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Corporate and Social Responsibility
Published on: 13 March 2008
Carl Faulds, Managing Director of Portland Business Recovery, provides an example of how this policy has been pursued within his company.
The trouble with 'corporate and social responsibility' is that it can mean different things to different organisations. At Portland Business Recovery, we look at it as part of who we are as a group of people. As an owner-managed business, we take the view that we have resources available within the business which provide us with opportunities to be more than simply two dimensional and solely focused on the bottom line. We actually want to be rounded human beings, an attitude that is reflected in the service we provide to our clients.
We have a policy whereby each director is encouraged to do something for the community such as acting as Trustees of Charities, being School Governors and so on, but where possible we like to involve as many of the staff as possible.
As an example, we linked up with Southern Focus Trust (SFT), a Portsmouth-based charity, to put on a Christmas Party for the children of families where the victims were essentially hiding from abusive spouses. SFT came to our offices one lunch-time and explained to everyone the issues related to domestic violence and this brought home how lucky most of us are and made what we were doing feel real. We challenged the staff to come up with their own ideas as to how they wanted to contribute towards the Christmas Party. Some shopped for presents, others did face painting, hoopla, Scalextric, arts and crafts and one brave sole dressed as Father Christmas complete with a special poem he had written for the occasion; basically everyone entered the spirit of what we were trying to do.
Coverage was gained in the local press for the event and it was good for staff morale, and the lead up to Christmas was generally less self-obsessed. Everyone enjoyed the day. One interesting aspect to come out of subsequent conversations with staff was that most felt that the children showed little real appreciation for our efforts. On reflection it was as if they were saying 'what's the big deal', so what if you have given up an afternoon of your time, now you will go back to your families and forget about us - so why should we think you're anything special? Whilst initially we felt disappointed, it was actually humbling and showed that corporate and social responsibility is not just about making yourself feel good.
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