He was the miserable old git in Dickens’ Hard Times. He said: “In this life, we want nothing but facts, sir, nothing but facts”

But is it true? Some companies clearly believe not. Companies like BT, Kingfisher and Shell commission expert panels as part of the assurance process.  Thereby readers can see what those who are in the know think about company sustainability performance.

Some assurors won’t do anything more adventurous than issue a statement reading something like: “With regard to the data nothing has come to our attention that the data may be in error but don’t rely on this and please don’t sue us if you do”. Others (Corporate Citizenship included) do freely and fully express their own opinions in their assurance statements.

Like it or not (and some powerful vested interests clearly don’t like it one little bit) corporate responsibility/sustainability assurance is not just about facts.

Sorry Mr Gradgrind but there it is.

The relationship between corporations and non-profit organizations is changing. In the past, relationships were transactional—a company would simply write a check. Today, on the other hand, companies and non-profits are recognizing the value of establishing strategic partnerships and are working together to address societal issues.

However, non-profits and businesses are guided by different principles and goals. Each sector has widely different mindsets, drivers, and societal roles, which can make establishing successful partnerships challenging. Yet there is a growing understanding that creating partnerships – across business, sectors, and markets – has never been more important because there is awareness that we can’t tackle the challenges facing business and society alone.

Corporate Citizenship’s Jen Balazs and Jessica Sultzer shares their experiences and insights. Download the presentation here

CCB INTERN Position Summary:

The successful candidate will compile the daily CSR media briefing and research global CSR and sustainable development news for the monthly online Corporate Citizenship Briefing.  This includes areas such as environment, corporate community investment, human rights, supply chain, ethical sourcing etc.

While the news research for Corporate Citizenship Briefing is the key responsibility, there will also be an opportunity to be involved in client work, in project areas such as: sustainability strategy, stakeholder engagement, supply chain and corporate community investment. In addition, there will be occasions in which the intern is required to provide ad-hoc admin support.

Start date: 14 March 2012. The position is for a period of 4 months.

Skills:

• A demonstrable knowledge of and experience in corporate social responsibility and sustainable development at a global level, including emerging markets
• A passion and enthusiasm about the positive contribution businesses can make to society and sustainable development
• Excellent and proven research skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and efficiently, meeting tight deadlines
• Excellent and proven communication skills – written, oral, presentation
• Experience in online communication and publishing

Application Procedure:

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter, highlighting your suitability for the role to:

Sue Woolcott, Corporate Citizenship, Holborn Gate, 330 High Holborn, London WC1V 7QG or by email to: sue.woolcott@corporate-citizenship.com.

Application Deadline: 22 February 2012.  Interviews will be held in London

Location: London and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Salary: £16,185 per annum

Please note that only successful applicants will be contacted.

Up to now getting a handle on the state of play in social media for sustainability has definitely been a case of jump in and see whether the water’s lovely (or not). But at last -all of us that believe social media offers sustainability communications something special – have a standard bearer in the comprehensive work of Matthew Yeomans.

Published last week, Yeomans’ Social Media Sustainability Index is more than just the top 100 social influencers that its name suggests -it’s a selection of savvy articles on what’s what in social media and sustainability. Some of its themes are sensible transpositions of communications good practice, such as the section on story-telling, but the 50 page report is also littered with real world critique – mainly taken from the global great and good. While the top 100 will be quickly out-of-date, the themes and concepts Yeomans covers are likely to endure and are applicable to practitioners looking to reach out without the budgets, or audiences, of Pepsico or Ford.

How social media is working in the mainstream sustainability communications mix is part of Corporate Citizenship’s research project into the future of sustainability communications due for publication later this year.

Download the report here.

The role

The successful candidate will have a positive, entrepreneurial, business approach with enthusiasm for team environments while ability to work independently. You must have a successful track record of at least 2 or 3 years working in a commercial environment where you have been able to demonstrate skills and experience in the following areas:

• Researching, analyzing and interpreting complex information
• Presenting information clearly in oral and written form to a business audience
• Managing multiple projects independently with minimal supervision to meet tight deadlines
• Environmental and broad corporate responsibility topics

You will become involved in a variety of projects, working alongside our existing team in the United States and United Kingdom, carrying out desk research, joining client teams, developing new business proposals, marketing, advising clients, and writing reports and presentations.

Skills

Essential Skills

• Business-minded, practical
• Both environmental experience and broad corporate responsibility experience
• Strong ability to research and synthesize information.
• Strong analytical skills, including ability to understand, analyze, and draw conclusions from data and ability to use Excel
• Strong writing skills and the ability to present information clearly and professionally
• Good presentation skills, including ability to develop PowerPoint presentations and speak in front of groups
• Strong skills using Microsoft Office, especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to independently manage multiple project simultaneously
• Friendly, personable and good sense of humor
• Bachelor’s degree

Desirable Skills

• Experience in a corporate environment either within a company or in a consulting role
• Exposure to international business
• Some business development support experience
• Project management skills, including budgeting

Application Deadline: February 17, 2012

Applications procedure: To apply, please send a resume, cover letter, and writing sample by email to Sue Woolcott at sue.woolcott@corporate-citizenship.com. No phone calls please.

We will offer a competitive compensation package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits.

Corporate Citizenship is an equal opportunity employer.

Location: The post is full-time and will be located in New York City. To apply for this job, non-US applicants need to already have the relevant documentation to work in the US.

My problem is not that I think that these must be the only choices.

After all there are ice creams that are neither vanilla nor tutti-fruity.  No, my problem is that most of them seem extremely reticent, even perhaps confused, about what objective standard they are following.

If the reader is not clear what the standard is then how can the assurance carry credibility?

Both AA1000AS and ISAE3000 have weaknesses. I can live with that. After all I have weaknesses myself: alcohol, peanut butter, liking the sound of my own voice…  Yet one strength they have is clearly laying out their methodology.

Indeed I would strongly advise anybody suffering from insomnia to familiarise themselves with these documents.

So while I am all in favour of expanding the rich variety of ways in which assurance can be performed, I think the sine qua non is that we should be able to work out what was done, why and what it proves.

For me at least some FTSE100 companies are failing that test.

Dr Cable unveiled his prescription for the wickedness of fat cat pay in general and bankers’ bonuses in particular: SHAREHOLDER POWER. Oh, yes. Get the owners of the business to lay down the law to the pushy, top employees with their snouts in the trough.

With RBS the policy has fallen at the first hurdle. The government underestimated public (or more accurately media) militancy about the whole issue. The hapless Mr Hester has found he has (unconvincingly) to declare he doesn’t want his £1million bonus.

In the short term, this gets the government off the hook. When Mr Milliband raises the subject at Wednesday’s PMQs he will be swatted aside with one of the Prime Minister’s cruel, Etonian jibes.

In the long term, it leaves the government looking like a load of turkeys. If asked on Newsnight what he thinks about a big, bonus for Bob Diamond what will Dr Cable say? “I trust the shareholders of Barclays to stop anything that is not merited…” With answers like that there will be a retirement opportunity open for him on the stand-up comedy circuit.

That the government has heard of the self-basting Turkey is not a surprise, the mystery is why they have turned themselves into one.

People too are quick to recall events long past – especially when they are associated with good or bad memories.

There is a long list of corporate scandals that still resonate today. Union Carbide 1984, the Herald of Free Enterprise 1987, the Exxon Valdez 1989, Shell Brent Spar 1995, Enron Corporation 2001. The list goes on and on.

People are simply not prepared to forgive or forget irresponsible corporate behaviour.

At the same time, society is also willing to remember the instances when business has done the right thing. Johnson & Johnson, for example, is still revered by many in the pharmaceutical sector for the way it handled the “Chicago Tylenol Murders”.

This incident occurred in 1982 when seven people died after taking pain-relief medicine capsules that had been poisoned. The deaths involved Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules, which had been laced with potassium cyanide.

In immediate response, Johnson & Johnson distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors and halted Tylenol production and advertising. Within a week of the first death, it issued a nationwide recall and withdrew from sale an estimated 31 million bottles of the product with a retail value of over US$100 million. The company also advertised in the national media for individuals not to consume any products and offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased.

The company took a big financial hit over the incident; but gained much positive media coverage for its handling of the crisis. Inside Johnson & Johnson they still hold up the corporate response to this incident as an example of the right way to behave.

It is a good thing to do so. And others, like Meredith Alexander, will continue to cause problems for companies that are not seen to uphold their responsibilities – more than a quarter of a century after the event.

But what of those that do?

What sort of assurance is it? What standard do they follow?

Doing the analysis I was forcibly reminded of the controversy about what question should be on the ballot paper when the Scots vote in Mr Salmond’s independence (or is it Devo Max?) referendum.

The forty seven assuring companies break down as follows:

19 use AA1000AS

17 use ISAE3000

11 use a different system from those above.

That’s clear then.

Open the whisky bottle and run up the Saltire flag. Independence has won, or rather no it hasn’t.

Looked at another way the figures read:

25 use ISAE3000

11 use AA1000AS

11 use a different system from those above

The fact is that eight of the reporters within the context of their AA1000AS statements reference ISAE3000 as being used in the data verification part of the exercise.  A bit of assurance hermaphroditism there then.

As a long-time, serial reader of CR reports (Saddo!), I think that this is a relatively recent trend.

I will address what it means in my concluding blog of the series.

In the next blog I will shine a light on the assurors who are not using either AA1000AS or ISAE3000.  What’s the matter with them?  Can’t they decide whose side they’re on?

This is one of a series of blogs on assurance. The other blogs can be found via reference to our blog library.