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Interview with Business in the Community (BITC) on CR

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About the BITC: Business in the Community mobilises business for good.  We are one of The Prince’s Charities and we inspire, engage, support and challenge companies on responsible business, working through four areas: Community, Environment, Marketplace and Workplace. With more than 850 companies in membership, Business in the Community represents 1 in 5 of the UK private sector workforce and convenes a network of global partners.

How would you describe your work at the BITC?
My work at the BITC includes three main areas. The first area is the BITC Corporate Responsibility Index, the relaunch of the CSR Academy including the training courses for the peer learning network and the advisory services for companies and NGOs on a particular issue that they need help with.

Could you tell us more about the BITC CR Index?
Business in the Community launched its Environment Index in 1996 to help companies benchmark their environmental management and performance. In 2002, member companies requested a mechanism to benchmark their other activities, so Business in the Community developed the broader CR Index to assess their impacts on the community, marketplace and workplace through their operations, products and services, and interaction with key stakeholders.

The impact of companies regarding their CR practices will be an important part in the future and we are currently working on trimming back sheer amount of work that needs to be put in by the entering companies so that they better manage their resources and do not spend that much time on entering data. Our aim is to provide them with better impact management by entering the CR index. Another step to help better measure the CR practices of a participating company is that the BITC will start to visit companies in the next CR Index cycle and do something similar to an audit process with interviews of the people involved with data gathering and CR index submission. This will enable the BITC to less resource intensive and will provide the company with an easier way to manage their submission. Our main aim is to create value for companies with the CR Index and this is the first step of many to make the CR index better.

What where the “lessons learned” from this years index in comparison to last year? What where the highs and lows?
The topic of governance needs to be expanded within the index next year. The reason is that through governance we can increasingly engage the senior management to take a more active part within the participating companies.

We have also seen that we need to expand on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for stakeholder engagement within the participating companies as this topic is becoming more and more important. In this way we can indirectly support the efforts of the CR people within the individual companies to form a set of KPIs on stakeholder engagement.

Where is the index going in the next years?
I have already partly answered this question I think in question 2 but these are the key development in the next years:

1. We need to make the index a better tool in measuring the impact of CR practices and programs for companies.
2. We will also try to make the index lighter in the sense that the amount of time and effort for the participating company will be going down. This especially applies for the amount of data collection efforts a company needs to undertake when submitting information.
3. Then it is also our aim to encourage companies to be bolder in embracing CR and what it means for them. The BITC sees itself as an important part in this and the Index is an important tool for companies to be bolder.

How do you see the mid and long term future of CR reporting? Will we have CR Reporting in ten years time at all or will it be the norm for organisations to report on CR topics then? What is your personal and professional opinion?

In general I see the future of CR reporting very positive. We will have a lot more companies providing CR reports in the future in my opinion. But to make reporting truly important for companies governments across the globe need to embrace reporting as a tool for the accountability of organisations nowadays. Without governmental support CR reporting will be only an add-on but nothing more. We have a long way to go but it is possible.

What has been the most interesting news item on CR in the last few months for you? And why?
Good question. For me the news that law firms are now starting to do more and more in terms of CR is really encouraging. This is a sign that other industry sectors are seeing the growing importance of CR and are beginning to take actions.

What would be your top 5 CR reporting tips to someone new managing CR reporting within a business?
Okay here they are:

• 1. See and use CR as an opportunity to raise your company profile not just a bolt on to the already existing company communication.
  2. Define and set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as soon as possible to be able to measure and benchmark your CR projects and activities.
  3. Look for the business wins when it comes to your CR activities and project.
  4. Spread the workload of your CR activities during the year to have a constant impact not just at several points during the year
  5. Engage with the BITC to share ideas, best practice and much more.