Corporate Social Responsibility reflects us all. It’s even more of a major topic for customers, business partners, employees and applicants as well as potential future talents. We have visited 11 companies from different fields of business in New York to get a better understanding on how companies based in the U.S. perform on CSR. Please find below a short summary, which reflects our learnings:

Companies take reasonable care of the health and well-being of their employees. In the way of offering them the opportunity to attend relevant health trainings, to decide for flexible work arrangements as well as to claim social protection, they are well investing in one of their best goods – their employees. That will lead to corporate success in the long run.

A sustainable future depends on how natural resources will be used. All companies we visited were working on this matter. Some of them were able to register remarkable achievements (e.g. in reduction water usage and CO₂ emissions) in the last years. To our delight they set ambitious goals for the upcoming years.

As a side effect, sustainable acting is even a way to attract top talents nowadays, because employees feel working for a socially conscious employer gives them a sense of purpose.

CSR initiatives and the fulfillment of employee job needs (existence, relatedness and growth) affect employees' job satisfaction and retention. Efforts on CSR enhance the fulfillment of employees' needs and generate positive effects.

It was great to see what companies do for the professional and individual development of their employees. For example, they offer onboarding and leadership programs, job rotation or citizen days, where employees can support a social or environmental project.

In comparison with the European market, the U.S. is a late adapter in sustainability. Since Barack Obama’s term in office, awareness has changed in a positive way. Nevertheless, although people are more interested in CSR, it is remains a political issue.

The U.S. is making strides in adopting environmentally friendly technologies and supporting other sustainable trends. But the U.S. is closer to the back of the pack in terms of its sustainability score and it still has a way to go relative to other countries, particularly the Nordic region, where scores are high.

Mostly companies with headquarters in Europe are moving fast forward in CSR on the U.S. market – even if they are not able to implement all initiatives that are generated in their European branches.

All companies commit that there is a financial return on investment in saving resources, improving the corporate carbon footprint and doing retention programs in the long-run. Pushing female management and offering work environment for equality in ethnics and sexes is a main part, which will be extended in the future.

It became clear that sustainability is for all companies an important aspect for further developing the business model through a forward-looking approach, making efficient use of resources and optimizing processes throughout the entire value chain.

Even the consumer requests getting more. The consumers are setting trends and they are more willing to pay higher prices, when it comes to environmentally friendly produced products as well as sustainable services.

CSR is the voice of brands and its outcome is the base for a green and socially just future.

We think that successful companies of the future will be those that integrate business and employees' personal values. Even the best people want to do work that contributes to society with a company whose values they share, where their actions count and their views matter.