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In episode 67 of “The JoyPowered^® Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss corporate social responsibility with Sara Glenn from Limelight Consulting. Topics include how corporate social responsibility drives employee engagement, how to identify your CSR needs, and simple ways to start a CSR program.

To start, JoDee shares an article from Forbes magazine that discusses corporate responsibility and what to expect in 2019. The article mentions how investor interest in environmental, social and governance has now gone mainstream and only will continue to swell into 2019 and beyond. Corporate social responsibility investing is gradually becoming the new norm with over 90% of the largest companies now filing sustainability reports. This is not new, but the interest in using the information for investing decisions is.

Susan adds to the conversation by saying that because social responsibility is becoming so popular, investors are trying to prioritize the impact through measuring so they can start talking about it and have that competitive advantage. Companies are really going to want to take a look at this and figure out how to get the biggest bang for their buck for the areas they decide to invest in. There is a growing trend for companies to craft their CSR strategy around their employees’ passions first, as opposed to focusing on their external brand presentation.

JoDee and Susan focus their conversation around the specific impact of employee engagement on CSR and to do this, they add subject matter expert Sara Glenn to the conversation. From fundraising to fund management, Sara began her career of community impact. Her experience is grounded in relationships that impact our community. Sara works with clients to use their organizational resources to impact their community.

Sara has been both the fundraiser and the funder. This has helped her look at CSR through a different lens. Sara says being a good corporate citizen does a couple things for corporate culture. There is seeing your employer make an impact, be involved, and support level initiatives, but there is also the opportunity those actions bring. One of the best ways to get started with corporate social responsibility at your company is look at what is currently going on in each department. You may not know if there are sponsorships going on or corporate checks being written. Start with outlining what is happening now and then taking that to what do we want to happen.

For the listener question, JoDee and Susan tackle an issue with representing yourself well when looking for employment: How can I position myself as an HR professional, should I find myself in a position of looking for employment? In the news, The Society for Resource Management published an article titled, “When Under Stress, Managers Reveal Their Dark Side” that includes 3 tips to help managers improve their communication style.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Purple Ink
• Susan Tinder White Consulting
• JoyPowered^®: Intentionally Creating an Inspired Workspace by JoDee Curtis
• The JoyPowered^® Family by JoDee Curtis and Denise McGonigal
• The JoyPowered^® Team by Erin Brothers, JoDee Curtis, Peggy Hogan, Denise McGonigal, Laura North, Susan Tinder White, and Liz Zirkelbach
• General Mills
• Toms
• Blake Mycoskie
• Sara Glenn
• The Society for Human Resource Management
• “When Under Stress, Managers Reveal Their Dark Sides”

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