid.

Our mission to support our customers in everyday life and life's ups and downs has become even more important in a changing world. When new needs of customers, personnel and society arise in the field of responsibility, vision and adaptability are required from all kinds of companies. Next, I will highlight four themes that will speak to companies in the fall of 2022 in the field of social responsibility.

1. From human to human

Finland is rapidly aging and becoming multi-problematic. The number of elderly people living at home and needing care is increasing. Care is needed even more. Guaranteeing adequate care for our aging population is a real concern. The combined effects of longevity and associated morbidity bring an even greater challenge to our welfare state.

Home services enable one to live safely at home for as long as possible. The basic task of ONNI's personal assistants, caregivers and cleaners is to enable a good everyday life for all our customers, from babies to elderly. We do this important work of human encounters every day of the year.

Companies have versatile opportunities to fulfill their social responsibility. ONNI supports the community around it through ONNI clubs, which provide much-needed social networks for various vulnerable groups. El? t?ysii club is a community for people with disabilities, long-term illnesses and people with reduced mobility, whose goal is to enable unhindered participation in events, to offer social networks and peer support. Ik??nny ilolla club (eng. Grow old with joy club) is a community aimed at the elderly, which brings meaningful activities into the lives of the elderly and forms a community where everyone is comfortable coming as themselves.

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2. Support for young people in the start of their working life

Many people in Finland are concerned about the well-being of young people. The first job plays an important role in terms of well-being and the future. We know that mental health-related sickness absences among young age groups have become more common in Finland almost continuously for more than 15 years. The majority of young people's sick leave is due to mental health disorders.

Supporting young people's well-being at work and careers is an important part of social responsibility at ONNI as well. In 2022, we participated in the Institute of Occupational Health's "Successful career" study, the aim of which was to find out the views of young people and young supervisors about the factors that affect young people's commitment to work, goal orientation and development at work, and well-being at work. The project investigated the views of young employees and their supervisors regarding work.?

In the experiences of young people working at ONNI, the experience of meaning, a good relationship with the closest supervisor, and a clear work role and responsibilities were highlighted as strengths. According to the survey, young people need more feedback about their work. The importance of receiving feedback is emphasized at the beginning of a working career and especially for young people. In addition, in connection with orientation, there was a need for more, for example, informal meetings with the work community.

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3. Reliability is expected from companies

The concept of social responsibility is expanding and is strongly linked to issues of good governance. Especially in uncertain times, people expect active corporate citizenship and ethical practices from companies.?

By paying special attention to, for example, operations in accordance with good governance, quality control and ethical operating methods, the company strengthens the relationship of trust between it and the customer. The role of quality management in sustainability is particularly important in social and healthcare companies. There is also an even greater need for companies' open and transparent communication and reporting at a time when there is more information available than ever, as well as also a lot of wrong information and fake news circulating online.?

Reliability is one of ONNI's guiding values, and we monitor its implementation through both customer and personnel surveys. However, the sustainability or reliability of the company is not only based on the relationship between the customer and the company, but the entire working community and stakeholders must also be included in common goals and methods of operation. At ONNI, we have, for example, an anonymous reporting channel where an employee or partner can report detected irresponsible activity or abuse.

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4. Better life for future and current generations through environmental measures

?Although social responsibility is emphasized in ONNI's sustainability strategy, at ONNI we also consider the Paris Climate Agreement. The dimensions of social responsibility in environmental and climate issues are also better understood today: Environmental measures ensure a good life and a viable planet for current and future generations.

Sustainability work requires above all systematic and long-term activities that can be measured, and whose development can be both monitored and verified. We measured our carbon footprint from the home cleaning business in the capital region and from the Vantaa head office for the first time in 2021, and our goal is to understand what changes we can make to reduce our carbon footprint and implement these changes into everyday life. The Ecocompass certificate received at the beginning of 2022 is a tangible proof of ONNI's environmental work. In addition to our own operations, we encourage our personnel to make ecological everyday choices.

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?Article was first published in Finnish in October 2022.

The author is a board member at UN Global Compact Network Finland and customer experience director at ONNI (Med Group Oy) who is particularly interested in social responsibility and loves ice swimming.

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