CRS and Sustainability

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) seeks to ensure that the company maintains its responsibility on its action or activities which have an impact on the shareholders, the environment, employees and possibly also the consumers. Host Europe, an internet hosting company is the world’s third largest in German markets. The company was formed in 1997 and since then it has lived up to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. According to Luis, (2012), other authors in their popular book, Managing Human Resources seven edition.The issue of CSR is fully addressed on how organization should be responsible to all stakeholders in the organization. Chapter 14 explains how mutual respect should be maintained in the organization.

Questions and Answers

• Question1. What would an even more complete CSR engagement look like?

With a company engaging in CSR it can benefit itself as well as the society. A complete CSR engagement would lead to a company in cutting cost thereby leading to increased profits. A company may benefit from cost saving by going green, for example Host Europe has switched to using renewable sources of energy and building a data center that is eco-efficient, this enables the company to cut on costs of energy. This is a result of evolving technology which is leading to companies to cut on the cost of production, (Brown, 2012).

Gender equality is another factor important in corporate social responsibility. Most IT firms have few female employees in their firms since IT and sciences is a male dominated industry thus you tend to find more male workers than female workers in the IT sector. IT firms should look into this factor and ensure there is equal proportion of male and female workers. This can be done by encouraging girls to participate in IT and science activities as seen in the case study when Host Europe in 2009 engaged in Girls Day, an initiative to bring girls and women to get jobs in the IT, technology and science. This encourages gender equality. Luis in his book, Managing Human Resources, Seventh Edition, in chapter 3 addresses the issue of gender and equal opportunity in the entire organization by recommending that the legal or organization laws should be followed in terms of gender sensitivity.

Employee engagement would lead to complete CSR engagement. By employees participating in Host company development it leads to interaction between the management and workers. This ensures there is good communication in the organization as the employees can voice their ideas, problems, opinion on procedures in the organization thereby leading to effective production in the company, (Henriques, 2004).

By using CSR it ensures community and customer engagement. This can be done by looking after the community either by helping the community in different ways by giving back. This can be done by raising funds to help different charities in the surrounding community. Host Europe has performed CRS in helping the community by donating funds for social needs in the local area and also by helping different charities in the surrounding region.CSR enables an organization to relate well with its customers.

• Question 2. Which kind of measures could be introduced to further improve the ecological and social aspects of sustainability without jeopardizing economic success at Host Europe but may be even enhancing it?

To achieve sustainability there should be presence of responsibility in the supply chain. The supply chain should be wholly controlled with ensuring that production is sustainable with proper working conditions for humans and banning of child labour. Transparency in the supply chain and accountability need to be improved.

Another measure to be introduced would be involvement of workers in helping the communities. This will make the employees to be socially committed in the organization by volunteering and participating in creating awareness in different events for example charities. Host Europe has engaged itself in donating funds to charities or to non-profit organization and offering goods and services to social needs. Its workers and employees could engage themselves physically in participating in some activities such as cleaning up the environment in the local area. Also Luis in chapter 16 addresses the issue of employees’ commitment in ensuring that they participate in the social activities within and outside the organization, (Luis, 2012).

Host Europe is committed to using energy, illustrated by the opening in a building that is energy efficient in May 2007. It should acquire a certificate in energy efficiency but there was no available standard but host Europe should get a certificate in management system in the environment should be considered.  Host Europe has been participating in competitions and award activities focusing on social health and ecology so as to be acknowledged for its efforts. This leads to economic success as it will be well known thus encouraging many consumers to its products, (Eld, 2010).

Proper waste separation in the proper recycle bins is another measure to be taken in Host Europe as it raises awareness in employees on ecological issues. This can be done properly separating wastes in the recycle bins e.g. separating glass and plastics. The employees should be trained in proper waste separation in the respective recycle bin. Also there should be proper use of photocopying machines and printers in a cost efficient way, this can be achieved by not using stand-by time on technical machines thereby saving on energy and cutting on operational costs in Host Europe.

Another measure to be taken to improve a social aspect of sustainability in host Europe is increasing the ratio of women in the organization to ensure gender equality in the male dominated industry in the IT sector. The organization should welcome women applications and offer jobs on fairly terms and not according to gender basis as it would discriminate women with the necessary skills from applying. Women could be encouraged to apply for these positions in technology, science and IT sectors, (Eld, 2010).

• Question 3. Where do you draw the line between taking care of the shareholders and corporate responsibility?

A company ought to take care if its shareholders well so as to ensure effectiveness in the production process. The shareholders in this case may include the employees. The organization ought to look after them in various ways by providing necessary information to them on the performance of company; this will help the shareholders to see the direction the company is going. Most of the chapters of the book, Managing Human Resources, Seventh Edition, the authors explain the importance of treating all stakeholders of the organization equally by balancing their needs with those of the organization, (Luis, 2012).

By taking care of the shareholders it ensures effectiveness in performance of the organization. For example in this case host Europe offered childcare services in its organization, this enabled for its workers to bring with them their children to work. This was initiated by the management. The children were well taken care of and the employees would see to it on their breaks on how their children were fairing, (Brown, 2012).

By ensuring that the employees were working on good condition ensured that employees were performing well. Host Europe offered their employees with ergonomic office chairs and adjustable desks so as to ensure they were comfortable in their work area. The employees were also offered training on preventing back pain by teaching them on seating properly on their office desks and chairs. The staff were also taken care of in terms of eating healthy food and awarded membership to the gym so as to ensure they were physically fit. By giving the employees such benefits it motivates them to work properly leading to increased performance in the organization, (Luis, 2012).