In general, the term refers above all to behaviors that are carried out spontaneously by companies. In other words, all those actions that are required by law would not form part of the social responsibility behaviors.
In general, the actions carried out by a company, organization or institution due to social responsibility do not usually generate immediate benefits for the company. Rather, they are intended to generate a long-term social or environmental benefit.
There are many types of actions that a company can take to fulfill its social responsibility. Some of the most common are using recycled materials and renewable energy, promoting equality in jobs or creating integration programs to give the most disadvantaged a chance.
History of social responsibility
Since the 1960s, more and more companies, organizations and institutions have become interested in the idea of social responsibility. Despite the fact that initially capitalism only promotes its own benefit, a growing number of entrepreneurs have decided to contribute their grain of sand to society. Sometimes even if doing so means losing some benefits.
Due to various social and environmental problems that occurred in the last decades of the 20th century, especially those related to climate change, companies began to worry more about the impact they had on the world.
In 1991, Carrol began a study on the types of responsibilities that companies have to the society in which they are located. Basically, he defined four types:
Economic responsibility , that is, the duty to generate a profit by producing goods of interest to the public.
Legal responsibility , or the need to follow the rules and laws of the community in which they are located.
Ethical responsibility , that is, the duty to carry out ethically correct actions such as caring for the environment and contributing to the well-being of its employees.
Philanthropic responsibility , that is, the need to contribute selflessly to society in general.
In general, the social responsibilities of companies are considered to belong to the last two types. These responsibilities can be covered, above all, in three areas:
through environmental impact reduction programs, with education and social programs, and fairly paying employees based on their resources.
Examples of social responsibility
Although the clearest example of actions that are consistent with the social responsibility of companies, organizations or institutions are those that are intended to protect the natural environment, they are not the only ones. Companies can (and should) carry out other types of programs that allow them to fulfill their ethical and philanthropic responsibilities.
In different areas of the world, social responsibility can take very different forms. For example, while in China it can mean creating safe and good quality products, in Germany it means safe and stable jobs.
Here are some examples of ways in which a company can fulfill its social responsibility in any of the three areas.
Environmental impact
This is possibly the first idea that comes to mind when we think of corporate social responsibility. Due to the advance of ecological problems in recent decades (such as the destruction of the ozone layer or global warming ), companies have developed a large number of mechanisms to be more environmentally responsible.
For example, Google is known for investing in renewable energy and using recycled materials in its offices. In this way, they make sure that they are not damaging the environment with their actions.
Fair Trade
Closely related to the above are fair trade policies. A company that cares about fair trade must ensure that it uses legally and ethically sourced materials to make its products.
This type of social responsibility arises mainly due to the use of cheap labor from developing countries. However, they can also be caused by the use of materials obtained in a way that is unsustainable or harmful to the environment.
A good example of companies concerned with fair trade are Starbucks (which only uses coffee from plantations that do not harm the environment) and Fairphone, a Dutch company that makes mobile phones exclusively from recycled materials.
Worker development
Due to the speed with which jobs change today, many companies are beginning to worry about the continuous training of their employees.
In this type of company, a worker can take courses for free, to update their knowledge and continue to be able to compete in the labor market.
An example of a company that is particularly concerned about the development of its workers is Telefónica. All your employees have access to an internal virtual platform, from which they can access different courses and training.
Equality in jobs
With the growing concern for the social and employment equality of all people, companies have had to catch up in this regard in recent decades.
To avoid discrimination between people of different sex, race, sexual orientation or religion, a large number of positive discrimination policies and affirmative actions have been implemented.
Types of social responsibility in this area would be, for example, ensuring that there were the same number of men and women in a company, or that their salaries were equal in the same job.
Donations and social actions
The last way a company can fulfill its social responsibility is by investing part of its profits in aid and social programs.
For example, in the creation and maintenance of an NGO, or by donating a percentage of your income to charity.
One of the companies that donates the most money to NGOs is Microsoft; In 2015 alone, this company contributed more than $ 135 million.
