Enhancing the Journey to Excellence: Corporate
and Social Responsibility
Printer-friendly format
Charlie Coffey
Executive Vice President
Government & Community Affairs
RBC Financial Group
"2002: An Excellence Odyssey"
Summit
Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre
Toronto, Ontario
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Thank you Greta…
When Don Tapscott, one of Canada's leading consultants, entrepreneurs,
authors and speakers on business strategy said, "if the
corporation is naked, it better be buff", my antennae
picked up. Don connects corporate social responsibility (CSR)
to philanthropy, ethics and a competitive advantage. Corporations,
"knowing they are naked whether or not they want to be,
will encourage scrutiny and trumpet their transparent/responsible
conduct. Strong values will drive ethical and responsible
behaviour by staff. This will enhance their reputation, help
build trusting relationships with staff, partners, shareholders,
the public…and form the foundation of their competitive
advantage." Don's right on the mark, as he pointed out
the obvious: CSR is about our relationships with all of our
stakeholders - our ability and commitment to act and respond
in communities where we live/work.
The current CSR benchmarking program of the Conference Board
of Canada and Imagine is an indicator of how seriously the
matter is being treated by the corporate sector. "Emerging
Practices in CSR Management", the Conference Board's
recent survey of 40 senior executives in large Canadian corporations,
indicates that CSR is perceived as being more than simply
a community investment function. Half the respondents define
it as the overall relationship of a corporation with all its
key stakeholders and another 30 per cent are moving to adopt
this approach."
RBC didn't wait for surveys, measurement programs, governance/accountability/ethics
headlines or conferences to take a stand on corporate social
responsibility. We've been working on CSR for years. It's
not a matter of whether a company can be both profitable and
socially responsible, because in the long term, you can't
have one without the other.
Gord Nixon, our President/CEO, sums it up so well, "We
believe that our success as a company is intrinsically connected
to the economic and social well-being of our community and
our country. To us, behaving in a socially responsible manner
is not just something we want to do. It's something we know
we must do as an essential part of our relationships with
our customers/stakeholders and as a strategic investment in
the future prosperity of a civic society…we believe that
by contributing our funds, our network, our leadership and,
most importantly, by encouraging and celebrating the involvement
of our people, we can make a difference in helping to build
a strong, healthy society."
In 2001, RBC Financial Group contributed $27.2 million to
Canadian charities, almost half to education and health…and
over $17 million in sponsorships for amateur athletics, the
arts and community events. That's a lot of support. How much
is enough? At RBC, we aim at about 1 per cent of pre-tax dollars.
Not only do these dollars represent valuable social investments,
these dollars also give us an opportunity to stay in touch
with the overall needs of our communities and the individuals
we serve. Whether in education, healthcare, social services,
arts and culture, civic causes, including early childhood
development and the battle against homelessness/poverty, we're
a better organization and employer when we help to better
the society in which we operate.
However, this is only the beginning of our story. We also
believe the measure of a company's commitment to society includes
a broader look at the bigger picture: a company's products
and services, employee relations, the care it shows for the
environment and human rights, the way it does business, the
jobs it creates both directly and indirectly...its leadership
and innovation in setting the pace in key areas of social
interest. Corporate social responsibility embraces a wide
array of elements that go beyond making philanthropic donations.
Here's an example of what I mean.
RBC strongly supports a variety of initiatives that focus
on youth and education…last Thursday we announced $2
million in additional funding for 54 after-school programs
in 32 communities for 2002/2003. These programs offer kids
an assortment of activities that go beyond the three Rs -
activities such as cooking and art classes, organized sports,
computer tutoring - activities that address a full-range of
child developmental needs. We believe this investment not
only helps children, it also strengthens our families, enriches
our communities and builds the human capital we need to ensure
the future health and prosperity of our country.
In 1993, we launched RBC's Aboriginal Stay in School Program…it
gives aboriginal high school students across the country a
chance to learn what it's like to work in the financial services
industry, see the relationship between education and employability
and earn some money at the same time. The RBC Foundation also
supports scholarships at universities and colleges - over
the last 10 years, RBC has provided more than $1.5 million
in total scholarship funding. And when it comes to helping
young people, our employees are generous with their time.
In 2001, staff volunteered more than 15,200 hours in 380 different
youth groups from coast to coast, including Big Brothers and
Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Guides of Canada and Scouts
Canada, to name a few...
This is what I mean by the bigger picture. And this is exactly
how we're growing philanthropy into corporate social responsibility.
Philanthropy is easy to measure. Citizenship? It might be
impossible. We simply can't measure and report on everything
we do for our stakeholders. The amount we donate to charities
is easy to report, but it doesn't give the whole story…nor
should it!
At RBC, we all know (in our guts), that corporate social
responsibility is important. Since we believe that everyone
has a role to play...everyone does. And we don't leave anything
to chance. We also believe that, "what gets measured,
gets managed." We've integrated image and reputation
measurements onto our corporate scorecard, along with financial
and customer loyalty/satisfaction results. Our employees know
what's expected of them in helping improve our image and reputation.
And they're measured and evaluated on their performance in
this area.
Speaking of our employees, being socially responsible starts
right in our own backyard, where supporting our own people
makes the difference in promoting and sustaining a healthy
workplace and healthy communities. We're strongly committed
to investing in our people…not only by offering competitive
compensation and benefits - but by investing in learning and
education - by fostering a work environment that values communication
- and by supporting diversity as well as work/life initiatives.
We're also committed to staying on the cutting edge of trends
in the workplace. Partnering with leading Canadian survey/research
companies and academia has a two-fold result. RBC has access
to the information we need to remain leaders in people management
and we also contribute to the body of workplace knowledge
- assisting other companies and organizations in developing
the Canadian healthy workplace/workforce - today and in the
future.
Our prescription for a healthy workplace is a work-in-progress,
however we're proud of our accomplishments. That's why our
average annual employee learning investment over the past
5 years is $110 million per year. That's why we've developed
first class human resource programs to help our people balance
work, family and life. Incidentally, RBC Royal Bank has more
employees enjoying job-shares and flexible work arrangements
than any other corporation in Canada; we believe this helps
create a more creative, satisfied and productive workforce
- better for our company, our customers, our families, our
cities and our communities.
With corporate social responsibility tied to corporate financial
performance, a less than banner business year could have dramatic
repercussions. Would it be acceptable if a neighbourhood centre
for children, youth and young adults in Winnipeg had to turn
away troubled teenagers because one of its major contributors
had a less than banner year? Not to me.
Would it be acceptable if an association for the blind in
Halifax had to cut services or staff because its major sponsor
had a less than banner year? Not to me.
Would it be acceptable if a health network in Toronto had
to reduce its commitment to cancer research because RBC had
a less than banner year? Not to me, not to us.
I cannot repeat often enough that corporate social responsibility
is integral to the primary function of any good business in
this country. Like profit, it's not a frill. It should be
part of every company's vision and values. Giving to good
causes doesn't make us good guys. It simply means we're doing
what we should be doing.
You can find out much more about what we're doing in RBC
Financial Group's annual Community Report - the Report that
charts our Journey to Excellence. I have a few copies
of our 2001 edition that you can pick up as you leave this
session. RBC's Journey to Excellence summary piece
(located in your delegate registration kit) indicates how
to obtain additional copies/information.
In closing, RBC Financial Group strives for a socially responsible
mindset, integrated across all our businesses and functional
units. And we see this imperative becoming more, not less,
critical in the increasingly competitive, global economy in
which we operate. Is RBC proud to be named Canada's top corporation
in the category of corporate social responsibility (the Globe
and Mail's annual Canada's Most Respected Corporations
poll), six year in a row? Sure we are…however, this means
we have even more work to do. We take our role as a leader
seriously, especially when it comes to raising the level of
integrity, dialogue and action, as we are today. I look forward
to hearing your comments and questions this morning.
Thank you.
|
