Focus - CSR: Helping hands

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, in its publication Making Good Business Sense by Lord Holme and Richard Watts, uses the following definition: "Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large."

With this terminology, no wonder some brokers will see CSR in its official guise as a turnoff. While listed companies might feel obligated to document what they do, one source, who did not want to be attributed, says: "One insurer I can think of employs a team of CSR people to spend a lot of time telling everyone about how carbon-neutral they are but, frankly, shareholders are primarily interested in the financial results. If the insurer stopped all the CSR stuff, I don't think it would make any difference."

Sceptics apart, for larger companies, a strong record of CSR activity can make a business more attractive to its workforce and potential employees, notably graduates. For smaller brokers, CSR is unlikely to be something that features highly, if at all: who can blame them? Given the state of the economy and the soft market, it seems difficult enough to keep a business afloat without building in costly nice-to-haves.

Kept quiet
Andrew Young, managing director at consultant Hansen Young, comments: "You get companies like Towergate that do a lot and, all credit to it, don't make a big public relations deal out of it but for smaller firms it is more difficult. There are brokers doing things in a private capacity but the smaller firms do not have the money to invest a lot of their work time in community work or charity. In part, it depends on making sufficient profits to drive towards this end."

He adds that smaller brokers do not feel the need - or have the inclination - for a formal CSR programme: "When you have a large insurer, there are going to be public relations and marketing professionals who will want to highlight CSR activities to various stakeholders. Small brokers often don't want to be centre stage and would prefer to keep stuff they do for a pet charity private. That said, it might be practical and beneficial to get all employees involved in something that is easily contained, such as Red Nose Day."

There is a vast difference between talking about doing good and actually doing it. Some produce vast amounts of material about their activities but in reality donate little money and only allow a handful of staff the opportunity to do voluntary work.

There can also be dangers in spelling out how committed a company is to CSR because there is a risk that things can backfire, meaning that fine words can end up as meaningless or even damaging. For example, Enron's chief executive officer Ken Lay said: "Enron believes it has a responsibility to conduct itself according to certain basic tenets of human behaviour that transcend industries, cultures, economics, and boundaries. We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly and sincerely." We know what happened later.

Give back
Done the right way, giving something back can be rewarding. Howard Lickens, chief executive officer at Clear Insurance Management, comments: "These might not be the easiest of times but most brokers I know are still fairly successful; I think those who are doing reasonably well should be doing something to help others."

Clear supports Wimbledon-based Linden Lodge School for the visually impaired and those with profound and other multiple learning difficulties. Lickens says: "It's close to us in New Malden and so we can visit regularly to help out or fundraise. One of the things we do is hold a fireworks display for the children, which is a lot of fun for everyone."

Community involvement can bring brokers and clients together. Lickens comments: "If a broker is involved in their local Chamber of Commerce, they might hear about a school or other organisation that needs support. It is about showing you are part of that community."

Meanwhile Fiona Macrae, operations director at travel broker Insurancewith, explains that she supports medical charities by giving £1 for every policy: "The charities help us to fully understand the conditions they support so we can temper our medical screening accordingly: they put time and effort into this and therefore we want to give something back."

Richard Hartley, director at Alan Boswell, says that its emphasis is on supporting local charities, as well as those favoured by employees. Such efforts include donating to the Big C Appeal, which provides cancer care and support in the Norwich area, and The Bryan Gunn Appeal, which is run by the former Norwich City goalkeeper and manager to help defeat childhood leukaemia. Alan Boswell also backs Mencap, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research, Railway Children and Sportability, which helps those with paralysis take part in sports.

Hartley comments: "We've had people run in the London Marathon raise £10,000 and we hold regular events in the office. For example, we raised £2,200 from dress-down days and cake sales: £1,500 of this went to Mencap and the rest to the Big C appeal. We also recently gave £500 to the 16th Norwich Sea Scouts towards new equipment for the group."

Unmissable presence
A charitable gesture from company chairman Alan Boswell has added an unusual touch to the office environment for employees and visitors. Standing in pride of place in the company's Norwich reception is Jemima the elephant, a model sold for £25,000 at auction in support of the Go Elephants! campaign. This effort raised funds for the Clic Sargent and Born Free Foundation charities. She was painted by local award-winning artist Susan Gunn, wife of Bryan Gunn.

Hartley agrees that simple ideas can create a bit of fun and camaraderie: "One thing that Alan has started to do at our staff Christmas party each year is to offer to make a payment to charity if someone shaves off a beard or moustache and keeps it off until at least the next year's party. I got £250 for Médecins Sans Frontières by agreeing to do this a few years ago."

When people are so busy, there is the scope to cement relationships further, even in a small company. There are also benefits in the largest firms and bringing people together who might otherwise not have met. The intention is that this can lead to increased cross-referrals and strong ties between divisions. Sally Coode-Bate, community affairs manager at Aon, comments: "People are working so hard, they don't have time to get to know each other in the office, which is one reason why doing a community project can be so rewarding."

Aon is involved in a mentoring project for a school for children with learning difficulties in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, two of the most deprived areas in London. Coode-Bate comments: "We work directly with the children as mentors and help out, for instance by refurbishing the playground."

Aon involves staff in selecting which charities to support by donating through its charitable foundation. Coode-Bate explains: "We provide employees with a shortlist and they pick three that we then support over the next two years; this time they are MacMillan, Help for Heroes and the Make-A-Wish Foundation." The company also matches employees' donations if they prefer to raise money for their own preferred charity.

Hard work
While it might outwardly seem like a pleasant distraction from office pressures, Coode-Bate says that volunteering brings its own challenges. "Some of the children have very severe problems and one of our volunteers told me they were not sure they were helping. Later, they were told by the headteacher that they were making a difference; they said that if one child is able to sit on a chair for 10 seconds rather than eight then that is real progress.

"One of our brokers who has worked for a long time with these children told me 'no matter how much stress you are under or how much work you have, it all pales into insignificance when you come here'."

Coode-Bate says volunteering activities that include clients can be good for business. She remarks: "We have our law division working with a legal client in clearing a cemetery, while other examples include painting an art centre and planting a garden for a housing association."

Marsh, meanwhile, won the corporate responsibility category at the British Insurance Awards 2010 for its Helping People and Communities at Risk programme - comprising charitable employee volunteering, matched giving and sustainability activities in the UK - as well as for charity of the year Clic Sargent.

Lockton has also developed a reputation for its CSR activities. The Lockton Community Programme has run for three years: it partners with a nominated charity for a year and also supports the Lloyd's Community Programme.

The LCP takes on volunteers from across the market to become involved in projects in East London. Last year, more than 1,200 took part. Meanwhile, after raising £77,000 for mobility charity Whizz Kidz last year, Lockton's partnership with Alzheimer's Society this year has raised over £100,000.

Lockton spokesman Chris Don says that it is not just about raising money; staff also spend time at the Dementia Café in Hackney with the Alzheimer's Society. In addition, 12 Lockton employees are currently enrolled in a reading partners scheme, helping local children improve their reading, conversation and comprehension skills.

Lockton's chief executive officer, Julian James, is a board member of the Lloyd's Community Programme. He encourages people and companies working in the London insurance market to take part in a variety of community activities in and around the City.

He comments: "One of Lockton's core philosophies is to be proactive in sustaining a meaningful corporate social and civic responsibility. I have been delighted by the enthusiasm of our employees, who have given up significant amounts of their time and energy to our community programme. We have also raised awareness of dementia internally at Lockton and in the wider community among friends and family."

Morale boost
Big brokers have made redundancies this year and smaller ones have also either let people go or imposed recruitment freezes; there is an argument to suggest that doing something positive in CSR can help lift the mood of employees against this troubled employment backdrop, as well as potentially lead to useful future contacts.

Networking is also a feature of being a corporate sponsor of the Prince's Trust such as Heath Lambert, which is part of the Insurance Leadership Group. Spokesman Elliot Lane says: "We have been actively involved in raising money for Prince's Trust activities. One of our fine art team, Tom Dudson, is about to walk across the Himalayas. We have also had employees take part in the Arctic Challenge, while Dan Alborough, who works in the affinity schemes team, recently hiked over Snowdonia for Nelson's Journey, a Norwich-based charity that helps children suffering bereavement. Quite a few in the regional offices get involved in local hospices, while Great Ormond St Hospital is another charity we have donated to corporately."

Towergate is often in the press: as a private company, insurance journalists have something of a fascination for the company, its finances and its cadre at the top. More than a few brokers, both inside and outside the business, say they are surprised at how much charitable involvement the company has and how much is kept low key.

Group head of marketing Marc DonFrancesco says that the absence of publicity about its charitable work is not deliberate: "We will always try to make sure that local press are involved if we're supporting something important. Many people here do want to help and are extremely generous. We certainly don't force it but they can get involved if they want to. Our mantra is 'make money, have fun and do good'. We never forget we are a business first but we also never forget we have an opportunity to help."

Towergate raised over £1m last year, with the money often going to support small projects. DonFrancesco says: "One project we're supporting is a pioneering bowel cancer research programme conducted by a university. Other offices help with local hospices; we also support major charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital.

"CSR is not about looking good for shareholders, it is making a difference in areas that really matter to our people and their local communities. You can also have great fun. Some staff went out washing cars: it was a break from the day job, they raised money and had a good laugh."

Six-figure target
BGL has also been generous, donating more than £350,000 to national, local and employee-nominated causes over the past year (up from £100,000 in 2008-09). Its target is to donate £1m by 2012.

Tom Bingham, an associate director who manages BGL's community activities, encourages engagement with community projects as a recruitment and retention tool: its volunteering programme offers team and skill-building opportunities.

BGL's CSR scheme includes a corporate charity partner. The firm's most recent two-year relationship was with the NSPCC, for which the company raised £204,000. A single event brought in £104,000 when 23 BGL employees endured a nine-day, 80km trek in South Africa in a heatwave.

In a company-wide vote in February 2010, BGL staff selected Marie Curie Cancer Care as the group's current corporate charity partner, donating £50,000 towards a £250,000 target. In 2010, the company appointed an environmental charity partner for the first time. Again selected by employee vote, BGL's charity partner for the next two years is WWF-UK, for which it is targeting £100,000 in donations to support a tiger protection project in Nepal.

BGL is also supporting the Great Fen Project with a donation of £66,000 over three years and active support through its employee volunteering programme; the project aims to restore over 3,000 hectares of fenland habitat between Huntingdon and Peterborough.

The BGL eco-car insurance brand, ibuyeco, also makes charitable donations of up to £5 for each new insurance policy. Customers can choose one of three environmental charities to receive the donation: the Woodland Trust, Borneo Orangutan Survival or The Converging World. In June 2010, ibuyeco donated over £400,000 to these charities.

The company also makes ad-hoc donations, such as £20,000 to the Haiti appeal this year. It also provided Samaritans with £15,000 to support an IT infrastructure improvement project and recently donated £25,000 to the Unicef disaster appeal for the Pakistan earthquake.

Staff are encouraged to take a day's paid leave every year to work with local projects and, over the past year, BGL people have donated 488 hours of their time volunteering in the local community.

BGL's group IT personal assistant Julie Ainley was involved with both the Haiti and Pakistan projects. She says: "We all had a huge sense of achievement for the sheer amount of work we were able to do as a team in just one day. It's given us a lasting sense of ownership for each project we've been involved with."

Recently, six volunteers from BGL's contact centre in Sunderland joined the Prince of Wales' Right to Read programme, which supports young children in their literacy development. The volunteers read with children on a weekly basis for one term, having been allocated three schools in a catchment area that experiences challenges associated with deprivation.

Emotional high
Fusion team member Natalie Cox says: "I mentored two children at Highfields School in Sunderland. This involved an hour out of my day on a weekly basis to visit the school to read with the children. I found it to be hugely rewarding; it is a fantastic feeling seeing the children make progress with their reading."

More than 70 local causes and charities have received donations from BGL over the past year totalling more than £50,000. Key projects include the Peterborough United Community Foundation, which educates local children about the environment; the Cambridgeshire Bobby Scheme, offering support to elderly victims of burglary; Myton Hospice in Coventry; and Christmas children's charity the Rudolf Fund.

There are many cases out there to draw inspiration from. Make time to develop your involvement, choose your causes carefully and see what happens when you stick with it.