1. Corporate Social Responsibility
in India: Trends and Implications
for Internal Communications
Givingback to the communities we live in is not just an expectationbutan approach to
engage employeesand become employers ofchoice.
Read complete article at: http://wp.me/p1MKF-l0
Aniisu K Verghese
Internal Communications Leader,Career Coach and Author
www.intraskope.com
www.intraskope.wordpress.com

2. Disclaimer
Due care has been taken while preparing
this presentation but the author cannot be
held responsible for any misuse or
misrepresentation of information. The views
expressed in this presentation are those of
the author and do not reflect those of the
organization he works for. Data for this
presentation has been drawn from various
sources and is gratefully acknowledged.

3. Evolving nature of Corporate
Social Responsibility
 Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) has come a
long way in India from funding projects to appeal to
communities to empowering employees to co-
create a sustainable future.
 How can organizations leverage corporate social
responsibility trends to engage employees better?

4. Limited understanding exists
 The opportunities to demonstrate leadership skills
beyond work, the ability to interact with multiple
stakeholders and the power of making a tangible
difference to society are some of the ways in which
organizations position CSR initiatives at work.

5. Benefits outweigh the
investments
 Of the 7 dimensions that drive reputation, 3 fall in the CSR
category. Reputation Institute’s 2012 Global CSR RepTrak™
100)
 Citizenship (company is a good corporate citizen),
governance (organization is responsibly run) and workplace
(appealing for employees, who are treated right) determine
42% of peoples’ willingnessto trust, admire, and support
you.
 A 5% point increase in a CSR rating translates to a 9.1%
spike in the number of people who can vouch for an
organization, an area barely understood and acted upon.

6. Opportunities for giving back
 India is poised to have a demographic advantage of having a
fifth of the world’s working age population.
 Half of India’s population is living in poverty
 42% of India’s children below the age of three are
malnourished, which is greater than the statistics of sub-
Saharan African region.
 India is ranked 3rd highest among countries with a high rate
of HIV-infected persons and approximately 1.72 million
children die each year before turning one.

7. A good start
 Tata Consultancy Services created an early warning
system that provides scientists with information at their
fingertips and alerts to warn of potential disasters.
 Vodafone in India has a program called World of
Difference where employees spend five weeks with NGOs
the organization supports in locations throughout the country.
Such engagements spur employees to consult and
demonstrate their leadership skills in areas they are
passionate about.
 In an internal study among staff, Cognizant, a large IT firm
discovered that their volunteers gained immenselyfrom the
experience and indicated a higher sense of purpose and
performance.
 Indian Government passing the New Companies Bill that
mandates companies to spend 2% of their net profit towards
socially responsible programs expected to grow the corpus of
funds available to an estimated Rs 120 billion

8. Challenges and implications
 Among the top 500 companies in India showed that only less than
half reported their programs or spends.
 Programs usually tended to cover community development, training,
education, compliance, employee health and safety and
employment.
 A marginal percentage of companiesranked level 4 (a sustained
level of CSR reporting and activity).
 Nearly 77 % of the Indian companies reported corporate or
employee volunteering although none had formal procedures in
place..
 Incidentally, a low percentage of corporate houses engaged in
programs that directed effort for employees, the public and
neighboring communities.
 This contradicts the national volunteering guidelines established by
the Indian government’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs which spells
out that the well-being of employees needs to be a priority.

9. Trends and internal
communications strategies
Social media enabling change
Rise of the ‘internal social activist’
Tracking the carbon footprint of our actions and partners
More discipline and focus for CSR
Greater ownership for the corporate social responsibility
function within corporate communications teams

10. In Summary
 Organizations need to be inclusive, realistic and
align with business goals
 Need to articulate their purpose better, engage
employees through communications and report
progress and impact more.
 Opportunities to do greater good exists.
 Organizations need to be more mindful of their
investments, be transparent, build platforms for
employees and stakeholders to engage more
and conduct sustainable campaigns that
deliver long term results.

11. Stay Connected
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 Twitter: www.twitter.com/aniisu
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 E-mail: intraskope@yahoo.com
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