What is corporate social responsibility? Hotel Arts and Aigües de Barcelona

Yesterday the CSR Best Practices roundtable took place, organised by Caritas Spain and TBS in Barcelona. Mireia Hernán, accounting and strategy manager at Aigües de Barcelona; and Jordi Sala, human resources director at Hotel Arts Barcelona, shared the corporate social responsibility practices of their respective organisations.

Itziar Bravo, manager of Cáritas Barcelona, introduced the round table by reviewing the origins of Cáritas and the tasks it currently performs. She explained that they work in 3 strategic areas: social action projects, awareness-raising, and denunciation. Bravo emphasized awareness-raising, as participating in presentations and round tables like yesterday’s are part of this area of work of Cáritas. “One of our objectives is to raise awareness among companies and encourage them to participate in our social projects.” He added that it is also “important to carry out awareness campaigns in schools and universities to raise the awareness of professionals and leaders of the future.” Finally, she encouraged students to participate in some of Cáritas’ projects, assuring that many companies value candidates with social concerns very positively.

It is important to carry out awareness campaigns in schools and universities to raise the consciousness of professionals and leaders of the future.

Arts Hotel Barcelona

After the introduction of Caritas, TBS professor Basak Canboy led the discussion on good practice in CSR. Jordi Sala, as a representative of Arts Hotel Barcelona, presented the company’s philosophy as well as its activities in the area of CSR. “Our philosophy is to serve the world, assist and help the community where we are located.” To achieve this, they collaborate with many Barcelona entities, focusing above all on three areas: children, poverty and the environment.

All its activities are in some way related to the ODS, the Sustainable Development Goals, 17 goals set by the United Nations. Not only do they collaborate with Cáritas, they also work with other organisations such as Casal dels Infants, Nutrició sense fronteres, Aldeas infantiles, Fundació Aura or Jamie’s dream. All this volunteering can be carried out thanks to the involvement of the employees of Arts Hotel Barcelona, who are given time and encouraged to participate and help as much as they can.

Aigües de Barcelona

Afterwards, Mireia Hernán, from Aigües de Barcelona, intervened. She introduced her organisation by talking about the importance of water and the problems of scarcity that humanity will face in a few years if our consumption patterns do not change. She explained that the company is responsible for the entire water cycle in Barcelona and for guaranteeing its quality. Aigües de Barcelona carries out many activities to raise awareness of ecological issues, its plants are always open to the public and receive many visits from schools and universities.

They also help the city’s most vulnerable families by adapting their tariffs to ensure that water is available to everyone. As a result of COVID-19 they have collaborated with the Yo me corono project, providing computers to hospitals and ensuring that their employees receive psychological support.

At the end, the second year students of the TBS Bachelor of Management who were in the audience asked questions and became interested in how they could get involved in the projects and participate as volunteers.