Special Forum 2 on Corporate Volunteering at the 11th IAVE A-P Regional Conference Dec 8, 2007

Special Forum 2 Corporate Volunteering Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
11^th IAVE Asia-Pacific Regional Volunteer conference 2007 Nagoya-Aichi
December 8, 2007 15:45-18:00

Coordinator: Dr. Kenn Allen, Civil Society Consulting Group

Speakers:

• Mr. Makoto Imada, Civil Society Research Institute Director
• Ms. Hyeon-sook Heo, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group
• Mr. Akihiko Iwahara, DENSO Corporation CSR Promotion Center Corporate Planning Dept.
• Ms. Sarah E. Hayes, Corporate Liaison, IAVE; Director, GCVC

Q&A

Kenn Allen started by going through six trends

1. Recognition of the strategic value of corporate volunteering in the wider scope of corporate responsibility.
2. Globalization, best practices, and the development of international networks
3. Recognition of the value of volunteering to develop knowledge and skills in the workplace.
4. The use of technology to promote and support volunteering efforts, including social networking models (eg Brazil)
5. Recognition
6. Development of volunteer program for company retirees

Mr. Makoto Imada
Some people argue volunteering started in Japan after the Kobe earthquake in 1995, but in fact we had volunteering in the pre-war period, the majority of which was done by settlement houses. The first was established by Christian activist Sen Katyama in 1897, where volunteer taught laborers. In 1901 the Mitsui charitable hospital was established for wives of Mitsui employees. The company donated 5% of their profits to charitable causes. In 1934 the Mitsui Foundation was founded, the first grant making foundation in Japan and even earlier than the Ford Foundation which was established in 1936.

After WW2 Japan entered a new era, although it was held back by the surviving system of central economic control.

The changing point for companies after the war was 1985 in the Plaza Accord which accelerated the appreciation of the Yen, and persuaded Japanese manufacturers to build factories in the US. That encounter with corporate and voluntary activities encouraged the establishment of the 1% club, the chamber of commerce and industry.

1990 was the renaissance in philanthropic activity.

Today two thirds of companies have employee volunteer programs - most offering paid leave for workers involved in volunteer work, for example to go overseas. The workers who go overseas bring new knowledge and skills back to their workplace, so this kind of activity is being welcomed.

We need cooperation between workers, companies and NPOs as well. Companies have changed their attitudes from just giving money to getting directly involved in community work.

Ms. Hyeon-sook Heo, Senior Manager, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group

Corporate Volunteerism in Korea

Contents

1. Corporate volunteerism in Korea

• Asian financial crisis
• Overview
• Trends

2. Case of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group

• Group profile
• Philosophy
• Philanthropy
• Core activities
• Volunteering

 Asian financial crisis was a watershed. Corporate philanthropy as grown explosively due to external factors such as a sure in welfare demand, strengthening f social demands for corporate social responsibility and global CSR standardization; and internal factors of the desire of companies to get involved in social issues and turn around diving employee morale.

Since the 1990s there’s been a steady increase in corporate philanthropy which is well over that in over countries. There was also a focus on corporate related activities.

Corporate philanthropy has become the norm since the financial crisis. Big companies have grasped the importance of volunteering and have developed their own support systems.

Most businesses design volunteer programs that are in line with their business model, the skills of the employees, and bring in employees’ families.

 Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is the sixth largest car maker in the world with annual revenue of US$100b. the company is committed to bringing about a better world. activities are very structured and organized with safety as the first priority. For example, ‘Easy Move’ is the flagship program which gives mobility to the handicapped. ‘Safe Move’ helps create a safe traffic environment and supports accident victims. Global programs spread to factories in the Philippines and the US.

 The company has a dual volunteer organization of group and company volunteers. In the structure of the 2,300 volunteer employees there is ad-hoc training for disaster situations. There are 400 teams in 18 affiliated organizations.

Mr. Akihiko Iwahara, DENSO Corporation CSR Promotion Center Corporate Planning Dept.
Four parts

1. Outline of DENSO
2. Overall view of CSR in DENSO
3. Social contribution and objectives
4. Volunteer activities

 Profile. DENSO started in 1949 and now has 34,000 people, as well as 200+ affiliated companies around the world. DENSO makes car heaters, climate control products, safety products and other parts. Sales in Japan are 51%, the Americas 21% and the rest Europe and other regions.

DENSO efforts in CSR are defined as activities that meet environmental social aspects of responsibility beside economic, increase the trust of stakeholders, and connects to continuous growth of the company.

The outline of CSR includes stakeholders such as suppliers, associates; economic areas such as services wages, as well as environmental, human rights and other social concerns.

The background starts with external trends due to globalization and the increasing influence of DENSO, coupled with the problems of financial scandals plaguing companies. So companies are obliged to comply with CSR.

External trends, comparing Shell and Nike. Shell was criticized by NGOs for dumping waste, as was Nike for its plant in Vietnam which was engaged in child labor. Both were boycotted by consumers. So NGOs are very active and companies take seriously their opinions

Overseas corporations want to know if DENSO complies to CSR standards.

In 2004, DENSO established a vision for 2015. The two key words were to contribute to society and be a truly global company, as well as being more engaged in CSR. This was the starting point of CSR activities in DENSO.

The activity plan is to comply with the rules and be a sustainable organization and incorporate these standards into our activities.

The framework of CSR policy contains strategic and fundamental components.

The focal points of our activities include developing people and keep harmony with the environment.

Developing people (hitozukuri) includes challenged people and youth.

The aims of CSR are to meet the need of the community, company and our associates. In the overlap between these three needs we can find the DENSO employee volunteer program.

Case study 1: the DENSO Eco Point System gives points to people who do something good, which can be donated to charity organization. Membership is 4,500 or 13% of employees. The program will be expanded to subsidiaries and the target is for 10,000 employees to join.

Case study 2: DENSO Community Service Day to turn compassion into action all over the world. 16,800 participated last year.

Case study 3: DENSO launched an NPO - the Wheelchairs and Friendship Center of Asia to contribute to creating a barrier free societies in Asia, and supporting sports and education for the disabled.

Evaluation of activities - since 2005 the number of employees taking part in volunteering has dramatically increased due to increased publicity and making it easier for employees to volunteer.

DENSO’s associates are highly aware of the activities but have a lower opinion of their value even than the general public.

So associates need to be involved more in the volunteer activities and the activities need to be monitored more closely.

Ms. Sarah E. Hayes, Corporate Liaison, IAVE; Director, GCVC
IAVE exists to promote, celebrate and strengthen volunteerism around the world. It is not affiliated to any one country or group. So it is a suitable platform for global companies.

Martin Luther King said ‘Make a career of humanity... and you will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of the country, and a finer world to live in’

The founding companies of GCVC are Samsung, Vale do Rio Doce, Levi Strauss & Co., UPS, Citi, and Disney. In 2007 BD, Telefonica, Starbucks, Marriott International, and Motorola joined.

One of the special aspects of GCVC is one area where companies don’t compete. We and our employees all want the same things, so it’s an area where we can partner and collaborate for the greater good.

The benefits and components of GCVC are to provide resources, good practices and collaboration for the practitioners of employee volunteer programs fom every region of the world, valuable networking opportunities and learning from different regions of the world, and raising awareness of corporate volunteering everywhere. Even though we don’t volunteer to be recognized ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. There is also recognition globally of companies that practice corporate volunteering, meet world needs through employee volunteering, and support for the managers who lead employee volunteer programs.

In 2007 GCVC organized conference calls on global community days, convenings at various conference venues, E-IAVE promotions, and a special meeting at the UNV HQ in Bonn, Germany, which allowed frank discussion on pertinent issues on structure and implementation, measurement of real impact, performance indicators and tools, NGO perspectives on whether corporate volunteering was useful, and others.

Coming up, the IAVE World Volunteer Conference will touch on strategies, partnerships, volunteer days and weeks, CSR, philanthropy, crisis and disaster, and other topics important to volunteer programs. We will also launch the GCVC awards, and work towards IYV+10.

Through knowing and learning more about each other we would like to build a global network of collaboration.

Q&A
Korea

1. What is the main reason for corporations to volunteer?
2. Is corporate volunteering real volunteering or is it just good for business?

 Sarah Hayes said some companies may enter CSR for business reasons but as companies go further down the road, they tend to see their employees and communities are benefiting so it is really a good thing.

 Mr. Iwahara said in a survey one third of companies said CSR was good for them, one third though there was no effect and one third thought it was damaging. Companies that are sensitive to outside information and put emphasis on consumer satisfaction had more positive attitudes. A good way to revitalize these companies would be to send their employees outside the company.

 Ms. Heo said the first priority of the company was to make money is a good way and create good job opportunities. To do this, you have to be a responsible member of society. In Korea, there is an obligation for companies to fundraise for the poor.

 Mr. Imada said the objectives of companies are changing, and philanthropic activities are more a strategic part of the business. On the other hand, society also demands higher standards.

Chona Ignalaga, Intel, Philippines Announced that Intel would be a member of GCVC.

1. Do you have a tool to track volunteer participation?
2. Is volunteering part of employee management?
3. How much do you spend on logistics?

 Ms. Heo said they have an intranet and software to count their hours. Some of affiliates have a system for volunteer management, for example Hyundai Steel provides rewards. We have 120,000 employees so organizing and managing events is very costly, but compared to overall philanthropic activities the percentage for employee volunteering logistics is less than 1%. On a group level Hyundai spends US$60m annually on philanthropy.

 Mr. Iwahara said they don’t count the number of hours, only the number of volunteers. There is also no tool to manage the volunteers. We spend about 1.5b Yen on philanthropic activities, which is 0.8% of the budget. So we are moving towards joining the 1% club.

Mark, New Zealand
As you move down the proactive road of corporate volunteering, what do you regard as the state’s responsibility and what is the responsibility of the corporation? Are there certain areas that you regard as the responsibility of the state that the company will not undertake?

Ms. Heo said there was no concrete line between the two. In Korea businesses have taken a very active role, for example in natural disaster situations.

Mr. Iwahara said society, companies and government are all responsible. The main responsibility falls on the government, but other parties have to be involved.

Kenn Allen added that worldwide the scope of company activity is very cultural and political.

Japan
How do you measure the impact of employee volunteering? It’s easy to count people and hours, but how do you know if it made any difference?

Mr. Iwahara said we can measure the positive impact of volunteering on rare ecological areas around factories and whether the fireflies were saved or not.

Ms. Heo said Hyundai annually surveyed employees to assess how their attitudes were changes. In terms of real impact on societies, the company is developing indexes to measure that.

Ms. Hayes said this is an important area for companies and illustrates how companies need to collaborate with NGO partners, to for example track how students grades and attitudes to school had improved.

Mr. Imada said external evaluation is one way to assess impact.

Jurimi, Korea
To what extent will businesses respond first in disaster situations that affect their own communities?

Ms. Heo said there will always be a joint response from government, NGOs and businesses to major disasters

Mr. Iwahara said DENSO values its own community. Recently Toyota announced a vision to be number 1 in the town where they were situated, which was a good strategy.

Final comments
Sarah Hayes said this was a big topic and often the good work of companies goes unheralded. Nevertheless we have a long way to go. No company is perfect. So GCVC is a good thing in that respect.

Mr. Iwahara said over his 15 years of experience in this field have taught him that individual responsibility is crucial.

Ms. Heo said questions about motives and evaluation still come up. These are old but remain difficult questions.

Mr. Imada, in answer to the question from Mark from New Zealand, said the role of government and companies is changing. After the war, the companies were expected to make money and pay high taxes into the national coffers for social needs. Since the 1980s, the social role of companies has been advancing.

Kenn Allen concluded that it was important to create a corporate volunteering friendly environment, which government and NGOs contribute to as well.