Making the most of corporate social responsibility

Historically, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a term that people knew of, but it was often overlooked. However, recently, with the huge boost in green culture, we’re seeing an increasing number of businesses getting curious about CSR.

So, why is CSR so important? Well, a successful CSR strategy isn’t just doing good for your business alone, it’s impacting society at large. The main benefits include: 

  • Getting a better understanding of your business strategy
  • Reducing carbon emissions and reaching environmental goals  
  • Engaging your existing staff and attracting new talent
  • Building customer trust, leading to more sales

Here are our 4 tips for a successful CSR strategy:


Identify what’s important

Before you do anything, it’s important to plan and align your CSR to your business strategy, making sure that nothing is contradictory. It helps to check that what you want to achieve is connected to your core business purpose. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, plan your CSR initiatives to fit within the business processes. This not only enables success but seems logical and credible to stakeholders.  


Get the whole team’s buy-in

Your CSR strategy is more likely to work if you get as many of your team on board as possible. This includes the CEO, management and people all across your business. Support from senior staff is great to work as a domino effect, leading to better engagement from other staff.

When employees have a better understanding of the business objectives, not only will this make actioning your initiatives easier but the more people that engage will mean more people spreading the word. Leading to a happier workforce and a more attractive proposition for attracting new talent.


Create strong sustainable partnerships

Being able to extend your capabilities through partners is a key to success in many areas. It is important to find partners who have expertise in different fields to reach your CSR initiatives faster and more affordably. It’s also easier than trying to do everything yourself. 

For example, here at TXO we are a trusted partner to help other businesses reach their CSR environmental goals. We help businesses that deal with communications networks and equipment to reduce their carbon footprint. We do this ultimately by extending the life of telecom network equipment and reducing e-waste through: repairing, reselling and recycling equipment. We often introduce these concepts to businesses that had no idea this specialist expertise was an option available to them. Leading to a positive impact on the environment and in many cases, opening up new avenues of generating revenue. 


Communicate your successes

Once you’ve engaged the relevant people and your CSR initiatives are being actioned, why not spread the word about your successful outcomes? Don’t let your efforts go unnoticed. One of the great things about CSR is helping not only customers but the wider community. It is key to share what impact your CSR investment has had. 

Furniture giant, IKEA has recently shared news about their CSR initiatives. The company plans to become “carbon positive”, removing more CO2 emissions than they create. They also recently shared a new second-hand furniture venture, to buy back used furniture and resell it (which sounds a lot like TXO’s very own asset recovery model). This scheme is sustainable and keeps the furniture in use for longer rather than being thrown away. This story made great headlines for IKEA and meant that people will begin to associate IKEA with sustainability. 

For your own business, consider communications that will engage the wider community, using social media, local news outlets and relevant online media to share. 

Please get in touch with us to learn more about how TXO can help you to improve your CSR strategies and hit your sustainability goals. We can’t wait to hear from you.