Quality products or services aren’t quite enough to satisfy today’s consumers and employees. They want to support companies that are committed to making a positive impact on society. Companies like PayPal have discovered that social responsibility is a moral obligation as well as a key to business success. This article explores how businesses of all sizes can follow PayPal’s lead, offering practical tips on how to make social responsibility a cornerstone of your strategy.
PayPal: A corporate social responsibility case study
When it comes to corporate social responsibility, small businesses could learn a lot from PayPal. The credit card processing giant facilitates charitable giving in several ways, including its PayPal Giving Fund, which allows nonprofits to process donations without fees or deductions.
According to Sean Milliken, PayPal’s former head of global social innovation, promoting social responsibility is part of the company’s broader business plan. “People want to do business with companies that are aligned with a cause,” said Milliken in an interview with Business News Daily. “Giving back, contributing to society, [and] being a good corporate citizen is not only the right thing to do — it’s good for business.”
Even if your company doesn’t have the resources to embrace social responsibility on PayPal’s scale, there are good reasons to integrate some form of charitable giving into your business plan.
What is social responsibility?
In business terms, social responsibility is when companies take action to benefit society beyond providing their products and services. Social responsibility means considering people and the planet in addition to profit. This can be done by building ethical supply chains, minimizing ecological impact and providing compensation packages that support your employees’ quality of life.
A business can achieve sustainability by holding itself accountable and being transparent about how it operates. Adopting these social responsibility principles in your business can help your employees and customers feel more fulfilled and positive toward your organization.
To become socially responsible, your business should enact policies that strive to benefit society. Some companies enact “green” policies to build a more sustainable business model, while others establish moral responsibility and workplace ethics policies to guide their operations. Socially responsible businesses are still interested in profitability, but they don’t prioritize it at the expense of society or the environment.
Benefits of being socially responsible
Socially responsible businesses see benefits inside and outside their organizations. Here are the top benefits of corporate social responsibility.
Being socially responsible engages employees.
A good employee experience boosts engagement, so finding a cause to support that aligns with your employees’ values is a great way to start. When considering causes, ask yourself what’s natural to you and what your employees care about, Milliken advised. Include employees in the decision-making process about social responsibility efforts.
For example, to give its employees opportunities to participate in socially impactful projects, PayPal has formed partnerships with nonprofit organizations that focus on advancing efforts around financial health. That not only aligns with PayPal’s brand and services but also with employees’ expertise, so they can contribute in a meaningful way.
“Employees play a vital role in helping take those programs forward,” Milliken said.
Finding ways to help employees participate in giving back helps deliver on that desire for purpose. It also helps you retain employees who are looking for their employers’ values to align with their own — showing you’re willing to contribute to bettering society in a tangible way may boost morale and reduce turnover.
Social responsibility helps align you with your customers.
While employee engagement is vital, your social responsibility efforts should also encourage customers to support charities your business supports. While charitable giving is built directly into some business plans, other companies find opportunities to give back that align with their business purposes, even if they aren’t necessarily written into the company’s founding principles.
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Milliken said there are various ways to connect customers to a cause. Customers are likely to rally around an immediate need, such as after a natural disaster. They are also likely to participate in giving that ties a social purpose to the product or service they’re buying.
Milliken said either approach could work for building customer engagement. “You can align yourself with a cause that is close to who you are as a business that will resonate with people and make natural sense. One way is not better than the other. [Social responsibility] does not have to be part of the business model from the start.”
Social responsibility can drive innovation.
While businesses giving back to their communities isn’t a new idea, integrating corporate social responsibility into a business’s very foundation is a relatively novel concept.
“Businesses have a long history of giving back, but I think the models for doing so have evolved,” said Milliken. “No longer will companies have a corporate social responsibility department where one or two people sit in an office writing checks to nonprofits.” [Related article: Creativity Is Not Innovation (But You Need Both)]
Part of integrating giving into a company’s overall mission is responding to how technology is rapidly changing the way people donate money and support charities. Milliken said mobile technology and social media are drastically impacting how customers give and how businesses will reach those customers.
“We’re seeing a huge move toward mobile,” he said. “That trend will continue to grow. To the extent that we can embed ways for people to give anytime, anywhere, we have a real shot at increasing the level of charitable giving.”
Social media is also creating more opportunities for people to give. PayPal makes a point of providing the technology and tools to make this happen, according to Milliken. The key to leveraging social channels for charitable giving is to ensure the messaging is contextual and relevant to what the customer is doing at that moment, he said. “Social media can help us find people in these moments, giving us a better shot to get them to give.”
Ways your business can be socially responsible
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to social responsibility initiatives, but here are some straightforward ways to get started.
State your company values clearly.
Some entrepreneurs and small business owners are so focused on starting their businesses and launching their products or services that they don’t take the time to define their company’s values clearly.
Take a step back and reflect on what social good your company can support. Discuss this with your executive team and conduct employee surveys to learn what’s important to the company as a whole. Once you have a clear sense of your team’s values, you can look for projects and foundations to match.
Incentivize volunteering.
Encouraging employees to volunteer is a powerful way to create a culture of social responsibility within your organization. Offering incentives, such as a paid time off policy for volunteering or matching volunteer hours with charitable donations makes it easier for employees to participate. It also shows your company’s commitment to social causes. Once you’ve decided on initiatives, clearly outline them in your employee handbook and company policies.
If you feel stuck or uncertain about what cause you'd like to support, keep up with the news and read articles from various sources to note what sticks out to you.
Establish charitable giving programs.
A structured charitable giving program allows you to contribute consistently to the causes that matter most to you, your employees and your customers. This program could include direct donations to nonprofits or setting up a corporate foundation. You can even give customers the option to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar, with the difference going to charity.
Adopt sustainable practices.
Demonstrating a commitment to environmental stewardship appeals to eco-conscious consumers and positions your business as a forward-thinking leader in sustainability. Reducing waste, conserving energy and sourcing eco-friendly materials are all ways your business can reduce its environmental footprint. These efforts might include implementing recycling programs, switching to renewable energy sources or designing products with sustainability in mind.
Inform your customers.
After getting your employees up to speed about your new initiatives, let your customers know about your social responsibility goals. Your customers will feel that you’re engaging them on a human level and not just trying to sell to them.
Most customers like to know that the businesses they support align with their values. For this reason, launching and sharing a social responsibility initiative is a great way to keep your customers around and spark interest in new clients.
When you establish your company as an ethical organization that cares about social issues, you're more likely to
retain employees and attract high-level applicants in your
hiring process.
Creating plans for purpose-driven success
Social responsibility isn’t only a buzzword. It’s a powerful strategy that can promote business success while making a positive impact on society. Whether your business is large or small, integrating social responsibility into your business model helps you align with the values of your employees and customers. This approach creates a more meaningful and sustainable enterprise that strengthens your brand and contributes to the greater good.
Shayna Waltower and Sean Peek contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
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