According to Investopedia, corporate social responsibility is a company’s initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on environmental and social well being. Basically, these are efforts that go beyond what may be required by the regulators or environmental protection groups. These efforts usually do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the corporation, and instead work to promote positive social and environmental change.
In fact, large corporations are encouraged to have CSR activities. Under the “Corporate Social Responsibility Act of 2011”, local government units shall extend whatever assistance is necessary for business establishments to exercise CSR in their areas of jurisdiction. The approved House Bill 4575 also states that “all business organizations established and operating under Philippine laws, whether domestic or foreign, are encouraged to observe CSR or the commitment of business to contribute on a voluntary basis, to sustainable economic development by working with relevant stakeholders to improve their lives in ways that are good for business, a sustainable development agenda and society at large”.
Examples of CSR activities are any of the following:
- Charitable programs and projects
- Scientific Research
- Youth and sports development
- Cultural and educational promotion
- Services to veterans and senior citizens
- Social Welfare
- Environmental sustainability
- Health Development
- Disaster Relief Assistance
- Employee and Employer related CSR Activities
Depending on what the company can afford, they may opt to do more than one. Companies with enormous detrimental effects to the environment like those in mining, chemical manufacturing, agriculture and fishing are usually expected to hold more CSR activities since they do the most damage to our ecosystems. Since the law only “encourages” companies to do CSR (and does not mandate it), not all such business entities are as responsible as others. That is why there are a lot of environmentalists fighting for more a eco-friendly way of living.
Chromedia Does Responsible Business
As for Chromedia, we conduct two to three such activities from the list above. First off, we hire On-the-Job trainees during the summer season. It’s about teaching them and having them experience how the real world works.
Taking in OJT’s is actually a win-win solution for the company. Not only do we get the word out that our company exists, we also get free advertising from the students when they start talking about how cool the company is, how we work, the technologies that we use and what benefits are in store when they become an employee. Though nothing is certain, hitting the first step in the AIDA marketing model may have a positive impact in the long run.
This year we have hired three On-the-job trainees namely Charlotte Sacmar, Francis Carlo Molina and Aljomai Baclado. These incoming 4th year students came from the University of the Philippines. In fact, two of whom actually came from the UP Tacloban Campus.
Those from UP Tacloban were required to do at least 200 hours for their practicum while the student from UP Cebu was required at least 240 hours. These guys stayed with us for more than a month. Based on their reports about Chromedia, they found the company rather flat in terms of hierarchy and a cool place to work.
The second CSR activity that CFE practices is “Environmental Sustainability”. Managing the lights we use and practicing garbage segregation are a few of the things under this category. Also, just so you know, businesses are required to do at one to three activities for this category in order to get a sanitary permit to further pursue business annually. Kudos to CFE, who strives to find our own little ways to protect the environment!
Lastly, Chromedia conducts at least one to two major events every year for fellowship, thanksgiving or whatever you want to call it. Activities such as the summer outing, team lunch or dinners and Christmas parties are considered to be under “employee and employer related CSR activities”. These type of events are usually done in contribution to the employees well-being. Although these activities are usually cost intensive for the company, it ends up beneficial to the employees and the company in the long run.
