Companies keen to retain good staff can get a head start without breaking the bank, simply by doing good works.
A key finding was a significant relationship between perceived CSR and the employees’ affective commitment to the company — identifying with it, feeling involved in its activities and having an emotional attachment to it. One of the ways the questionnaire measured this commitment was by asking staff whether they would be happy to spend the rest of their careers at the company.
Nozicelo Ngcobo, director of public affairs, communications & sustainability at CCBSA, says: “Our employees take great pride in what we do together ... and by extension [this] increases their loyalty.” Ngcobo says making employees part of the solution is critical. “It encourages innovation and ensures a rich employee volunteerism programme,” she says. “Employees do not exist in isolation from their communities. They live in these spaces and understand the needs ... Through their knowledge, we can have a better understanding of our host communities.”