Abc Analysis
WINTER 2008
V O L . 4 9 N O. 2
C.B. Bhattacharya, Sankar Sen and Daniel Korschun
Using Corporate Social Responsibility to Win the War for Talent
Please note that gray areas reflect artwork that has been intentionally removed. The substantive content of the article appears as originally published.
REPRINT NUMBER 49215
HUMAN RESOURCES
Using Corporate Social Responsibility to
Win the War for Talent t is by now an article of faith that employees who are skilled, creative and driven to satisfy customers are essential for differentiating a company from its competitors. Increasingly, success comes from being able to attract, motivate and retain a talented pool of workers. However, with a finite number of extraordinary employees to go around, the competition for them is fierce.1 There is growing evidence that a company’s corporate social responsibility activities comprise a legitimate, compelling and increasingly important way to attract and retain good employees. For example, in a bid to burnish their images as socially responsible companies and thereby attract and retain talent, CEOs of high-profile companies such as Home Depot, Delta Air Lines and SAP recently pledged to deploy millions of employee volunteers to work on various community projects.2 Their efforts appear to make sense: Jim Copeland, Jr., former CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, puts it this way: “The best professionals in the world want to work in organizations in which they can thrive, and they want to work for companies that exhibit good corporate citizenship.”3 In general, CSR initiatives reveal the values of a company and thus can be part of the “employee value proposition” that recent studies indicate is the lens through which managers must view talent management today. CSR also humanizes the company in ways that other facets of the job cannot; it depicts the company as a contributor to society rather than as an entity concerned solely with maximizing profits. As other
V O L . 4 9 N O. 2
C.B. Bhattacharya, Sankar Sen and Daniel Korschun
Using Corporate Social Responsibility to Win the War for Talent
Please note that gray areas reflect artwork that has been intentionally removed. The substantive content of the article appears as originally published.
REPRINT NUMBER 49215
HUMAN RESOURCES
Using Corporate Social Responsibility to
Win the War for Talent t is by now an article of faith that employees who are skilled, creative and driven to satisfy customers are essential for differentiating a company from its competitors. Increasingly, success comes from being able to attract, motivate and retain a talented pool of workers. However, with a finite number of extraordinary employees to go around, the competition for them is fierce.1 There is growing evidence that a company’s corporate social responsibility activities comprise a legitimate, compelling and increasingly important way to attract and retain good employees. For example, in a bid to burnish their images as socially responsible companies and thereby attract and retain talent, CEOs of high-profile companies such as Home Depot, Delta Air Lines and SAP recently pledged to deploy millions of employee volunteers to work on various community projects.2 Their efforts appear to make sense: Jim Copeland, Jr., former CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, puts it this way: “The best professionals in the world want to work in organizations in which they can thrive, and they want to work for companies that exhibit good corporate citizenship.”3 In general, CSR initiatives reveal the values of a company and thus can be part of the “employee value proposition” that recent studies indicate is the lens through which managers must view talent management today. CSR also humanizes the company in ways that other facets of the job cannot; it depicts the company as a contributor to society rather than as an entity concerned solely with maximizing profits. As other
References: 1. E. Michaels, H. Handfield-Jones and B. Axelrod, “The War for Talent” (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001); and C.A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal, “Building Competitive Advantage Through People,” MIT Sloan Management Review 43, no. 2 (winter 2002): 34-41. 2. B. Grow, S. Hamm and L. Lee, “The Debate Over Doing Good,” BusinessWeek, Aug. 15, 2005, 76-78. 3. Quotation from “Responding to the Leadership Challenge: Findings of a CEO Survey on Global Corporate Citizenship,” white paper, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland, 2003. 4. L. Berry and A. Parasuraman, “Services Marketing Starts From Within,” Marketing Management 1, no. 1 (winter 1992): 24-34. Reprint 49215. Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. All rights reserved. 44 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW WINTER 2008 SLOANREVIEW.MIT.EDU PDFs ■ Reprints ■ Permission to Copy ■ Back Issues Electronic copies of MIT Sloan Management Review articles as well as traditional reprints and back issues can be purchased on our Web site: sloanreview.mit.edu or you may order through our Business Service Center (9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET) at the phone numbers listed below. To reproduce or transmit one or more MIT Sloan Management Review articles by electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying or archiving in any information storage or retrieval system) requires written permission. To request permission, use our Web site (sloanreview.mit.edu), call or e-mail: Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: 877-727-7170 International: 617-253-7170 Fax: 617-258-9739 e-mail: smrpermissions@mit.edu MIT Sloan Management Review 77 Massachusetts Ave., E60-100 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 e-mail: smrorders@mit.edu Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.