-Research from the Kenexa Research Institute Examines Employees’ Views of Corporate Social Responsibility-
LONDON. (October 16th 07) – Research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a division of Kenexa® (NASDAQ: KNXA), a leading provider of recruitment and retention solutions, evaluated UK workers’ perceptions of their organisations with regard to corporate social responsibility. The report is based on the analysis of data drawn from a representative sample of workers surveyed through WorkTrends™, KRI's 2007 annual survey of worker opinions, in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, China, India and Brazil.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR), a strategic corporate initiative that has been receiving an increased amount of attention, provides more benefits to an organisation than simply reducing costs by recycling and giving back to the community. As stated in earlier research by the Kenexa Research Institute, actively participating in CSR efforts is related to higher employee engagement levels and more favourable views of senior management.
Results in the United Kingdom indicate that an organisation’s CSR efforts also positively affect an employee’s personal outlook of the future, satisfaction with their job and confidence in the company’s future. Employees who rate their organisation as having a strong CSR culture outscored those who viewed their company’s CSR activities as weak on each of these key indicators. Furthermore, employees who work in a strong CSR culture are more favourable toward their colleagues’ willingness to do the very best for the organisation, and have more favourable views of their company’s ability to motivate people to work hard and put in extra effort.
Favourability regarding their organisation’s CSR initiatives varies notably across industries. Workers in the accounting/legal, financial services and public sector industries are the most favourable while workers in light manufacturing, transportation services and the food industries are the least favourable.
Executives, senior managers and those in professional positions have more favourable views of their employer’s support for CSR while those who are equipment operators and those in the crafts/skills trades have the least.
Those workers who are the newest to the organisation, as well as, those who are the youngest in terms of age, have more favourable views of the organisation’s CSR activities.
“Corporate social responsibility programmes strategically connect employers to their communities and relevant causes. Our research reflects that employees are keenly aware of their employers’ corporate social responsibility efforts, and that there is a direct connection between CSR and employee satisfaction,” said Vernon Bryce, European Operations Director, Kenexa.
About Kenexa
Kenexa ® Corporation provides outsourcing, employee research and software to help organisations more effectively recruit and retain a productive workforce. Kenexa solutions include applicant tracking, employment process outsourcing, onboarding, skills and behavioural assessments, structured interviews, performance management, multi-rater feedback surveys, employee engagement surveys, and HR Analytics. Headquartered in Wayne, Pa. (outside Philadelphia), Kenexa employs more than 1,300 people worldwide. More information about Kenexa and its global locations can be accessed at www.kenexa.com.
About WorkTrends™
The Kenexa WorkTrends database is a comprehensive normative database of employee opinions on topics including leadership, employee engagement and customer orientation. Comparisons are available for workers from Brazil, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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