Corporate Social
Responsibility Press Release
Provided by CSRwire
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01/21/2007: Press Release from The Good Search
In the War for Talent, Good Companies Finish
First
The results of a survey by The
Good Search indicate that companies with Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) practices enjoy competitive advantage in attracting and recruiting
talent.
(CSRwire)
WESTPORT, CT - January 22, 2007 - In the war for talent, good companies
finish first – that is the primary finding of a 2007 survey conducted
by The Good Search, a retained search practice that specializes in
recruiting for companies that attempt to do a better job treating their
employees, their investors, their communities, and their planet well.
Moreover, the survey findings indicate that companies can acquire a
competitive advantage by embracing Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR). While nearly everyone polled indicated they’d rather work at a
good company, only a third felt strongly that they were currently
working at such a company.
The survey findings suggest there is a strong business case to be made
for leveraging goodness to attract and retain talent. Many companies
including Starbucks define their respective goodness in their Corporate
Social Responsibility policies and leverage CSR to recruit star
executives and baristas. Others, such as Google, have stated altruistic
philosophies as simple and idealistic as “do no evil” and seek
candidates who’ve made it a practice to “give back”. And others
simply offer a more humane, family-friendly work environment.
What follows are the 2007 results of a survey of 188 respondents
examining the potential benefits of leveraging corporate social
responsibility and related altruistic policies in both recruiting and
retaining talent. Nearly half of the respondents had 10-to-20 years of
work experience. 15% were VP level and higher, 30% were Directors, 30%
Managers, and 20% were Individual Contributors. Nearly half of the
respondents were in their 30’s. (15% were 20-to-30 years old, 49% were
31-to-40 years old, 25% were 41-to-50 years old, and 10% were 51-to-60
years old, and 1% was 61-to-70 years old.) Three-quarters of the
respondents were male and a quarter female.
Overwhelmingly, candidates prefer good companies
Nearly everyone polled would rather work at a successful company that
also aspires to be good (a total of 96% consisting of 64% who “Strongly
Agree” and 32% who “Somewhat Agree”) 92% say they would be more
inclined to trust a “good” employer and that they would feel better
about themselves if they were working at a “good” company. 90% felt
they would be happier working at a good company.
But only one-third works at a good company
Only 36% felt strongly that they currently work at a “good company”
with stated Corporate Social Responsibility practices. Moreover, 9% felt
they worked at bad companies with questionable ethics.
Candidates take corporate goodness personally
91% believe working for a "good" company serves as an extension of their
personal branding as a good, ethical person. 68% feel it would be
detrimental to their careers to have a bad company their resumes, and
conversely, feel it would be beneficial to their careers to have a good
company on their resumes. More than half (57%) believe that working at a
"bad" company raises questions about whether they’re a "bad" person.
Defining Goodness
When we asked which "good" qualities" are important in an employer, what
was most important had the most direct bearing on their lives:
Positive Work Environment (92% ), Family Friendly Benefits (73%),
Profit-Sharing (67%), Superior Wages (59%), Superior Benefits (58%) and
Wage Fairness (44%). Still, more than half stated diversity was
important (53%) and well over a third felt accessibility was important
(38%). Four-in-ten employees want to work for a company that is
environmentally responsible (44%), that has stated Corporate Social
Responsibility policies (38%), that makes socially responsible products
(37%), and that conducts Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain (35%). A
third of those surveyed prefers employers that invest in Philanthropy
(30%), and a quarter prefers employers that encourage Volunteerism
(26%). Positive Labor/ Union Relations are important to only one-in-ten
respondents.
The findings of our survey suggest that corporations take the following
steps to improve their ability to attract and retain the leadership and
workers they need.
Embrace CSR as a way to attract talent.
Corporations are already experiencing significant shortages of talent
with the right education and experience. But now, on top of that, two
very important trend lines are crossing this year: available jobs and
available workers. Beginning in 2006 and continuing throughout this
decade, demand for talent will outstrip availability. There simply won't
be enough bodies to go around, never might the skill set. Demographic
forces, including the aging population and younger workers’ shifting
expectations for “work,” are dramatically reshaping the workforce.
Increasingly, world class companies are discovering in order to be
great, they have to be good. The neat thing is this trend might help
change the world. In fact, 94% of the survey respondents believe
rewarding "good" companies with the best talent is a great way to
inspire other companies to do the right thing.
Embrace CSR as a way to retain talent.
Only 1-in-5 of your employees is not open to considering pportunities.
Our survey found that two-thirds of passive candidates are relatively
active. Of those polled, 62% considered themselves passive candidates.
Interestingly, one-third of the passives seeks employment monthly,
one-third seeks employment yearly, and a third considers opportunities
every couple of years. 28% of there respondents were actively engaged in
seeking employment.
If your company has stated CSR policies, make sure you’re walking the
walk.
Nearly one in five respondents felt they worked at a company that had
stated corporate social responsibility practices, but did not follow
them. And if you don’t have CSR policies and if you are having trouble
finding the people you need, you might want to check how potential
candidates perceive your company. Only 11% of the respondents say they
would work for a company with questionable ethics if the salary and
benefit package was beneficial to the candidate or to the candidate’s
family. Also, offering a more enticing role won’t make your company
more competitive either: only 11% would work for a company with
questionable ethics/business practices if it gave them a better
opportunity (better title, training, more exposure to senior management,
more responsibility, etc.) If your company is viewed as being unethical
or having questionable ethics, simply throwing more money at candidates
won’t make your company more competitive in the talent marketplace.
ABOUT THE GOOD SEARCH
The Good Search (TSG) is a retained search practice owned and operated
by Bradford Executive Research, LLC in Westport, Connecticut that
delivers great talent to great companies that also happen to be good.
For more information, call 203-227-8615 or email
krista.bradford@thegoodsearch.net.
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