Valoria together with CSRMedia.ro launched the new edition of the Dynamics and Perspective of CSR in Romania. The outcome of this partnership, the study is a comparative analysis of the evolution of the concept of the corporate social responsibility in the last 6 years and it is addressed to CSR specialists, but especially to managers and executive directors who want to understand the evolution of this field.
The results of the current edition indicate a slowdown in CSR "engines" in 2018 compared to 2017. Moreover, significantly fewer companies involve their employees in CSR actions.
In 2018, 78% of respondents, compared to 86% last year, define social responsibility as community involvement. The results of this year's survey show declines in all response categories, from community involvement (-8pp) to supplier chain management (-4pp). The only increase is business ethics (+4pp).
This year, 57% of companies, compared to 55% last year, say they are involved in CSR because they are part of the public relations strategy. On the other hand, although there are fewer companies that say they are involved in CSR because these actions give them recognition and visibility, there are many that say corporate social responsibility is part of their sustainability strategy.
The percentage of companies that say they have a CSR strategy has risen by just +1pp, from 86% last year to 87% this year. The largest increase is also in 2018 by the companies that say they have received the CSR strategy from the parent company, this mechanism being, in fact, the main way of spreading the field of CSR in Romania.
The percentage of companies that say they have an internal / external process to identify the CSR-relevant themes and implement it is growing by +7pp. This is yet to be seen as a mature approach to corporate CSR.
Overall, compared to last year, the number of companies that track the impact of CSR increases by +4pp. Reporting according to international standards shows a decrease of -8pp, the one according to own rating systems increases by +13pp and the one based on evaluations offered by partners +1pp. 48% of respondents, compared with 35% in the previous year, say they use their own rating systems to track the impact of CSR activities.
Significantly fewer respondents than last year, 67% vs. 79%, say they involve their employees in CSR actions by the firm. The difference of +12pp went to companies that say they are trying, but employees do not get involved. The other responses are similar to those in 2017. 67% of respondents, down from 79% a year ago, say they involve their employees in corporate CSR actions.
More than 90% of respondents collaborate with NGOs to implement CSR projects this year. It is worth mentioning the decrease of -19pp of those who have a collaboration with the central/local authorities, but especially the increase of +6pp of the companies that collaborate with educational institutions.
30% of respondents, compared with 35% previously, say that the CSR budget stagnated in 2018. 21% of respondents, compared with 29% one year ago, say that the CSR budget in 2018 is between 50,000 euros and 100,000 euros. 36% of companies run projects with an average value of maximum 10,000-50,000 euros. Only 3% say the average value of their projects is over 100,000 euros. At the same time, 63% of companies in 2018, compared to 65% in 2017, say the PR and Marketing department is the one that mainly provides a budget line for CSR.
84% of companies communicate their CSR projects through social media (+5pp), 81% by press releases (-3pp) and 78% on the company website (stagnation).
75% of companies in 2017, compared with 65% previously, targeted education for intervention and support and only 60% vs 65% social domain. 70% of respondents to this edition, compared with 72% previously, helped the community through cash donations, while 47% vs. 58% made donations in kind. While 30% of companies consider the environment to be the most important area for assessing the impact of CSR activity in 2018.
In full expansion, Valoria has trainers and researchers who have held top management positions in multinational companies as well as academics. Valoria is firmly involved in conducting studies relevant to the Romanian business environment, with the most popular being Social Media within Romanian companies, Customer centricity Barometer, Business Evolution, Barometer of Digitization or Trends and Challenges in HR. Valoria’s studies are more than a series of data or collections of information. These studies are the source of confidence in certain strategic decisions.
