Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aims to identify and manage the impacts of their business models on their ecosystems. Its purpose, besides ensuring the sustainability of models, is to maintain the trust of their stakeholders. In other words, CSR aims to develop the social capital of the company while guiding its transformations.
Thus, CSR is an active element of business management that aims to structure the entire general policy of companies. The banking and insurance sectors are no exception. Moreover, these sectors are expected to demonstrate exemplary behavior and transparency in conducting their business and managing their impacts: investment choices, financing, risk coverage, social, societal, and environmental impacts…
Making the implementation of the CSR strategy part of everyone’s daily life
Therefore, beyond the implementation of sincere reporting of their extra-financial performance (notably within the framework of the CSRD), companies will need to undertake significant operational transformations.
This necessity concerns both the functioning of the company in the broadest sense and its attractiveness in the eyes of its current and future customers and employees:
- A study by Deloitte (2024: Gen Z and Millennial Survey 2024) showed that 77% of Millennials expect their employer to take action to address social and environmental issues.
- 68% of French consumers would be willing to consume more from a company committed to CSR (Kantar 2024).
CSR is becoming a vital and strategic investment. Numerous studies demonstrate that companies actively engaged in CSR tend to outperform their peers in the long term in terms of financial performance.
How to avoid the “mountain” effect? Where to start without getting lost?
1- A resolute commitment from management
The involvement of leaders is crucial for several reasons: to accelerate the establishment of a CSR culture, to make sometimes divisive decisions to be CSR throughout the value chain, to encourage business units to develop sustainable offerings, to transform processes and purchasing policies, and to lead by example. CSR can certainly be supported by everyone, but its effective dissemination requires a strong will and exemplary behavior from top management.
An emblematic and historical example of leadership commitment is that of Triodos. Peter Blom (former CEO of Triodos Bank) was a pioneer of sustainable finance and significantly contributed to establishing Triodos Bank as a reference in ethical banking.
Why is it effective? Management’s commitment sends a strong signal that CSR is a strategic priority and encourages all employees to engage.
2- Empowering the company with a CSR “business partner” management
To be successfully implemented, the CSR strategy must be embodied and managed with a clear mandate and decentralized, competent, and equipped teams.
The more effective the transformation, the more it will impact the daily operations of the business units, which will raise questions about the messages to convey to stakeholders, and even dilemmas that need to be resolved. For example: a particular investment has a high ROI but has deleterious impacts on the environment. What trade-off should be made?
As we can see, implementing the CSR policy will be engaging and creative. It will also need to rely on new modalities of co-production, co-innovation, and co-responsibility with stakeholders.
3- Training and awareness programs for personnel
What does it mean to do “good work” by integrating CSR?
Engaging your employees is crucial for the success of your CSR governance. The success of your CSR approach relies on the commitment of all employees. It is essential to inform, train, and empower them to act. Initiatives such as creating a CSR committee, implementing volunteer actions, or promoting diversity can be very effective.
You can draw inspiration from the following initiatives:
- Implement a “Climate Fresco”: a collaborative and creative workshop aimed at raising awareness of climate change issues. The principle is simple and relies on collective construction with cards to reconstruct the mechanisms of climate change, starting from the causes (greenhouse gas emissions) to the consequences (rising waters, extreme weather events). To set it up, nothing is simpler than to unite a community of ambassadors who will be the CSR facilitators closest to your teams.
- Follow the example of a French insurer that has created over 200 thematic modules and makes them available to large groups (not only those in the insurance sector). Thus, each company can create THE ideal training path for its employees by mixing expert interviews, podcasts, videos, articles, etc.
- Unite and animate a community of ambassadors, as seen in a large French bank where these management representatives on societal issues related to CSR closely carry the CSR commitments and are the preferred contacts for employees across all entities and throughout the territory.
4- Transparent and authentic communication
Communication is a key element of CSR. It helps to give meaning to the actions taken, strengthen the company’s reputation, and mobilize stakeholders.
What is good communication?
It is when you communicate transparently, highlighting the results achieved and being honest about the difficulties encountered. You can also publish regular reports detailing your initiatives, progress, and challenges. This strengthens stakeholder trust and demonstrates your commitment to social responsibility.
You can refer to the best practices presented by ADEME. The responsible communication site addresses the importance, challenges, and benefits of responsible communication. It also discusses the risk of greenwashing, which is the misleading communication about ecological practices, a serious threat to brand reputation, and offers methodologies.
A final recommendation for establishing a CSR culture?
Especially because being ethical and responsible will become mandatory for many banking and insurance institutions.
In 2024, European regulations in the banking and insurance sector are strengthening, imposing higher standards in terms of transparency, sustainability, and responsibility. This evolution represents a major opportunity for financial institutions to position themselves as responsible and committed actors. However, the lack of return on investment (ROI) raises questions about the long-term viability of these initiatives. Another significant point: The legal obligation to implement a vigilance plan inscribed in the commercial code under article L. 225-102-4. The first French court decisions on this issue have been rendered, with a first company being condemned in December 2023. The company was ordered by the court to complete its vigilance plan with a risk mapping and an alert mechanism.
David KERNANEC: Senior consultant at Orange Consulting
25 years in consulting on transformations related to technology and CSR. Responsible digital strategy, economic model transitions, building a CSR management, Green IT,… are areas of expertise that I share daily.
Source: orange-business.com