It’s no secret that SMEs make up more than 99% of all UK businesses and support around 60% of the UK’s private sector workforce, so there can be no arguing about the positive economic value every SME adds.

However, what is often overlooked, even by SMEs themselves, is the incredible contribution that the SME sector makes too charitable and community causes.

SMEs are a cross between good Samaritans and magicians when it comes to engaging with their communities. Most are driven by their owners’ personal values structure to support community causes and they adapt with ease to the requirements of volunteering, fundraising or other activity. This is because SMEs want to make a difference, believe that it’s the right thing to do and are not driven by profiteering, and because of this, SMEs across the country can work real magic.

The public and, consequently, customers have become, at best, numb to big business PR spin in the race to be seen as the most caring and dedicated company in their market. There can’t be many people left that really believe corporates engage with the community because they care.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t business benefits for SMEs to working alongside their communities, it’s just that usually SMEs don’t always recognise them or make the most of them. The business benefits to the SME and the societal economic contribution of these small business-driven, socially responsible activities are so often unrecognised. As these types of activities are rarely given the recognition they deserve, the ‘programme’ of activities undertaken by an SME is often unstructured, the benefits not evaluated and the real value for all parties is then ultimately not established, let alone publicised.

When most lay people think about corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes or charitable giving, they tend to think that these activities apply solely to larger companies, but this is far from reality. Most small businesses recognise that engaging in some form with their communities, acting ethically and being socially and environmentally responsible is worth it on both a personal and professional level, and that actually it’s just all part of our normal working day.

The Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Social and Environmental Responsibility and the Small Business Owner report in 2007 illustrated that 92% of all respondents considered their business socially responsible, with many business owners referring to their activities as just ‘good business practice’, so there’s no doubt that as SMEs we are keen to make our mark in this area.

However, a study published in May 2013 supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and delivered by Tom Levitt and Sector 4 Focus entitled The Social SME, that evaluated how small firms related to and engaged with their communities, found that ‘there is little in the way of strategic planning in employee and company engagement with communities in SMEs and SME networks are small and do not prioritise these issues.’

In the past I have been guilty of a lack of planning and evaluation of these types of activities, letting my personal desire to help and support certain causes take over my time – and business productivity – but after four years in operation, I believe that at Prescient Power we now know what activities work for the community, as well as what activities work for us. Structuring these activities into a more formal programme has helped us increase the quality and quantity of our support, as well as the benefits that our business can derive from the process.

When I first founded Prescient Power in 2009, my aim was to create a truly ethical business and recruit a team that reflected those values. As part of this value structure, I have a strong desire to be heavily involved in my local community and therefore a natural progression is for my business, and our employees, to contribute these causes too. We now have a detailed, structured programme of support that is of benefit to the business, the local community and local economy, and covers four key areas:
1. Financial contributions: We donate 10% of our post-tax profits (after dividends) to the Climate Justice Fund and we sponsor our local cricket club.
2. Volunteering: I am a STEM ambassador, and within our company we have employees that hold school governorships, carry out conservation work and work within town partnerships, amongst others.
3. Training & mentoring: We work with the schools near our head office to encourage awareness of the commercial world and by delivering STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) events via LEBC (Leicestershire Education and Business Company). We have also been actively involved with apprenticeship schemes, employing one apprentice and two students, so far, training them in their chosen field and provide a solid footing in business for the future, as well as a well needed income whilst they study. We have employed a total of three people from the Future Jobs Fund scheme and are a core partner of the new Talent Match programme to help “NEETs” get into work.
4. Sustainability: As you would expect for a renewable energy company, we do a lot of work in this area. We support the National Forest by planting a tree for every installation that we carry out. We will be carbon neutral by the end of 2014. We have compost bins in office and as a result we only fill one black bin liner a month with non-recyclable waste. When we’re onsite, we’re environmentally conscious too. For example, when we delivered the National Trust’s largest ever solar project, we recycled all of the pallets we used, and we also give free sustainability talks in universities and colleges.

If you can’t see the benefits to your organisation from socially responsible activities, like in the examples above, then why not consider The Social Value Act of 2012 (in force from January 2013) that enables public sector organisations to chose a successful tenderer based on the level of social value the organisation would deliver – even when this social value doesn’t bear any relation to the contracted goods or services tendered for? There can be no argument against social responsibility in this context, as the legislation literally gives your business a competitive edge.

The Social SME study found that we are a generous lot: ‘Even small rises in employee numbers are associated with greater and different types of community engagement’ it reads. That has certainly been true of our company – the bigger we get, the more we do. I have seen the business benefits of my new and improved, structured community programme repeatedly over the last 12 months. Developing the programme tended to be trial and error for me, however, it needn’t have been if the company had been able to access more appropriate support in this area.

There is the 2011, NORMAPME-developed* ISO 26000, Guidance on Social Responsibility for European SMEs to help support us in our endeavours but otherwise the SME contribution remains predominantly unsupported by Government.

In October 2013, BITC (Business in the Community) called CSR programmes, ‘core to the business proposition and essential to long term business success,’ and made a number of recommendations to Government requesting, amongst other things, additional SME support for developing CSR strategies and the development of innovative policy approaches which support social initiatives that include the growth in employee volunteers, secondees and career breaks.

It doesn’t occur to most of us not to get involved with our stakeholders, but as SMEs, we don’t shout about our contributions, or the value of them to the wider world. We don’t have masses of marketers or spin doctors to set up the perfect photocall to share our achievements and we are certainly short on time to do it ourselves.

You’ll be pleased to know that our SME community spirit, and our inability to take credit for it, is a global phenomenon too. In September 2013, the nationwide New Zealand survey, BNZ Spotlight on SME Community Support found strikingly similar results to the UK studies including:

● 74% of SMEs agree all businesses should support their communities
● Long term support is more prevalent than short term
● 1 in 4 businesses (that support) expect to increase their level of support in the coming year
● 78% do not expect a ROI from their community support
● Most do little to publicise their support for the community

Perhaps it’s time as an SME community, that we recognise the importance to our business and the local community or economy of planning, structuring and monitoring our good natured dedication to worthy causes. I might suggest that it’s time we all took a little more credit for our actions and let the world know about exactly what else we contribute to our society and its people.

Read more:
SMEs: the mini “secret millionaires” in every community

And the issues don’t stop at start-up. Once you’ve managed to get your business off the ground, finding the cash to expand the business by investing in people, marketing and sales efforts can be cost prohibitive and lead to a Catch-22 situation.

So if you are struggling to get investment from the banks, you’re toying with the idea of selling part of your company or you are just scratching your head and thinking where to start. Start here: with the free stuff.

During times of austerity, businesses cut back to the basics and tried to save money wherever possible. We have had our fair share of this, and who in the SME world hasn’t? We used a few free tricks to keep the ship running, and which have carried us into the happier and more lucrative times. Here are a few of them, and some additional tips from other businesses we met along the way.

Free software
Technology is a bind for many businesses, although there are small business licenses out there, they are still expensive and in some cases a false economy.

Google
Use free Google Documents, Google Drive and Google Mail.

Google Drive enables you to save 15GB for free (all in the Cloud and accessible securely from any location).

Google Documents offers options such as Spreadsheet, Document, Project, Draw and Presentation. You’ll have slightly limited functionality compared to some of the paid systems out there (such as fonts and page layouts), but you’ll have added functionality such as the ability to collaborate on documents, having several colleagues able to access and create within the same document at the same time.

When you have a little bit more cash, you can upgrade to Google Apps, which is essentially the same suite of tools but with better cross-business integration, delegation and calendar functionality.

If Google documents don’t offer you the functionality that you require, then look to Open Office which offers a wealth of top notch tools including draw and presentations functionality. You can even ask design agencies to design your adverts and other creatives in this format so that you can make changes yourself and save on design fees.

Use cut down versions or free trials
Many tools offer cut down versions of their tools as free entry level access. Products such as presentation tool, Prezi, offer a free version allowing a limited number of presentations to be created. If you decide that the tool is helpful and adds value to your business, then you can choose to upgrade, justifying the cost.

Use free trials
Many software is now offered on a free trial basis, even offering the highest level of product for that limited time. Of course the software companies are encouraging you to use their products, but it gives you a chance to test it out and get a genuine feel for the usefulness and, in the case of products such as Search Engine Optimisation tools for websites, you can actually glean a lot of valuable and useful information that can be used after the free trial is over.
Payment on results

Although not free, there are a number of companies now offering guarantees on their work or payment options only when the work is completed to the satisfaction of the client. This gives a piece of mind and can remove risk in a situation. For example, If you receive business from marketing activity and only need to pay when you have received a certain level of new business, then this cost can be easily found from the profits.

Marketing
Already touched upon in the above section, there are many ways to market a business without a crippling marketing budget.

Switch advertising to PR
Although not completely free, as you might want to employ a good PR agency to work on releases for you. PR is nearly always a cost effective alternative to advertising and one that is seen as more trustworthy by the reader. Release interesting case studies and product launches and respond to opportunities released by journalists, and you will receive genuine interest from people who care about your products or services or the area in which you are working.

Content marketing
Releasing good quality, helpful content about your business sector online through social media, blogs, forums and through your website will build your authority within search and generate more traffic to your website. Unlike Pay Per Click advertising, this can be done for free taking only time not money.

Give free content to influencers of your target customers
These influencers might be trade associations, publications and local government. Offer to give free presentations to members, write free guides for emailing or printing or offer to write a guest blog. This all offers good coverage for your business, projects you as a thought leader, and offers genuine useful information to your target sector.

Exchange skills or commodities
Networking with other small businesses can show up genuine opportunities for non-competitor companies to help each other for free. Even if your products or services are not applicable for other SMEs, this can be a helpful exercise.

Consider the following:
● If you have a large office or warehouse space, offer another business desk space in exchange for services that might be able to provide for you for free.
● Trade hours, commit to a number of hours of consultancy on a project in exchange for so many hours back. Where you work in a similar industry, but aren’t competitors this can work really well.
● Loan team members in quiet times in exchange for extra staff when you next need it.
● Link up with other companies to buy fuel or bulk buy equipment in order to save money.
● Agree to refer trusted companies to your clients, perhaps offering to include fliers in your invoices or sales packs, in exchange for the same back. Perhaps agree a referral fee, so that there is an added incentive for providing good quality leads and increase the size of your sales force with no overheads.
Access funding
Not free, but a way of topping up the funds and gaining investment for particular projects. There are lots of options out there from:
● Entering small business awards such as the Smarta awards where the winners are awarded cash sums for use in particular projects
● Accessing specific sector based grants (particularly useful for charities)
● Lottery funding
● Regional funding (through local councils or Government focus areas)
● Incubator groups, looking to specifically grow small businesses

Just a few ideas as food for thought.
It is hard to start a company, and arguably more difficult to grow and expand, but external funding, loans and relinquishing ownership don’t have to be the only options. There are free and low cost options out there, it’s just knowing where to start and knowing where to the put the time and effort in. Small businesses need to share in their success, they need to let other businesses know how they make it work and in turn enable the SME sector to become the big businesses of the future.

Carl Benfield is Founder and Managing Director of Prescient Power (www.prescientpower.co.uk), a renewable energy company based in Leicestershire. Following a successful military career as a Major in the Army, Carl set about creating a truly ethical and sustainable company bringing real alternatives to our dependence on fossil fuels. Established in 2009, and now working with companies such as National Trust, RSPB, he and his team provide the means for businesses to take control of their energy and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more:
Making your business successful for free…

It’s not every day that I take business advice from the creator of musicals (albeit pretty amazing ones), but as I’ve just joined our local musical society, it seemed appropriate.

The philosophy behind giving is often a personal and deeply private theme, but I would suggest that businesses should look to give freely in order to grow and find greater success.

Don’t worry, I am not about to embark on a madcap inspirational talk, or start a career as a radical corporate coach; running a business is about all I cope with at the moment! Instead, I want to share 4 elements that all business should consider giving away. They are simple, they’ll sometimes hurt a little, but it makes sense that they will bring back more than they cost.

Money
Starting with the most obvious giveaway – money – which quite frankly has to be the scariest prospect for most SMEs. When you are building a fledgling business can you really afford to give money away?

Start with your employees
Hopefully, you have managed to recruit a committed and enthusiastic workforce, but nothing drives employee achievement like giving a share in the success. Offering share options as part of employee packages offers a long term commitment to employees, and limits can be set on dividends and ownership so that you only pay when the company is thriving and people remain as employees. This way, a thriving business benefits everyone.

Link to a charity
Whatever your business, there will be a charity that fits well with the work that you do. It shouldn’t be a token gesture to look good on your website, but a genuine commitment to a cause you believe in. A commitment of this nature speaks volumes on the type of company you are (or aim to be), it instills messages of trust for your prospective customers, and in a comparison with older more established brands it might just give you an edge to be considered alongside in tenders and quotes.

My own company supports the Climate Justice Fund (delivering aid to those developing countries worst hit by the effects of climate change). It fits with our fundamental values and purpose for setting up our business.

Sponsor locally
Most businesses start out on a local basis and can most effectively spend marketing effort in a focussed geography. This builds a following and customer base within a chosen location, and never underestimate the power of your local community. Far from being dead, local communities can be vibrant and hugely influential, with the power to shut down building works, force businesses out of work, or be a power for growth and viral marketing.

Get involved. Sponsor your local rugby team, buy a football kit for the local school, supply free products for a local community centre. Whatever your business there should be a fit for you in your local community, if there isn’t you might need to have another look at your business model.

Advice
Never underestimate what you know as a business – you are an expert in your chosen field and this knowledge should be given away freely. I’m not suggesting that you broadcast your intellectual property to the world, there are certain working procedures, recipes and knowhow that make your business unique and you should keep these to yourself, but you can give free advice liberally, lifting yourself to the lofty heights of ‘thought leaders’.

Inbound marketing
A phrase coined by Hubspot (a marketing software company): inbound marketing is the creation of quality content that pulls customers towards your products and services, as opposed to the outbound marketing or advertisements, email campaigns and cold calling.

Creating really useful content through whitepapers, blogs and social media can grab attention and get people interested in you and, in turn, the products and services that you have to offer. Giving away insightful and useful information about your chosen area of specialism will tick many boxes including:
● establishing you as leaders in your field
● helping with Google ranking and driving leads through to your website
● providing a hook to grab attention and make prospective clients look more deeply at a problem you can fix

And it doesn’t all have to be online. Look for opportunities to speak at events, either free or paid and impart knowledge to your key target market and an interested and eager audience.

Apprenticeships
A growing area of focus for the Government, and so very important in training the next generation for in skills and trades that they might not get experience of in full time education. If you are willing to give away some of your knowledge and time to help a young person into employment you can be rewarded with an enthusiastic and willing employee that can grow with your business. Recruit apprenticeships on character and commitment, the rest will follow.

Time
Time is most definitely wrapped up in all of the other elements of giving away, but flexible use of it can make the difference in how much you can contribute as a business.

Flexible working can sound like a nightmare to govern and control but with sensible management, and a bit of trust on both the sides of the employer and employee, it can be a force for good in an organisation. Consider:
● home working – shaving wasted hours out of a employees day that they might be able to turn into productive hours for your business
● flexible hours
○ to fit around childcare – attracting a pool of talent that might have been inaccessible to a small business
○ to enable employees to volunteer (enhancing your standing in your community)
● release for studies – encouraging your workforce to become more skilled and in turn more beneficial to your business

Waste
Surely no-one is going to mind giving away waste. Indeed waste can be a valuable commodity, look at your local scrap merchant or private recycling centres, the hundreds of charity shops and the closed loop cycle ambitions of leading food manufacturers. Waste often has a value and it is important to realise this value within your operations.

Waste reduction is a part of any savvy business plan, but where it can’t be reduced it might be eligible for generating an extra revenue stream. Food manufacturers and farmers are notoriously good at this, take a look at some corporate waste policies to get some ideas for your own business.

You can tie giving waste into charity link with groups such as Tools with a Mission (www.twam.co.uk), who collect disused tools, repair them and ship them to developed countries, enabling self sufficiency rather than aid dependency. If you are a manufacturer or tradesman, this might be a good link for you.

Giving is often seen as a ‘nice to have’ and a luxury that can’t be afforded by the SME, but we’ve found the opposite to be true. Give because it is right to do so, but don’t be surprised if it gives your business a lift along the way!

Carl Benfield is Founder and Managing Director of Prescient Power (www.prescientpower.co.uk), a renewable energy company based in Leicestershire. Following a successful military career as a Major in the Army, Carl set about creating a truly ethical and sustainable company bringing real alternatives to our dependence on fossil fuels. Established in 2009, and now working with companies such as National Trust, RSPB, he and his team provide the means for businesses to take control of their energy and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more:
Giving it away – and how it makes you grow

The Army is exceptional at illustrating the importance of a cohesive team including of course, strong leadership and structure. But it’s also vital to recognise everyone’s core skills, recruit team players and hold a strong set of values with which everyone can engage meaningfully.

The single most important reason for our business success has been the team of people who collectively work and own the company with us. If companies get the right people in the right positions, they will reap the benefits financially, and have the added benefit of being able to enjoy the journey with a cohesive, effective team – I know we have.

I’d like to share the simple secrets of our success in finding – and keeping – the best people for our company. Here are my five top tips for recruiting…

1. Find a ‘fit’

When recruiting, ensuring that candidates ‘fit’ these principles is at the forefront of our minds along with the more obvious ‘can they do the job?’ If a candidate can’t sign-up to our values, then they are not for us. We have been known to recruit people without direct experience in their current role because they fit the company so well, and because you can train people to do a job, but not always to change their values – in this sense we care less about what you know than who you are.

Of course the right fit does not come along every day, and we are always on the look out for good people who might understand our organisation. These people might not join, or be invited to join, for many months or years, but that leaves plenty of time to get to know them first.

2. Be flexible

We offer every type of flexible working arrangement around: part time, flexi time, working from home, sabbatical, zero hours contracts, foreign working. You name it and it is an option for our employees. Working mothers employed on a part time basis currently make up a quarter of our workforce. They flexibly work their hours around their childcare needs, and this has been hugely beneficial in attracting extremely high calibre personnel.

3. Share success

We offer a slice of the business success through shareholdings in the company. Everyone has allocated shares after an initial six month probationary period. When the business makes a profit, a proportion of that money is shared out amongst the shareholders. Employees take this ownership seriously, and they have a genuine thirst for the company to succeed, further creating cohesion and strength.

4. It’s about more than money

Mirroring the core motivations unearthed by Dan Pinks. We offer mastery, challenge and the chance to make a contribution to our employees. Research has shown that when facing cognitive problems these are the motivators that achieve maximum results for a business. So if you felt that you needed to offer large sums of money to attract the best employees, you are quite possibly wrong. Offer your employees a chance to master a particular skill, give them daily challenge to improve and the real chance to make a difference (to the community, to customers to the UK, to the world; whatever fits).

5. Take it to the top

Getting the recruitment right also applies to the senior management team too and, for us, securing support and guidance for the company through engaging Non-Executive Directors with the appropriate skills, in exchange for a slice of our success, has been well worth it. For example, one of our Non-Executive Directors is Rory Underwood, Ex-England and Leicester Tigers Rugby Player, and RAF jet pilot. Rory now owns and operates a successful team development consultancy and his knowledge and guidance has been invaluable in helping us to crystallise our vision and strengthen the bonds of our team.

We’re not perfect – we’ve made many mistakes along the way, and we’ve been through some really rough times, but we’ve managed to hold on to our most valuable asset: our people. And with every step that we take closer to our ultimate business goals, we look back and realise that we got the team bit right, and that’s a vital part of our current and future success.

Carl Benfield is Founder and Managing Director of Prescient Power (www.prescientpower.co.uk), a renewable energy company based in Leicestershire. Following a successful military career as a Major in the Army, Carl set about creating a truly ethical and sustainable company bringing real alternatives to our dependence on fossil fuels. Established in 2009, and now working with companies such as National Trust and the RSPB, Carl and his team provide the means for businesses to take control of their energy and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more:
How to Major in people

Renewables are needed in order to meet Government and European carbon cutting objectives and to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

But how is that relevant for SME businesses today?  Surely renewable energy is a minefield of confusing facts and figures, only really relevant for rich landowners and far too expensive for us?  Well think again…

Let’s start from the beginning – what is it?

Renewable energy is a means of generating heat or electricity from the sun.  There are 6 main types of mainstream land-based renewable energy:

Electricity

• Solar panels – converting light using photovoltaic cells to electricity
• Wind turbines – positioned in a favourable location and using rotation to create electricity
• Hydroelectric power – based in a stream and using kinetic energy to generate electricity

Heat

• Biomass boilers – using wood pellets, chips or logs as fuel
• Solar thermal – using sunlight to heat water
• Heat pumps – extracting heat from the ground, air or water

Each technology has its pros and cons and choice is dependent upon various factors such as  location, building type, aspect  and the natural resources available.  Consideration of all of these will be required to determine whether a renewable energy type can benefit your business.  You can find out more about each technology by clicking on the types above.

Why do businesses install renewable energy?

There are four main reasons why businesses install renewable energy technology:

• To save money
• To make money
• To cut their carbon footprint
• To deliver benefit to the community

The money aspect is a clear motivation when any business is looking at renewable energy.  The Government has two main incentives schemes which it is using to encourage uptake of sustainable energy: Feed in Tariff (FiT) for electricity technologies and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for heat technologies.

When you install a renewable energy system the incentive payments help pay back the cost of the installation and run over 20 years.  Each is index linked and fixed at the time that you join, so you are guaranteed payment over that period based on the energy that you generate, even if you use it on site.

For example, if you were a rural business running an oil boiler to heat your offices and spending £10k a year on fuel, replacing this with a 200kW wood pellet boiler could mean that the boiler would pay for itself through RHI and energy savings in 3 years.  Leaving 17 years worth of RHI payments and further energy savings which could generate £700k in revenue during that time!

In this case the company is essentially creating another revenue stream by switching its boiler – diversification in a new sense.

The other technologies work in similar ways and each has their own payback periods depending on the specific situations.

How Much??!!

Capital expenditure is the looming shadow over any great investment.  Funds are hard to come by, and (from personal experience) we know that banks can be less than helpful. But it is very possible to install renewable technology without the upfront cost.

There are some great ways in which you can use power purchase agreements, where a third party buys and installs the technology at your property and charges you a fixed rate which is lower than your current supplier.

Or you could embrace localism and use your building or land to host a community energy scheme.  The community would buy shares in the installation through a community energy company, that company would arrange for the installation and you would be charged a small fee for use of the electricity or heat.  Reduced energy bills for you and a great win for the community with dividends paid through to FiT or RHI to community shareholders and money fed back through for projects to improve the lives of local people.  A truly good thing to do; you improve relationships with your local community and hopefully strengthen and build new bonds and connections for your business. Not such a bad idea for an SME after all.

So what would I need to do?

Firstly get in contact with a local installer, preferably someone who offers a range of technologies so that they can talk through all of your options.  They will need to visit your site and have a good look in order to advise you properly, so don’t take a hasty quote over the phone.

Ask people for recommendations, have a good look at the installers website and read their case studies.  A good installer should have connections within the industry and be able to offer a range of products, be able to connect you with community energy companies or third parties to arrange financing.  They should be open and honest and prepared to answer any questions that you throw at them.  Although the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) applies to smaller installations, it’s a good idea to ensure your installer (and their equipment) is accredited.

The installers should have the knowledge to help you with planning applications (should you need them) and applications for your incentives.

And most importantly, they should be able to justify a system with a short payback period, a good return over 20 years, great savings on your energy bills and a carbon reduction figure for you to use.

Renewable energy isn’t for everyone, but it might be for you.

Read more:
Renewable energy – confusing, irrelevant, expensive?

Amongst the deluge of business acronyms, accounts, health and safety, human resources and the like, one three letter abbreviation rarely sees the light of day – CSR. As a result, many SME think that Corporate Social Responsibility is only for large companies wishing to create positive PR, and that even then it sits in the pink and fluffy area of the “ToDo” list.

Think again.

The social innovator, Rachel Botsman suggests that the currency of the new economy is Trust. We live in a world where anyone can start a company and put up a website. People are increasingly aware of this, and want to understand more how companies behave (take the recent public pressure on Starbucks to pay corporation tax). Our CSR is the perfect means to develop this trust, because it is more about actions than words; lots of companies suggest they are ethical, few actually do anything to prove it.

And the truth is that SMEs are better placed to undertake, and benefit from CSR – here’s why:

● Sir Richard Branson has defined business as “trying to make a real difference to other people’s lives”. If you agree with this view, then CSR should be something that goes hand in hand with our commercial offering, rather than being some random adjunct to it. SMEs tend to have more of this client-focus, with a more genuine interaction.
● In addition to this, the author Simon Sinek proposes that a company needs to have a “Reason Why”. SMEs are more likely to be in touch with the reason they exist – and it’s normally more than just about making money.
● I would suggest that small businesses tend to have a higher proportion of staff actively engaged with company direction, and therefore are better placed to undertake CSR type work.
● CSR further enhances this employee engagement. Even If a job is mundane, unpleasant and poorly paid, CSR can radically enhance the self-worth of your workforce, lowering staff turnover and actively boosting productivity.
● SMEs are much more likely to have a local focus, reputation and presence. This has two effects:
○ The effort spent on CSR directly impacts the target geography. The company develops a better reputation and even if sales are global, at the very least you’ll attract the best workforce.
○ A local company has to work less hard at appearing genuine. If a large supermarket were to undertake CSR the public might ask “why?”. For a local company, this credibility hurdle is much lower.
● It’s a complete misconception that CSR needs to be expensive. Yes, it does involve staff time, but often your team may also be prepared to give up some of their own time if they are really engaged in the project. The resources may be free or incredibly cheap and this kind of engagement is actually a lot more newsworthy than giving cash away.

So how could you develop a functioning CSR policy?

Think big and act small. Set a goal for where you want to be in terms of sustainability and ethics (think big), then develop practical ways in which you can make changes (act small).

If you’re stuck for ideas, then ask your workforce – you can be sure they will be more engaged with their own ideas than yours.

Your CSR can be both internal and external. As a few examples of internal campaigns, consider heating/cooling controls to cut carbon emissions, waste reduction, generation of energy from renewables, ethical sourcing of equipment and behavioural changes to make you more responsible as a company. Externally, how about painting the local scout hut, doing a litter sweep, or running a training day at your local school or college?

What do we do?

In my own company, whilst we have a central office, many of our team work from remote locations via the cloud. This can seem like a barrier, but already we’ve enacted one of our core CSR policies – reducing emissions, by reducing travel to and from work. And tracking mileage is easy. (As an aside, the flexibility that home-working provides also attracts extremely high quality employees who might normally be too expensive for a small company.)

Recycling both in the office and at home has become second nature to all our employees. Once you have a critical mass of people prepared to question when something is thrown into general waste, the culture soon changes.

We’ve decided that everyone should be a shareholder (although voting rights are restricted to to allow rapid decision making). It’s amazing how much more commitment and advocacy a workforce will give when they know it’s partially their company – just ask John Lewis.

Whilst we want to save the planet, it may be too late for some areas of the world, and hence we decided to support the Climate Justice Fund (run by TEARFund) with a percentage of our profits. This sits very well with some of our bigger clients like the National Trust and RSPB who need to be very picky about who works for them.

And finally…

I remember being involved with building a new hospital in Swindon many years ago. It was at the time when everyone was moaning about health and safety. The approach the Contractor took was to embrace the regulations from the start and build the policy into everything – they looked at all their construction techniques and systems and reworked them to suit. The net effect was that the build was quicker, cheaper (and safer!) than it would otherwise have been. So my initial question about CSR is really rather irrelevant. If we put it on a list of priorities, it will always be a burden and often get bypassed. Rather, we should build it into everything we do – because that is who we are.

Carl Benfield

Is an Ex-Army Major and Chartered Engineer Carl Benfield formed renewable energy company Prescient Power in 2009. Prescient Power is now a UK-wide, multi-million pound business working with household names to harness the benefits of renewable energy which, in turn, have a positive impact on the bottom line of these organisations. With strong opinions about corporate social responsibility and the part it plays in success, Carl champions flexible working arrangements, employee shareholding, ethics and sustainability as top priorities within his business. Carl believes that sustainability offers a springboard to success for all UK businesses and he is happy to share his firm views and constructively challenge individuals, organisations and Government at any level.

Read more:
Corporate Social Responsibility – where does it fit in your priorities?