Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) measures the social impact on the world around them through their existing practices. By having a Corporate Social Responsibility statement, a company can be socially accountable to all its stakeholders. By maintaining corporate social responsibility, a business can monitor its social, environmental, and economic impacts.

When done correctly, maintaining CSR means that a company can provide Social Value, Social Mobility, and an overall positive Social Impact as part of their work.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
-  Corporate Social Responsibility measures the social impact a business has to the world around them.
-  Corporate Social Responsibility provides benefits to a business, its employees, and the world around them.
-  It is important that large organisations set the standards of an industry through a CSR Strategy.
-  All businesses, large and small are responsible striving to achieve social value as part of the competion of nuclear projects.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

Defining Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility can mean different things to different organisations. This could depend on the size of the business, the type of work that they undertake, or the industry with which they work. Although CSR initiatives have a positive impact on society, the companies themselves often benefit also. CSR helps to build a more united company with improved morale of employees who have a greater sense of their work's impact. Good CSR practices can be beneficial from a positive PR perspective and for a business's overall brand.

Often, as is the case in the nuclear industry as part of the tender process, a business is asked to answer several questions to demonstrate the benefit to society of their work. The apportionment of scoring for these questions has grown quickly in recent years, putting CSR firmly on a nuclear company’s radar.

Demonstrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A CSR strategy could be considered as a way that a company can give back to society. As such, corporate social responsibility is often adopted by larger, established companies in the nuclear industry. These companies are often traded on the stock market and are accountable to shareholders. Due to their standing, they are looked upon to set the benchmarks for the industry.

However, every project undertaken in the nuclear industry has a social impact. The social impact is the change associated with the project's outcomes (e.g. a new nuclear power plant). It is important that everyone accountable for the project's delivery is aware of and operates to provide social value (e.g. creating hundreds of long-term well-paid jobs in the area).

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