The CSR Newsletters are a freely-available resource generated as a dynamic complement to the textbook, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation.

To sign-up to receive the CSR Newsletters regularly during the fall and spring academic semesters, e-mail author David Chandler at david.chandler@ucdenver.edu.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Strategic CSR - Unilever

The article in the url below caught my eye, first because of the four day work week (at full pay), and then because it is Unilever making the announcement:

"Consumer goods giant Unilever will trial a four-day working week in New Zealand to enhance worker wellbeing and boost productivity."

Some detail:

"All 81 workers will be eligible to work for four days on full pay, New Zealand Managing Director Nick Bangs said in a statement Tuesday. Most of the staff are based at Unilever's Auckland headquarters and distribution center after the company closed manufacturing operations in 2015."

The motivation for the trial is the shift in working practices that have been accelerated by the pandemic. Unilever sees the 'old' way of working as gone, so plans to use the opportunity to try something new. What is interesting is that most of these kind of stories that I have seen recently tend to involve IT/Silicon Valley-type companies. Much less common to see manufacturing/consumer product companies being similarly adventurous:

"The trial, which starts this month and will run for a year, is limited to New Zealand at this stage. Unilever will work with Sydney's University of Technology Business School to measure results, and will explore the possibility of what it could mean on a broader scale. The company employs 150,000 people worldwide."

As the NZ director makes clear, this is solely a business decision:

"'Maintaining competitive edge, increasing productivity and improving wellbeing sit at the heart of the four-day week,' [he] said. 'This is about removing the barriers that limit value creation and slow us down.'"

There are a few companies that are implementing something close to the Strategic CSR framework (e.g., Salesforce and Nike), but Unilever is the company that seems to get it the most. At least, they did under Paul Polman (who retired in December 2018). I presume they are continuing his managerial ethos, although I haven't heard much from them of late, which is another reason why I was pleased to see this announcement. The research on employee productivity has been pretty conclusive for a while now (see Strategic CSR – Microsoft and Strategic CSR – Productivity), but it is good to see a company as large as Unilever taking the risk. Being a manager is incredibly difficult, but the research shows that a focus on intrinsic (rather than extrinsic) motivation is the key to getting the most out of your employees, while providing them with meaning and purpose in what they do. Unilever has been in this space for a while now. It is not rocket science, but that doesn't mean it is widely practiced.

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/ 


Unilever to Trial Four-day Working Week in New Zealand
By Tracy Withers
November 30, 2020
Bloomberg Businessweek

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Strategic CSR - Welcome back!

 
Welcome back to the Strategic CSR Newsletter!
The first newsletter of the Spring semester is below.
As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.
 

With all the barriers that have cropped up to impede the efficient distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, the article in the url below discusses one that would not immediately have occurred to me—whether the "shots are halal":

"A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population."

In Indonesia, which has the world's fourth largest population (in addition to the largest Muslim population), the lack of transparency on the vaccine's ingredients is a significant barrier to widespread inoculation:

"With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, [Indonesia] is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government's efforts."

For those who will not receive a vaccination that has not been approved by religious clerics, assurances from pharmaceutical companies are insufficient:

"The vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia. … The Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the [approved] vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country's many conservative Muslims."

This, in spite of assurances from other Islamic countries:

"Islamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that coronavirus vaccines are permissible, even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations."

And, such moral concerns are not restricted to Islam:

"Last month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines 'morally acceptable' for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago."

The concerns are real and, if the findings of the Ulema Council are not sufficiently convincing, the implications could be serious:

"During a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products. After analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency. In some parts of the country, however, local Muslim leaders opposed using a haram vaccine. The program fell well short of its 95 percent target and ended with nearly 10 million children unvaccinated."

Hope you all have a good semester.
Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots are Halal
By Richard C. Paddock
January 6, 2021
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
A8