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| Source: | Plattform Nachhaltig Wirtschaften |
| Category: | Partners |
| Date: | 18.09.2008 |
CSR Europe
Tackling socio-economic challenges in CSR Laboratories
The European MarketPlace on CSR, organised by CSR Europe
in November 2007, featured interactive co-building sessions
hosted by 16 CSR Laboratories |
Demographic change, an ageing and ever more diverse population, a lack of skilled workers for the knowledge based economy, global poverty, environmental issues - all of these are socio-economic challenges of concern to businesses, governments and the civil society in Europe and beyond.
Under the umbrella of the European Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility, companies and business organisations across Europe have set up a number of "CSR Laboratory" projects to tackle some of these issues. The Laboratories bring together business practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders to share practical experience, develop joint projects and explore new approaches towards managerial change and policy initiatives.
Since the beginning of 2007, a total of twenty Laboratories have been launched. Together, they Laboratories involve around 200 companies and stakeholder organisations, working together to tackle issues ranging from eco-efficiency to diversity, demographic change, supply chain management or wellbeing in the workplace.
The Laboratories are a key contribution to the European Alliance for CSR, an open partnership launched in 2006 by the European business community and the European Commission to promote CSR and support its integration into mainstream business practice. The European Commission has chosen three organisations to coordinate and facilitate the Alliance: BusinessEurope (confederation of European businesses), UEAPME (employers' organisation representing SMEs, crafts and trades), and CSR Europe, the leading European business network for CSR. In its role as an Alliance coordinator, CSR Europe is facilitating a number of CSR Laboratory projects together with its corporate members and national partner organisations across Europe.
Building skills for employability
Europe is losing out on billions of euros in investments due to a shortfall in qualified technology-oriented human resources, the European Commission has warned. Surveys indicate that 40 percent of European citizens suffer from "digital illiteracy" and only 10 percent participate in lifelong learning. The CSR Laboratory on Skills for Employability was launched by Microsoft, Cisco, State Street and Randstad to help provide access to IT, technical and other employability skills to current and future generations and groups at risk. The Laboratory is part of a Europe-wide campaign that aims to reach 20 million people across Europe by 2020.
Since the beginning of this year, the Laboratory has successfully extended the geographical reach of its t work, building on the benchmarks set by projects in Germany, UK, Belgium and Luxembourg. Innovative partnerships with local public sector employment agencies, skills councils, local chambers of commerce and SME associations have been established with the core industry partners of the initiative. One example of this was the official launch of the Skills for Employability Alliance in France in early March. The project, with the support of the NGO 'Force des Femmes', aims at bringing women over the age of 45 back into the workplace.
Mainstreaming responsible supply chain management
Companies are under ever greater pressure from consumers, NGOs, investors and other stakeholders to ensure the implementation of social and environmental standards by the suppliers they work with.
A group of leading companies from different sectors - HP, L'Oréal, Volkswagen and Titan - have taken up the challenge of supporting large and small businesses in mainstreaming responsible supply chain management through their leadership of a CSR Laboratory on this topic. The Laboratory is facilitated by CSR Europe and the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), an initiative of European retail companies launched by the Foreign Trade Association.
The supply chain Laboratory aims to provide practical guidance for practitioners by developing a European Portal on Responsible Supply Chain Management. The portal will provide easy access to key international standards and principles in this area. The Laboratory will also organise awareness raising and capability building sessions in and outside Europe to help companies implement responsible practices in their daily work and management systems.
Promoting wellbeing in the workplace
In a recent EU survey, more than 20 percent of European workers believed that their health is at risk because of work-related stress. The annual economic cost of job stress in Europe has been estimated at €20 billion.
The CSR Laboratory on Wellbeing in the Workplace was launched in June 2007 to better address this issue. This Laboratory brings together companies such as Johnson & Johnson, BT and Unilever, who work together with representatives from CSR Europe, European Union, WHO and ILO, to develop practical solutions for managing job stress and promoting employee health and wellbeing. The Laboratory aims at creating a "Do's and Don'ts" toolkit to help managers and HR practitioners address issues such as stress prevention, identification and re-insertion in the workplace.
 CSR Europe
CSR Europe is the leading European business network for corporate social responsibility with around 70 multinational corporations and 25 national partner organisations as members.
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