Best practices in CSR round-table

Cáritas, Hotel Arts and Alfa Consulting share with TBS students how to manage social policies with win-win initiatives

Cooperation between NGOs and well-established firms is a CSR practice that all future managers should embrace. That is why the NGO Cáritas recently held at the school’s facilities the round-table “Best Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility”.

Hotel Arts HR Supervisor Sofía Kiguel, the Chief Executive of Alfa Consulting Ignacio Guerra and volunteer from the NGO Cáritas Francisco Torras shared with TBS students their collaboration policy as well as some of their best practices.

TBS Barcelona is part of Cáritas’ programme “Universities with a Heart”, that aims to involve universities in the development of social welfare and ethical values through conferences and other awareness-raising activities.

Good for society and good for business

Both business experts explained to TBS students what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means for a company in today’s context. “There are more and more guests looking for green and socially responsible companies, so a good CSR programme is not only important for ethics but also for business”, said Sofía Kiguel.

Ignacio Guerra also shared some of the positive results Alfa Consulting have experienced since investing in their social side: “We were suddenly perceived as a more committed and human consultancy and were therefore closer to our clients”.

Nowadays, more than 800 employees of Hotel Arts are volunteering in social activities, and Alfa Consulting allocates 2% of their total income to their social branch, Alfa Solidària.

Choosing social actions that make sense to your company

Since there are many different actions to carry out as a company, Ignacio Guerra suggests those which are aligned with the organisation’s brand and “having a positive impact in society while maintaining a focus on your company really pays off”, he explains.

This is the same philosophy followed by Ritz-Carter-owned Hotel Arts. “Every Ritz-Carter hotel follows the same, cohesive CSR plan. We are aware that hotels have one of the largest carbon footprints in any industry, so one of the social actions we dedicate most of our efforts towards are recycling programmes and clean-up days”.