Digital companies: 3 ways to prepare for CSR

When you work in digital, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is already somewhat part of your DNA, particularly when it comes to how work is organised. That said, expectations around social and environmental issues are growing, and digital companies need to play a proactive role in helping build a sustainable future. Boosting team spirit, encouraging flexibility and taking digital pollution into account: three paths to follow for a successful CSR transition.

Boosting your company culture

Digital companies are known for operating more horizontally than some traditional companies. Management there is often participative, with team members strongly involved in decision-making, effective communication and simplified processes. This way of organising things encourages initiative, agility, collective intelligence, innovation and everyone’s well-being. These companies are therefore naturally already on a CSR path, and often keen to improve this aspect further.

So the people in a digital company will have no trouble sitting around a table to come up with CSR priorities for the future together. Brainstorming is common practice, and letting every idea come through and welcoming every sensibility to co-build a CSR project will come easily. Thanks to this meeting of minds, not only do directions for building the CSR strategy emerge, but buy-in to the project is guaranteed too, because staff feel listened to and valued: they know they are stakeholders.

Although everyone contributes and takes an active part, it’s wise to appoint CSR project managers to centralise the progress of the initiative. For some members of staff, stepping outside their usual scope to get involved in this kind of subject is a real revelation. By choosing proactive people who can bring others together, the project is bound to succeed. When a digital company wants to go further in empowerment, it can offer its people CSR training. The idea is to enable them to structure the initiative, understand all the issues at stake, give them indicators to measure the company’s efforts, point them to reference standards and share best practice with them. A CSR policy must be concrete to strengthen the motivation of all the digital company’s stakeholders. It’s a good idea to organise events from time to time that mobilise the whole team and also help cement cohesion. Eco-friendly events are particularly in vogue, and challenges such as zero waste or a soft-mobility day raise awareness of environmental issues just as much as they encourage people to change their individual behaviour.

Organising a collection drive, taking on a sports challenge or devoting half a day to volunteering are other examples that strengthen the sense of belonging, give meaning and, ultimately, improve quality of life at work.

Increasing work flexibility

Digital companies are often well ahead when it comes to work flexibility. Working from home, flex office, more or less à la carte hours, part-time work and the 4-day week are more widespread practices in this sector than elsewhere. These are clearly habits very much in line with a CSR policy, and a digital company has every interest in continuing and expanding this movement.

From an environmental point of view, remote work, by cutting out the twice-daily commute between home and work — especially by car — is beneficial because it reduces road congestion and air pollution. Fewer daily journeys therefore have a positive impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Provided remote work is well organised, it’s also an opportunity for a digital company to make energy savings by turning down the air conditioning or heating one day a week, for example.

Flex office also has quite a few advantages in line with a CSR policy. Given that a desk is unoccupied around half the time, switching to flex office makes it possible to reduce the number of square metres and maximise their occupancy. Here too, that means less space to heat and lower rents. In practical terms, the digital company’s expenses are lower and, in an ideal CSR world, the company can decide to allocate this budget to creating a pleasant, comfortable working environment for everyone: ergonomic equipment, a games room, a landscaped terrace, a concierge service…

The most important point in work flexibility is staff well-being. When, thanks to a flexible organisation, team members can adjust their pace of work, they manage to find their work-life balance, a key factor in feeling good. More autonomy and trust, less fatigue and stress: remote work fits well with a CSR vision. Fully remote jobs go even further, in that they help promote diversity and reduce discrimination: no geographical barriers, inclusion of people with disabilities who can work in a suitable environment, hiring people with family responsibilities…

Managing electronic and digital waste

It’s a fact: digital companies make intensive use of new information and communication technologies, and we now know full well that digital pollution is far from trivial. That said, to stay in the CSR spirit, it’s possible to consider using technology in moderation and, above all, to become aware of the carbon footprint it generates.

You can start by communicating, in an educational way, about the good practices to put in place within the digital company to reduce its environmental impact. By relying on simple, concrete guidelines, it’s easy to mobilise all the teams on this CSR priority. Emptying your inbox regularly, replacing attachments with links, unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters, sticking to audio when video isn’t essential in a meeting, favouring Wi-Fi over 5G and many more are new good habits to encourage.
If you want to go further, don’t hesitate to audit and then compare the various software and applications most used in the digital company. Two applications offering the same thing can have a carbon impact that differs by a factor of two.

As you can imagine, every time a technological device is manufactured, it consumes water and raw materials, generates excess cardboard and plastic packaging and, of course, a very high cost in gas emissions due to transport around the planet. Overconsumption of phones, computers, printers and other equipment is therefore absolutely to be avoided when following a CSR policy. There are greener alternatives that are also much cheaper. The lifespan of devices can be extended through repairs or upgrades. Planned
obsolescence isn’t entirely inevitable, and the French State has in fact introduced a repair bonus to encourage people to turn to repairers and to replace only a device’s faulty parts where possible. You can also upgrade a laptop or a smartphone to boost its performance and speed.
When a device really is no longer suitable despite attempts to update it, you can still try to give it a second life — for example, by donating it to a charity or a school that may not have technical needs as demanding as a digital company’s.
Finally, when there’s no choice but to get rid of the equipment, make sure you take it to a dedicated electrical waste collection point (recycling centre, retailer, waste disposal site…)