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Guest post by: Wendy McWilliams Become an Author

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This article looks at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): what does it mean and what CSR initiatives can you implement in your business? Below, I review (and applaud) two businesses that have firm CSR policies and practices in place.

From Wikipedia, the definition of CSR is... a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms.

The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.

If CSR is not already entrenched in your organisation, it should be. All areas of your business should comply, including:

* workplace safety and employee training,

* product development and materials sourcing,

* packaging,

* product performance,

* pollution control and waste management,

* the complaints process,

* advertising and marketing,

* community service obligations,

* corporate philanthropy

At WMC Public Relations we applaud companies that take CSR seriously and are pleased to provide two examples of local companies, and their employees, who really do contribute to society through CSR.

Tasty Trucks: Colin Lear established Tasty Trucks in 1989 and since then they have been providing morning tea and lunch to factory and office workers, arriving on time each day and providing a fast and friendly service. The business is expanding rapidly, but earlier this year, more than 15,000 people a day are served from their mobile vans.

For the past 15 years, Tasty Trucks has been donating vast quantities of sandwiches, rolls, pies, salad packs, cakes and other freshly prepared meals to St Vincent de Paul Society's soup vans, which go out every night to feed Melbourne's homeless.

The community also benefits from Tasty Trucks in another important way with employees volunteering as part of a monthly roster system to help out in the soup vans.

To me, this is ground roots CSR. But Colin has taken CSR further. A feature of the vans is to utilise the energy from the engine to heat water that keeps the ovens hot. The fan forced ovens also have a gas assisted burner. The vans and the refrigeration system run on propane gas, which is one of the cleanest fuels available. This makes for a very energy efficient and environmentally clean vehicle.

Using the knowledge Colin and his team gained in developing their vans, Tasty Trucks has also been instrumental in helping St Vincent's design and build their soup vans which fully comply with the requirements of food handling laws.

That is a perfect example of CSR.

Cummins: Leading diesel engine supplier, Cummins, introduced Community Involvement Teams (CITs) as part of its CSR program. Its CSR mission is to make people’s lives better by serving and improving the communities in which Cummins does business, and providing the tools and means for people living on the edge of society to overcome the barriers they face.

Cummins delivers on this core value through its CITs, which serve as an organised employee-driven structure through which CSR work is carried out in the local community.

The CITs select projects based on local community concerns and with a focus on people and groups who are marginalised in society. As reported in Knox Business Life, the Cummins Scoresby CIT chose to partner with three local community not-for-profit organisations: Riding for the Disabled (RDA), Wesley Do Care (WDC) and Hand Brake Turn (HBT).

RDA provides horse riding and related activities for physically and intellectually disabled people of all ages. The program has therapeutic, developmental and social value for the riders. For a few hours each week, several Cummins Scoresby volunteers assist by leading the horses and interacting with these special riders.

WDC provides services for socially isolated people, who are housebound and rarely have visitors. Staff at Cummins Scoresby volunteer their time to do home visits with these often elderly and isolated residents. The volunteers provide company and assist with odd jobs.

The Cummins-sponsored HBT program focuses on further education for local youth at risk with a specific focus on Certificate 1 in Motor/Engine Mechanics, and potentially Diesel Technician Apprenticeships. These youth have an opportunity to meet and mix with Cummins volunteers, who share similar automotive and technical passions.

The company encourages and gives all employees an opportunity to participate in community involvement activities on a voluntary basis.

Gino Butera, Managing Director of Cummins Asia Pacific couldn't have said it any better: “Through Cummins' Corporate Social Responsibility program, we seek to achieve a lasting and positive impact on our local community. We would urge all businesses to adopt programs to assist the less fortunate in our community."

What are you doing to further your organisation's CSR policies?

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