16 NEWSWEEK.COM DECEMBER 13, 2019
CSR can also be a big factor in recruiting, particularly for
younger employees, says Eric Johnson, executive director of grad-
uate career services at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana
University. He says, “Social impact is a big piece of the recruiting
process. Probably 50 percent of that initial conversation is about
what the company is doing to make the world better."
"Beer companies used to talk about fun and sports. Now they talk
about their programs to save water in the world. Social impact can
tip the scales. Is a student going to choose an $85,000-a-year job
over a $125,000 job because of social impact? I doubt it. But my
observation is that jobs heavy in social impact often pay up to 10
percent less than comparable jobs that don’t.”
Professor Kashner adds, “These newly minted MBAs care and
they care about the type of work they’re going to be doing. Maybe
previous generations drew a line between work and personal life
and values, but those boundaries no longer exist.” Korn Ferry, the
giant executive recruiting firm, recently surveyed the professionals
in its network. “Company mission and values” was the No. 1 reason
(33 percent ) they’d choose to work for one company over another.
CSR is increasingly part of the conversation with individual
shareholders and investors, like the world’s largest investment firm,
BlackRock, which manages $6.5 trillion dollars for its clients. In his
last two annual letters, CEO Larry Fink has called on companies to
do more and said that BlackRock will evaluate companies on more
than just financial numbers. His 2018 letter said, “As divisions con-
tinue to deepen, companies must demonstrate their commitment
to the countries, regions, and communities where they operate,
particularly on issues central to the world’s future prosperity.”
Many investment firms now have someone in charge of building
portfolios around companies based on their performance on En-
vironmental, Social and Governance or ESG. (Measuring which
companies are woke is an industry in and of itself.)
One aggregator of ESG ratings, CSRhub.com, lists 634 data
sources. They range from the very broad (for example, Alex’s
Guide to Compassionate Shopping) to the very specific (for ex-
ample, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety).
For public relations, CSR is both an offensive and a defensive
weapon. CSR can be used to pre-empt the conversation in areas
where companies have been criticized. Procter & Gamble’s “Am-
bition 2030 program is heavy on recycling and biodegradability.
But CSR can also be a useful defense. It not only builds up a stock
of goodwill with the media and the public, but it generates good“Maybe previous
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