Europeans have had their say on what companies are doing for society – and they’re not impressed
A stinging wakeup call about the health of corporate responsibility is the headline result from a recent Eurobarometer poll from the European commission.
According to the survey, only slightly more than half of European citizens believe companies have a positive influence on society, while four out of 10 believe they have a negative influence, a scepticism that puts them at the bottom of the international table in corporate trust.
“I can imagine the driving factor there is not necessarily uptake of corporate responsibility … CR was only ever going to be a transition stage towards having businesses align how they create value for shareholders and society,” says David Bent, deputy director of sustainable business at Forum for the Future.
“Value” can be read as a call for job creation, what EU citizens view as the most positive impact of companies (57%), followed by their contribution to economic growth (32%).
It is indeed about job creation, says Stefan Crets, executive director of CSR Europe, but the case has to be made locally, and connected to the big macro trends such as climate change and population growth.
Most strikingly, of the 32,000 respondents to the poll, 79% said they were interested in the responsibility of business activities in environmental and social issues, but only 36% said they had adequate information.
This is despite the myriad sustainability reports and information around. Bent points out, of course, that “nobody reads it”.
But such tick-box reporting shouldn’t be confused with the specific, mandatory disclosures now being given debated at the top-level in the EU, including by Michael Barnier, the EU internal markets commissioner.
Consumers in the loop
However reporting is regulated, consumers do want to be informed. Indeed, the Eurobarometer survey reveals consumers believe they themselves should be in the lead in influencing corporate action, followed by business itself and then government. Investors and NGOs or charities come in a distant fourth and fifth place.
Bent agrees, though points out that consumers often lack the expertise and knowledge to go deep down supply chains.
Revealingly, some 25% of Europeans believe that companies encourage over-consumption. In this respect, for business it’s not then all about simple job creation. If, indeed, companies are to create jobs, they have to do so thinking of big macro.
Bent highlights O2-Telefonica’s digital entrepreneur training programme as an example of the sort of initiative helping young people to find jobs. And CSR Europe recently launched a “skills for jobs” campaign focused on this very topic: combating social exclusion and unemployment.
“The real action is taking place at the city or local level, where there are stronger interactions,” says Crets.
He says cultural perspectives account for some the negative poll results, but also that the level of economic development is a key factor. “We live in a mature economy in Europe, one that is in crisis now and where there are stronger levels of NGO participation and citizen movements. That also makes a difference,” he says. People are becoming more aware of corporate behaviour and how this can have negative impact.
For Bent, the headline from the report for business is that companies cannot take peoples’ trust for granted. “It is eroding away and at some point it will be difficult for it to come back.”