Small businesses are realizing the importance of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Consumers are more demanding from the organizations that they support. They want these businesses to take a stand on important environmental and social issues. The result is that even small businesses must create a CSR program that will impact the community where the business is located.
Studies showed that 75% of companies want to take the lead on several key issues in society. This includes, among others, hiring local talents from the community that you market to. But before you can create a CSR program that will focus on recruiting locals, you must first consult with an attorney specializing in business law. A lawyer will guide you in creating a process, drafting the requirements for eligibility, and making the right offers according to labor standards and practices in that state or city.
More Business, More Profits
Surveys showed that more than 87% of participants are willing to buy from a company based on its social and environmental advocacy. Even more, consumers are willing to spend more money on companies that they think are giving back to their communities by opening job opportunities for locals. Whether these are part-time jobs for high school or college students or higher positions for Millennials and Baby Boomers, consumers love a business that has a giving back culture.
What’s more astonishing is that 75% of the respondents said they would refuse to buy from a company if it supports an issue contrary to their stand. Even with it comes to business-to-business negotiations, your support of advocacy can have a clear impact on your standing in the industry. Some businesses will only partner with suppliers if they work in line with their own goals.
The same holds for hiring locals. Consumers are more likely to support your business if they know that you are providing opportunities for the locals there. For them, it will feel like supporting and caring for their neighbors.
Attract Best-skilled Talents
Your organization can be more attractive to the best of the best in that community. Millennials and Generation Z are fast becoming the biggest part of the workforce. By being active in recruiting locals, you are opening yourself as a potential employer for this new generation of workers.
But aside from recruiting locals, you also need to have social or environmental advocacy that aligns with what the members of Millennial and Generation Z want. More than 51% of this new workforce (and consumers) will not work for a company that does not have a strong social and environmental advocacy. This new breed of workers wants to give back to society through the CSR programs of the organizations they work for.
Better Employee-customer Engagement
Local hires will have better engagement with your market. They are, after all, from the same town. They probably know these people who frequent your store. Knowing these customers personally will help your business become more integrated into the community. It means being a household name, the first name that pops up in your customers’ minds when they think of buying whatever you’re selling.
Employees will be more productive when they come from the same community that your business serves. Studies showed that workers perform better when they feel good about a business’ community involvement. Is there a better way to show community involvement than to hire local people?
Help Retain Customers and Employee
Giving back to the community by hiring locals means that you’re also retaining these employees. They are more likely to stay with an organization that will not take them away from their families. That’s why it’s important to provide a career ladder that they can climb once they are in your organization. You cannot let them get stuck in one position forever. Since they know this community best, it will do you good to retain them.
In the process of retaining employees, you will also receive loyalty from your customers. The local market will look kindly to small businesses that provide job opportunities to the locals. Between choosing your business and a big national franchise, customers will choose to be heavily involved in the community.
A company’s CSR program can make or break it. Giving back to the community is a huge undertaking, but it has many benefits that you wouldn’t otherwise get from even the best marketing strategy. You want your business to be involved in the community it targets to build a good reputation. However, at the core of community involvement is hiring local staff who can boost more awareness about your brand.
