Saving jobs is CSR

GOING green and helping the poor are two common ways that companies around the world show they have corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In Singapore, companies demonstrated yet another way by cooperating with the Government and labour movement to save jobs during the downturn, said Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday.

For instance, employers implemented shorter work weeks, sent workers for training during lull periods, and retrenched as a last resort, he told an international conference on corporate social responsbility here.

'The tripartite partners' response to the current economic downturn is a clear manifestation of corporate social responsibility at work in Singapore,' he said. His definition of corporate social responsibility, however, is not the norm.

A survey by the Trade and Industry Ministry last year found that only three in 10 companies here were aware of and practised corporate social responsibility such as being environmentally friendly or helping the poor.

But he broadened the scope of such practices by calling on companies to also consider ways to tackle future challenges such as an ageing population and the widening income gap.

- The Straits Times