RespACT - Austrian business council for sustainable development

Focus on a Partner - June 2008

In this month's partner interview, Daniela Knieling, Communications Manager at respACT, CSR Europe's national partner organisation in Austria, discusses current CSR trends in Austria and looks back at respACT's successful CSR Day event held in May. 

In your opinion, what are the main CSR topics for Austrian companies?

In large companies energy efficiency is becoming a central topic, not only because of rising energy costs. Many of the global players try to integrate energy efficiency models in product life cycles.

Another issue with increasing importance is diversity. Companies start realizing the benefits of a diverse workforce. SMEs are concentrating on workplace health promotional activities, e.g. balanced diet, sports activities, work life balance, child-care services, etc. to raise employee satisfaction.

An upcoming subject on the agenda of most enterprises, no matter if small-, medium- or large-sized, is the supply chain issue, because social and ecological fairness all along the value added chain is a factor that increasingly determines customer's choices.

respACT recently celebrated the fifth edition of the TRIGOS awards. Which impact are these awards are having in the Austrian business community?

On May 15, for the fifth time, the annual TRIGOS award was given to Austrian companies which are particularly engaged in the field of corporate social responsibility. More than twice as many companies as in 2007 competed for the award for social and ecological projects in four categories: society, market, workplace and environment. An impartial jury evaluated not only single projects but also the integration of CSR in corporate governance.

The record number of participants reflects the increasing awareness towards corporate social responsibility. A positive development is also taking place among small and medium-sized enterprises. The extraordinary high percentage of projects launched by SMEs underlines the potential of CSR in Austria.

The TRIGOS award was established in 2003 by a platform of NGOs and economic institutions (among them the Red Cross and the chamber of commerce). Their aim was to increase the awareness and implementation of CSR and sustainable development among Austrian companies. TRIGOS is nowadays the most important CSR award in Austria and contributes essentially to the development of CSR and sustainability in the Austrian business community

Can you tell us about the outcomes of your recently held CSR Day?

As Austria hosts the European Football Championship these days, the CSR Day tried to look behind the curtains of such a big sport event. How sustainable/fair can an event like that be? Who feels the impacts - nature, workers?

The sustainability concept "umwelt-am-ball" with its diverse activities in the fields of energy saving methods, working conditions, ways of recycling, etc. was presented to the audience. Further topics were "energy - which resources power the future?", "diversity - chances and benefits", trade with developing countries an so forth.

But the definitive highlight of the CSR Day 2008 was the "Dialogue of the future". About 300 participants were discussing the role of business in the society. The eleven topic tables were hosted by representatives of respACT member companies, who leaded the discussion rounds. The results of the huge "world café" will be published on our website these days. The discussion on the main issues will be continued within other respACT activities this year.

respACT works closely with many SMEs companies fostering the implementation of CSR. In your view, what are the greatest challenges for SMEs when adopting CSR practices? How is respACT is helping companies to tackle them?

In our recent SME project, we once more faced the fact that many SMEs do a lot in terms of CSR, without knowing that this is the proper name for it. The problem is that their activities are often isolated and not structured, or seen within a larger context. Many SMEs do not possess the proper structures to communicate their social or environmental engagement and its benefits for the company. The right communication to employees is a missing link.

respACT tries to overcome these challenges by enforcing a regional project especially for SMEs. Within this project an external consultant trains 20 selected companies. CSR workshops which last for two days are held in each company.

In these two days CEOs and other company leaders gather together to discuss a wide range of CSR driven topics, ranging from future strategies of their products, strengths and weaknesses, possible environmental opportunities as well as different types of leadership. The consultancies are supported by our CSR guides for SMEs which were established in cooperation with representatives of Austrian SMEs.

More information

Read more about respACT at www.respact.at.

For more information about CSR Europe's national partner network and its activities, contact Jani López, jl@csreurope.org.  

Previous interviews

• Business in the Community Ireland
• econsense, Germany
• The Hellenic Network for CSR, Greece
• Responsible Business Forum, Poland