TODAY’S EMPLOYEES EXPECT A LOT MORE FROM THEIR EMPLOYERS THAN A WEEKLY PAY PACKET. BY JOAN-MAREE HARGREAVES

CORPORATE responsibility is a hot topic and leading organisations understand the importance of doing business in a way that is ethical and improves the quality of life of the workforce, the workers’ families, the local community and society at large.

Dr Simon Longstaff (pictured), executive director of the St James Ethics Centre, says some of the biggest ethical issues business face this year, particularly environmental issues, are also the easiest to address.

“The environmental footprint of a business, whether it’s in terms of its energy use, its use of water, its management of waste, in a whole range of different ways, those are very big issues because they immediately relate to people’s concerns about global warming and the state of the natural environment,” he says.

In many respects these are easy issues to address, Longstaff says, because the impact of these changes can be immediately seen on the organisation’s bottom line.

Other issues, which are more challenging to address, include the contribution the business makes to create a healthy social environment.

“This is far less easy to measure. There are far more variables in terms of how you go about this and, also, the benefits of doing so are spread across society as a whole and throughout the economy and are perhaps less immediately attributed to a particular business’s bottom line,” he says.

“However, what we are increasingly learning is that if you have an unhealthy society, then no matter what economic, technological or other advancements you think you might make, a destabilised and unhealthy society will lead you to achieving sub-optimal results either in business or society as a whole.”

Longstaff believes a society that is productive, peaceful and engaged is necessary for maintaining long-term success.

“It is also becoming clear, particularly amongst younger people, that employees are no longer happy to simply work for an organisation that will provide them with remuneration that is adequate. They also look to work for a place where they can feel proud to be part of that whole story,” Longstaff says.

In February 2004, the St James Ethics Centre, working in partnership with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and supported by Ernst & Young, launched the Corporate Responsibility Index in Australia.

The index measures the performance of businesses across four general areas: the workplace, the environment, the community and the marketplace.

The ANZ Banking Corporation was included in the last index and is among an increasing number of businesses that now produce corporate-responsibility reports.

"ANZ's aim is to be a respected, responsible corporate citizen,” says head of breakout and culture for ANZ, Siobhan McHale.

“Being a responsible business involves balancing the needs of our people, our customers, the community and the environment.”

ANZ has given a specific focus to its employee programs and policies. “One key issue for our people is the topic of workplace flexibility,” McHale says.

“We offer a range of flexible work practices, including flexible working hours, working offsite, job sharing, extended unpaid leave and guaranteed part-time work for employees aged 55 and over.”

ANZ is rolling out a program called My Flexibility that aims to help employees and managers determine how, when and where its employees work and how they structure their careers. “It is designed to help our people meet their personal and career goals while ensuring the needs of the team and business are met,” McHale says.

Although there are many businesses in Australia that are making advancements in this area, Longstaff says there are still large sectors of the Australian economy that are not yet really engaged in corporate responsibility.

“Not only is there really uneven participation amongst the largest of Australian companies, which have been really reluctant to make commitments in this area, but also there’s that whole area of small-to-medium enterprise which is yet to be really engaged in a way which makes sense to them,” he says.

Longstaff says some businesses still believe they can avoid dealing with the issues that corporate responsibility throws up or think they can handle them with good public relations.

“In fact, the only way to do this properly is to integrate your involvement throughout the business. And that necessarily requires you to make available resources within the company in the sense that people have to be engaged and you have to have the systems in place to record and measure what you’re doing. Otherwise the improvement in performance, which all aspire to have who are serious about this, is simply illusionary.”