Fulfilling ECOVE's CSR through Employee Care

As a corporate employer, looking out for the welfare of its own employees is a basic obligation. For employees, having a job means having a fixed income and being able to support their families. Like oxygen for humans, taking good care of its own employees is essential for corporations to survive.

In the last issue of the electronic quarterly journal, I talked about "the ECOVE CSR practice and putting employees first". When it comes to CSR practice, it is ECOVE's top priority to give employees an intrinsically safe working environment. When employees can feel a company's care for them, they find the incentive to give more to the company and the community. Therefore, in this issue, I will talk more about how ECOVE internalizes CSR into the DNA of the company.

Those who are engaged in CSR-related work should have heard the classic metaphor of "CSR-HR=PR (Corporate Social Responsibility – Human Resources = Public Relations). A CSR program would become a mere publicity stunt without employees' active participation. You would be spending twice the effort and getting only half the result.

Is employee involvement really so important? The answer is unquestionable because employees play a vital role in internalizing CSR into corporate DNA. Corporate social responsibility needs to be implemented from top to bottom; therefore, the participation and support of every employee is a must.

We can observe from the three aspects of CSR: Company, Environment, and Society. The six stakeholders related in the three subjects are non-other than customers, shareholders, employees, partners or suppliers, local governments, and local residents. Regardless of the aspect, whether it be sustainable management and legal compliance from the corporate aspect, or energy conservation from the environmental aspect, or workplace security and social participation from the social aspect, the goal of satisfying stakeholders needs to be done through the daily work of corporate employees. Although employees often joke that they are only a little cog in the machine, in my opinion, they can all exert great strength. Without employees taking initiatives, the company's promotion of CSR would be an unpolished diamond which will never shine.

Constantly reaffirming employees' sense of belonging to the company would help to strengthen employees' support and participation in CSR. It would also be an intangible boost to internalize CSR. Therefore, I encourage our management to put in more effort into assisting their colleagues. During the meeting, I repeatedly reminded the supervisors to do more for employees, and to care more about their wellbeing:

"Did the August 23rd Flood affect any workers' homes?"

"Is the commute safe for factory workers during typhoon or severe weather?"

"Does the work uniform make you too hot? Does it make you too cold in winter?"

"Remind the workers to drink more water when working outside during hot days."

"How do some of the workers fill out the corporate climate questionnaire without a computer on-site?" 

As we gradually turn our care for our employees into actions, our values, attitude, and behavior are passed down from top to bottom. Employee's identification with the corporation can be achieved through employee care and when employees feel respected and valued, they become more motivated and responsible towards their work, and furthermore giving back to the society.

In terms of practice in the workplace, ECOVE employees can do a lot, such as turning the lights off when leaving the room, using less paper, processing an extra ton of waste with partners, generating one more watt of electricity, or improving the quality of our rivers' waters. All of these can help urban management, medical institutions, mass transit systems, and airports operate more smoothly and profitably. Returning home safely after a day's work is also a form of CSR. Fortunately, we don’t have to do anything deliberately. As long as we do our jobs responsibly, we are already contributing to the company, the environment, and society.

But of course, the employees of ECOVE are not satisfied with just this. Apart from work, ECOVE's friendly charity association is a charitable event self-organized by employees. They raised funds, donated computers, adopted kids, and planned various activities like clothing drives, cooking activities during Dragon Boat Festival, and events for blind and visually impaired persons during holidays. The volunteer activities after work not only helped the local residents, solitary elders, students with special needs, and minority groups, they also validated the employees' recognition of their part in the company's CSR. The employees also expressed the happiness they felt when participating in the activities, which furthermore enabled them to develop a stronger bond and commitment to the company, forming a winning cycle that benefits themselves, the company, and the society.

"There is no shortcut to CSR, we need full-scale participation". ECOVE's CSR will not come to pass as just a splendid one-time activity like the short burst of fireworks. With the efforts of our entire staff, our CSR will thrive like ECOVE's circular economy business, helping to build a better and more sustainable society.