First Corporate Responsibility Benchmark Published

Business in the Community in the UK has recently published the first Corporate Responsibility Index. This is the first business-led, voluntary, Index, publicly benchmarking the responsible business practice of companies in a range of different industry sectors - no company was excluded because of the nature of its core business.

Responsible business practice means that a company is striving to continually improve its impact on society and the environment through mainstream business practices - through its operations, products and services and through interaction with key stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, communities and suppliers. Participants were 100 FTSE-listed companies, including 53 of the FTSE 100, and 22 non-FTSE members of Business in the Community. They ranged from companies who have been engaged in corporate responsibility for a number of years to those at the start of the process.

The results show real commitment to environmental and social issues by companies across the UK, many of whom have reported on their international operations.

Stephen Timms, Minister for Corporate Social Responsibility, welcomed the Index saying: 'Corporate Social Responsibility has a vital role to play in our society. It's living proof that economic and social goals do not have to be in conflict. And it can address some of the toughest challenges our society faces. I am delighted to see the level of participation in the first Corporate Responsibility Index. Companies in the UK are beginning to understand the business benefits of socially responsible behaviour. However more needs to be done to raise awareness and trust around these activities. I look forward to seeing many more companies take part next year.'

The Index has also been welcomed by the Association of British Insurers, the Confederation of British Industry and the National Association of Pension Funds.

The new Index is a business tool for companies to evaluate their own performance and to compare it with their peers. It enables them to assess the extent to which strategy and values are translated into responsible practice throughout their organisation, in four key areas (community, environment, marketplace and workplace), to identify gaps in performance and make improvements.

The results of the Index are presented in quintiles, each listing one fifth of all the companies participating in alphabetical order, without identifying actual scores.

Companies in the first quintile of the FTSE listing, who all scored over 82% include 3M, BT Group, Marks & Spencer, ScottishPower, AstraZeneca, Carillion, mmO2, Shell International, Aviva, Dow Chemical Company, National Grid, Transco, Tesco, BAA, ISIS, Rio Tinto, Unilever, BP, J Sainsbury and Safeway.

Within the quintiles, ABC profiles indicate standards reached in corporate strategy and integration, and management practice across the four key areas. The average overall score achieved by participants was 67.87%. In these areas, environment is the furthest advanced (71%), followed by workplace (67.5%), community (nearly 60%) and markeplace (54.5%).

David Varney, Chairman of Business in the Community and mmO2, concludes: 'The first Corporate Responsibility Index demonstrates to stakeholders that companies are taking the lead in promoting awareness and public reporting. It will help increase trust in business and transparency in business performance. This is not a just a tick-box exercise. At mmO2 it challenged our perceptions and created debate within the company. It made us consider our position on a number of issues. The process was not easy for us and other companies and Business in the Community will reflect on what it has learnt so that next year's Index will be equally challenging but easier to manage.'

For further information, visit www.bitc.org.uk.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.