At a Glance
Many employees expect authentic corporate responsibility from their employers. Integrating CSR in recruitment and onboarding improves culture, engagement, and retention. By introducing initiatives early, showcasing real impact, and using CSR tools like KindLink, organisations align values with action and create motivated, purpose-driven teams committed to long-term social impact.
CSR and Employees Today
Today’s generations are more aware of organisational activity than any others before them. A 2020 study in the Journal of Consumer Behaviour shows that millennials and Gen Zs evaluate a company’s actions through a lens of idealism, checking for authenticity.
Along with Gen Z, millennials now make up a majority of the global workforce and expect socially responsible behaviour from any organisation they work with. This means that organisations can no longer afford to skip integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes into their employee onboarding process.
As a socially responsible organisation with definable CSR goals, you should be looking to embed CSR into onboarding, recruitment, and overall work culture for maximum impact.
This guide explores why and how you can integrate CSR in recruitment, onboarding, and HR processes while making it integral to your workplace culture.
Why You Should Embed CSR from Day One
When you highlight CSR goals and initiatives from day one, you have a simple way to share your company’s culture and communicate with potential and new employees.
Embedding CSR from the recruitment stage can signal to potential employees that your organisation is ethical and socially responsible, with a strong culture. It can help employees adjust to your culture faster and set the right expectations, as well as reassure them that your organisation follows through on its social commitments.
Introducing your employees to CSR early can also get them excited about getting involved from day one.
How to Weave CSR Into the Onboarding Journey
Weaving CSR into the onboarding, recruitment, and HR journey is as equally important as participating in socially responsible and ethical practices.
Here are seven approaches, with internal CSR examples, that ingrain a clear sense of your organisation’s social mission and community involvement, and encourage participation from your new hires.
1. Talk About Your CSR Initiatives Early
Rather than waiting for months to introduce your corporate philanthropy or local community initiatives, introduce your CSR goals early, ideally in the hiring process.
Be sure to update your company’s website and marketing collateral with past and upcoming initiatives, highlighting the social good you’ve done through employee volunteering programmes, fundraising campaigns, ethical sourcing policies, or charitable partnerships. When new hires see the impact you’re making, they’re more likely to be interested and inspired to join in.
2. Update Induction Materials with CSR Goals
During the onboarding process, make sure you update your induction materials to reflect the latest efforts your employees have made. Support this by sharing examples or case studies of past projects.
For example, during an induction, your HR team could present an impact story of how your organisation has helped a local non-profit through payroll giving, or how skill-based volunteering has helped a charity move closer to its goal. This reiterates your company’s commitment towards CSR.
3. Talk About CSR Technology
Talking about your past progress and milestones isn’t enough. You’ll also want to introduce your new hires to the CSR technology your company uses, so they can see how easy it is to initiate and manage CSR activities through a CSR platform. This is likely to get them excited enough to actively participate.
For example, demonstrating how to use a user-friendly CSR tool like KindLink can encourage your new employees to create their login credentials on the spot. You could use this opportunity to show them how they can find charities to support or create a fundraising campaign.
By choosing KindLink as your company’s CSR platform, you’re not only familiarising your new hires with an all-in-one, easy-to-use CSR tool, but you’re also actively involving them in giving back immediately. By the first week, your new employees are likely to know exactly how to participate and make a difference.
4. Assign CSR Buddy or Mentor
Guiding fresh hires to embrace CSR as a part of your work culture is easy when they have the support of an assigned CSR mentor or buddy. An existing employee can guide your new joiners with participation and help them get to grips with your organisation’s overall CSR culture.
This will help them work towards creating a CSR campaign on their own, as well as clearly outlining who to reach out to for support or guidance.
5. Create an Onboarding Event
Taking a different approach, your organisation can centre CSR as your core focus and turn formal recruiting or onboarding processes into an event around an act of good.
The idea is that your new joiners experience a live event in action while your HR team and CSR managers explain and share an active employee CSR experience.
6. Plan Their Own Volunteering Event
Organising a volunteering event is another way to show what your new hires can expect from your company. Hold the event within their first week in their new role, assigning it as a project plan, set up by your HR and CSR managers.
This might seem like a time-consuming effort, but if you’re a larger company hiring in bulk, it can get your new teams familiar with your CSR mission and more actively engaged in your activities going forward.
7. Encourage Personal Ideas and Efforts
Induction, onboarding, and other hiring processes can also serve as a launchpad to understand what your potential or new hires can contribute towards your CSR mission.
Ask your HR training and development managers to brainstorm ideas for your next community-driven event. This can encourage newcomers to be active participants and even lead social efforts.
Use KindLink to Understand CSR Onboarding Success
These seven approaches can get you started with creating a structured plan for creating meaningful engagement among your new hires early on. We recommend integrating these approaches into your CSR programme for a more widespread impact.
KindLink’s platform is designed to support your efforts to integrate your onboarding and recruitment process with CSR. Use our HR and recruitment solution to appeal to prospective hires, engage new and existing employees, and build a conscientious culture, while highlighting your organisation’s social responsibility and commitment to positive change.
Use KindLink to:
-
Create volunteering opportunities
-
Sign up for payroll giving and donation matching
-
Track and report impact
-
Find charities to support on our charity marketplace
-
Create employee non-profit accounts
Explore our tools for CSR-aligned onboarding and volunteering. Sign up today to get started.
