More changes are likely in Business in the Community’s Corporate
Responsibility Index after another drop in the number of companies
taking part this year.
A total of 123 UK-based organizations participated in this year’s
index, published last month – six per cent less than last year’s figure
of 131, which was itself down from 144 in 2005. The six-year-old index
has already undergone significant changes in the past year, notably the
scrapping of numbered rankings in favour of classifying the companies
into platinum, gold, silver or bronze categories. Bitc is now
considering further adjustments in order to attract more entrants and
maintain the commitment and interest of existing participants.
David Grayson, a Bitc director, suggested it might now be time ‘to take
the index Europe-wide and to target the Euro 250 as well as the FTSE
100’. He conceded that the assessment process ‘takes a lot of time and
effort’ and that ‘some companies choose to complete it only every two
to three years, since innovation and improvements take time to bed
down’.
Another idea is to shift the emphasis from what companies have done to
what they intend to do in the future. Katia Martin, director of the
index, said information gathering ‘will be much more focused on future
improvements’ and will concentrate on ‘real transformational change
rather than incremental achievements’ on the part of businesses.
Bitc says it is happy with the way the index is functioning but expects
the emphasis to ‘increasingly shift towards companies using the index
as a management tool, rather than as a comparative benchmark’.
Other changes may be put forward by a ‘leadership network’ of some of
the best-performing companies to discuss improvements. Anita Longley,
head of corporate responsibility at RWE npower, and chair of the
leadership network, said: ‘The index is really useful the first couple
of years you do it, because it helps you to identify what you need to
achieve and where your gaps are. But beyond that it’s helpful to be
encouraged to do something even more stretching.’
Some members are now scoring almost full marks. BAA, Barclays, BT and
National Grid all achieved 95 per cent or more in all six categories
marked by the index, and 29 companies received platinum status by
scoring an average of 95 per cent or above. A total of 27 scored
between 90 and 95 per cent to qualify for gold.
The most improved organizations – those that increased their score by
more than 10 per cent – included Alfred McAlpine, which was
particularly praised for reducing its accident rate, HM Revenue &
Customs, which has developed a ‘strategic framework’ on community
issues, and Royal & Sun Alliance, the first UK insurer to set a
target of carbon neutrality. The two platinum-ranked companies that
improved their scores most, by up to ten per cent, were J Sainsbury and
Rio Tinto. Top 50 companies whose scores worsened slightly included
Anglo American, Astra Zeneca, BNFL and Friends Provident.
Organizations invited to participate include FTSE 100 and FTSE 250
companies, sector leaders from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and
Bitc members ‘with a large economic presence in the UK’.
