Environmental, Social & Governance Briefs

What drives the public’s evaluations and expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in a global environment? Although companies have embraced CSR has a key business strategy, globalization has introduced new challenges for public relations practitioners seeking to engage audiences on a global level.

What drives the public’s evaluations and expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in a global environment? Although companies have embraced CSR has a key business strategy, globalization has introduced new challenges for public relations practitioners seeking to engage audiences on a global level.

There is tremendous economic opportunity for workers and employers when local talent is developed and connected to strong local jobs. This is clearly the case in the transportation industry, where employers often struggle to find people with the right blend of technical know-how and workplace skills to fill their large number of job vacancies. In this Q&A, LISC’s president and CEO, Maurice Jones, responds to questions about the organization’s partnership with Union Pacific Railroad.

Populism, nationalism, trade wars, March for Our Lives, and the #MeToo movements, among others, are reshaping how people, governments and nonprofits respond and interact with companies, and with each other. In a recent speech to corporate citizenship professionals in New Orleans, I painted a picture of how our crazy world impacting our roles as corporate philanthropists and responsibility practitioners, as internal and external stakeholders put more pressure on us to show value.

Employee petitions, gender discrimination, #MeToo revelations triggering instant market value freefalls—boards of directors and CEOs are searching for how to get ahead of the next viral business disruption, but they are not alone. Their investors are, too. Increasingly, one source of that disruption is their employees.

A new report by the Center for Political Accountability highlights the heightened risks – reputational and business – that companies face from political spending in today’s polarized political environment. Entitled “Collision Course: The Risks Companies Face When Their Political Spending and Their Core Values Conflict, and How to Address Them,” this report is the first examination of conflicted spending and the challenges that it can pose for companies from the public and stakeholders.

The numbers are staggering: More than 65 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced. Only a small number of refugees—less than 1 percent of 17.5 million in 2016—will ever be resettled. In Syria alone, more than 5 million people have fled their war-torn country since 2011, 1 million of whom have settled in Lebanon. Nearly a quarter of those refugees are children not enrolled in school. Behind each of these numbers is a life that’s been put on pause.

What if companies were able to communicate—in clear financial terms—the total value they create for society? While still very much in a nascent stage, such attempts at total impact valuation are being piloted by more than a dozen major companies across an array of sectors and geographies. A new report finds significant promise in these approaches, but a range of challenges remain to be tackled. Above all, standards for definitions and methodologies are needed to facilitate meaningful comparison.