By Stephen Jordan and Gerald McSwiggan

The last few weeks, BCLC has fielded inquiries about what different companies are doing to help the Gulf Coast recover from the most recent crisis. Corporate citizenship managers report that employees want to help the region recover from the oil spill. 

However, there has been some reticence on the part of management to get involved, in part because companies don’t want to get in the way of BP’s efforts and also because they are not sure exactly who is doing what, in terms of the different government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other volunteer groups. 

On the other hand, local chambers from across the region are concerned about the confluence of large, complicated issues. The St. Tammany West Chamber, Greater New Orleans Inc., and the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber organized a series of meetings to put information out there to help companies better understand the situation.  The following is a brief report on what the chambers presented.

The Situation

If there is one take away from the region, it is that the Deepwater Horizon spill itself is not the main issue. 

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Throughout January, Comcast is airing BCLC’s new PSA about the Together for Recovery campaign. We are grateful to Comcast for the airtime, and also to Dan Allen and his team at the Wolf Group, who produced the PSA for us.

Many Americans are not aware of all the business offerings available to help them right now – from housing and healthcare assistance to job training and small business start-up assistance.  Our goal is to connect these timely business offerings to those most in need.

Here is the PSA, and you can also watch the full, three-minute segment.

Please also check out our year-end report, Together for Recovery: Business Is Part of the Solution. Specific offerings in the report include Microsoft’s Elevate America initiative, Monster.com’s Keep America Working Tour, and IBM and the International Finance Corporation’s Small and Medium Enterprise Toolkit.  Many of the stories include testimonies from unemployed and other individuals who have been impacted by the recession and helped by these offerings.  

There is a quasi-myth on Wall Street that the first five days of trading set the pattern for the year. If this is the case in the public-private partnership space, then this year is going to build on and develop the themes from last year: the role of business in job creation and urban revitalization, social entrepreneurship, and resilience in the face of a near-crippling economic recession that spanned the globe.

One of the central agencies at the heart of this outreach is Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD is led by Shaun Donovan and under his leadership it has already changed several ways that it does business.

Secretary Donovan, in addition to learning in one of the ultimate difficult environments as head of New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, had previous experience in the private sector and the Clinton Administration, and his varied background shows.

HUD was given $13.61 billion under the Recovery Act. While it has quickly allocated funds to address homelessness, urban poverty, and the creation of green jobs, the agency is also exploring innovative approaches to these issues and continuing to solicit ideas. Check out HUD’s website for more details.

HUD also joined the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency to create the Partnership for Sustainable Communities last year.

Now, Secretary Donovan is co-chairing a working group on Long-Term Disaster Recovery with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and exploring ways to re-shape how the federal government helps communities recover long after the glare of the media lights has faded.

As if that were not enough, HUD is also engaged in comparing notes with its counterparts about the rapid urbanization that is taking place around the world and will participate in the World Urban Forum in Rio in March.

This past week, I think we had four different interactions with HUD — either directly or indirectly — by working on these projects.

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By BJ Parker, a professional writer with more than 10 years’ experience writing business education materials for Thomson and Cengage Publishers. His articles and pedagogy appear in books on management, organizational behavior, business communication, and advertising, including contributions to Archie B. Carroll’s Business and Society series.

The desire for “peace on earth, good will towards all” is especially strong at the end of the year. Christmas and Hanukkah spread a message of cheer, and people everywhere take time off to be with family and to help people in need.  It’s a time of busy preparation: there are parties to host, foods to bake, toys to deliver, and New Year’s resolutions to make.
 
It’s also a time for good corporate citizenship. Each year after Thanksgiving, businesses kick into high gear to make the season bright.  Retailers set the mood with Christmas tunes and decorations, and associates offer warm holiday greetings that Americans prefer most.
 
Like many holiday revelers, businesses find ways to don the robes of St. Nick this time of year. During the month of December, employees at Lockheed Martin donated 700 Bicycles and $130,000 to Fort Worth, Texas, charities. Executive Vice President June Shrewsbury explained her team’s excitement in sharing the fruits of their labors.

“There has been a literal buzz around the office pertaining to the Holiday Charity Drive,” Shrewsbury said. “Our employees work all year to make sure that the children and families in our community have the wonderful holiday season they deserve.” Lockheed’s philanthropy will continue long after the holidays, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for local organizations and individuals.
 
The magic of the season spread to other companies as well. As winter holidays are a time of family entertainment, it seemed fitting that Walmart and Disney would host a free viewing party for Disney’s animated film “The Princess and the Frog.”  The companies gave “pink-carpet” treatment to more than 350 kids from Boys & Girls Clubs of America (photo credit: Walmart Media Relations).  Frank Sanchez, the club’s vice president of corporate relations, expressed gratitude on behalf of the kids: “Little girls always dream of being princesses when they grow up, so we are very excited that Walmart has given so many girls the chance to experience this magical opportunity.”
 
Corporate philanthropy is typically planned in advance, but some acts of corporate kindness happen in the moment. After attending the funeral of a child, businessman Jon Nappa, owner of Bruin Computers in Liverpool, gave a truckload of Kmart overstock merchandise to needy citizens  in Baldwinsville, New York. Word of the $120,000 donation spread fast despite Nappa’s wish to remain anonymous.
 
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As we look back, it is hard to say or appreciate at this moment, but this year could have been a lot worse than it was. This recession was sharp and brutal, but perhaps because the American economy is more diversified than ever, or because of Bernanke’s rapid expansion of the Fed’s powers, or even in part, because of the stimulus package, we didn’t see some of the ravages we’ve seen in past economic downturns.

People forget what the country was like in 1981 or in the late ’60s. The Great Depression is just a legend for most. We’ve had extreme hardship and trouble adjusting in some parts of the country, but anyone who doesn’t think that we were lucky in some respects, should take a brief history lesson.

In terms of the CSR community, I know January started off with a bang for a lot of folks with the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the first African-American president in U.S. history. March 6 was an unbelievable low point, and not just in terms of the Dow or S&P.

Despite or because of the downturn, more than three hundred companies joined the Together for Recovery campaign that launched in May. Over 50 companies participated in the Summer of Service that Michelle Obama kicked off in June and wrapped on 9/11. Copenhagen dominated CSR conversations throughout the fall, perhaps with excessive expectations attached to it, and of course, we have been watching the unedifying health care debate wind to its last stages now.

Companies were also concerned about the impact of Bernie Madoff, executive compensation criticisms, the financial challenges facing their non-profit partners and local communities, and various disasters that affected the Pacific Rim, particularly Indonesia, the Philippines, and American Samoa. In terms of issues affecting the CSR community, the economic crisis ranked number one followed by the environment and health care.

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By BJ Parker

With just 11,000 jobs lost in November instead of the 130,000 expected by economists, Americans are increasingly hopeful that a jobs recovery is in the works.

Despite that good news, the U.S. jobless rate is hovering at 10 percent, and this number doesn’t include part-timers or millions of despondent workers who have given up looking for employment. With these “underemployed workers” added in, more than 17 percent of America is either out of work or forced to accept a part-time schedule.

Put mildly, this is a national crisis.

But as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously quipped before a gathering of business leaders, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” From the perspective of corporate social responsibility, not letting a crisis go to waste means rethinking the role of business in society—and that means taking a fresh look at the CSR Pyramid.

As the CSR Pyramid illustrates, businesses have a primary economic responsibility to “be profitable.” Resting on this foundational responsibility are three additional responsibilities: the legal responsibility to obey the law, the ethical responsibility to do what’s right and avoid harm, and the philanthropic responsibility to be a good corporate citizen. The top-tier citizen role is exemplified by firms like Wegmans Food Markets, a company whose food-bank sponsorship and other philanthropic efforts recently earned BCLC’s 2009 Corporate Stewardship Award (pictured: Danny Wegman accepts the 2009 Corporate Stewardship Award).

When an economy goes south, we are forced to reexamine the myriad social benefits a business gives to society. Take Wegmans for instance. This Rochester-based grocery chain began in 1915 as a mom-and-pop shop, yet today the company employs 37,000 people. That’s 37,000 Americans who can afford housing, provide food for families, own transportation, buy clothes, or perhaps even own an HDTV. The social benefit here is enormous, especially when compared to the standard of living of unemployed workers who struggle for the basic necessities of food, water, shelter, and clothing. In terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Wegmans meets the base physiological and safety needs of 37,000 people simply by operating its core business successfully. In this light, the “be profitable” responsibility of a business offers more benefits to society than most realize.

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Today, the U.S. Chamber BCLC’s Katie Loovis, Director of Business & Society Relations (pictured), issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement that the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October:

“As millions of Americans struggle to cope with this recession, corporate citizens around the country are offering all kinds of resources to help address critical needs from shelter and healthcare to job placement assistance,” said Loovis. 

“BCLC has galvanized the business community for a national economic recovery campaign called Together For Recovery,” continued Loovis.  “This campaign includes an online portal featuring more than 250 free business offerings available right now to help the unemployed get free job training, housing and healthcare assistance, and small business start-up aid.”

“What we are seeing is that companies and civic organizations are coming together to get critical resources into the hands of those who are most in need. These business resources should help our neighbors get back on their feet, and help our communities get on the path to recovery,” concluded Loovis.

Together for Recovery is an initiative of BCLC’s Corporate Community Investment working group and is supported by Allstate, GlaxoSmithKline, Office Depot Foundation, and PAETEC. For more information about Together For Recovery and the hundreds of free business offerings available, contact Katie at 202.747.4924.

By Michael Doyle, VP/General Manager, Southeast Division, Manpower

 The news hit my Blackberry this morning that the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%, the highest rate since April 1983. I paused to reflect on 10.2% and thought, “What crazy and historic times we are living in.” 

If this were a book I would have skipped this chapter. 

With that said, I feel we are close to reading a much more enjoyable chapter.  Why?  Well, I have a natural positive attitude, and I do see hidden positives within these historic numbers.  The challenge is to act like we are on the right track not only personally, but in our communities.

Whether this is your first recession as a college student struggling to find work since May 2009, or one of the 5.7 million people jobless for 27 weeks, all I can stress is that your consistent effort to seek employment must not wavier. Also, if you are one of the employed, your dedication to those who are in less stable situations needs to be firm. 

Networking must be at its peak, flexibility to new career paths must be pondered and shared, and moving (or helping others move) skills to the where the jobs are should be considered.
 
Keep an open mind! In today’s numbers there is good news: The job declines are much smaller and less widespread than they were last fall and winter; the health care industry added jobs; and the employment in temporary help sector rose by 34,000 over last month, which is the first significant increase since the start of the recession in December 2007.

Will the next chapter be when the hero saves the day? I can’t say, but I do sense that in these historic times we can believe things will be made right.  We just need to keep turning the pages.

On October 20-23, BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) convened an extensive group of professionals from multinational corporations, consultancies, NGOs, and governments at its annual conference, titled “Reset Economy. Reset World.”

While discussions among the 1,000 participants – in both formal sessions and during networking – volleyed among aspirations for the future, case studies from the present, and criticisms of some existing practices and perceptions, one particularly thought-provoking conversation took place on Wednesday morning.

Ernst Ligteringen, CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative (and a past BCLC speaker), and Ricardo Young, Chairman of Ethos Institute, joined BSR President Aron Cramer in a forecast of sustainability issues in a “reset world.”

To summarize Young: The global economic crisis was a blessing, causing companies to rethink and reset their course. Going forward, transparency is needed and bold companies must lead.

And in summary of Ligteringen:  It is no longer “business as usual.” To lead in their industries, companies should take a systematic approach to seeking unusual partners and to creating dialogue between business and stakeholders.

One question to the panelists from moderator Cramer caught my ear: With so much attention on climate change, what issues are we not thinking about? The panelists suggested poverty reduction/bottom of the pyramid (BOP) issues, as well as ecological deficit, prior to delving into the question of whether today’s “incumbent” companies are the right ones to address them.

However, I’d like to add to the list of issues we need to pay attention to, as we, as a global community, continue to take measures to reduce our impact on the environment.

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Like most Americans, you probably have at least one or two good friends who are currently unemployed.  We all know that the outlook for job seekers is not particularly positive. On nearly all accounts, the “Great Recession” will continue to include a jobless recovery. 

So what do you say when your friend asks you for advice and help?  Are you at a loss and end up giving a sincere but awkward, “keep your chin up”?  Good news — there are actually hundreds of free resources out there to help your struggling friend make ends meet and get back on his feet.  Here are five to get you started:

Tip 1) Attend a job fair

To land a job, you need to first know about some job opportunities. Monster is making that easier with their “Keep America Working” Tour. Launched in March of this year, Monster has put a helpful twist on the traditional career fair. This signature event, happening in cities across the country, is connecting individuals who are looking for work with job opportunities available now. 

Additionally, the events feature networking opportunities and workshops with career experts who are providing tips for re-entering a job search, searching during a recession, and staying positive. To date, nearly 2,000 companies have participated in the Keep America Working Tour, providing nearly 50,000 open positions.

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