The latest research by the Kenexa Research
 Institute suggests that an organization’s participation 
in corporate responsibility and environmentally friendly business practices has
 a significant influence on employee engagement and business outcomes. In the U.S., almost 50 percent of employees report
 working for a responsible organization

. The
 report is based on the analysis of data drawn from a representative sample of 
workers surveyed through WorkTrendsT, KRI’s 2010 annual survey of worker
 opinions.


 
 
An organization that is considered to have a strong corporate responsibility
 climate is one where business choices are made that support environmental
 responsibility, its actions demonstrate a genuine commitment to corporate
 responsibility and it contributes to the communities where employees live and 
work.

 
 
Across all countries surveyed, working for an organization whose employees 
positively view corporate responsibility efforts has a significant, favorable
 impact on how they rate their pride in the organization, overall satisfaction 
and willingness to recommend it as a place to work. Furthermore, employees with 
favorable opinions of their organizations’ corporate responsibility activities 
are more likely to state an intention to stay.

 
 
“Our research clearly indicates that organizations operating with a strong 
corporate responsibility climate have more engaged, confident and customer 
oriented employees,” said Anne Herman, research consultant, Kenexa Research
 Institute. “It will be of great interest to senior leaders in organizations,
 however, that our, results also indicate that those organizations who implement 
corporate responsibility efforts outperform those organizations that do not on 
important financial metrics such as diluted earnings per share.”

 
 
Employees in today’s job market still care about the organization’s values and 
reputation. Previous research indicates that corporate responsibility plays an 
important role in attracting interested candidates. Employees indicate that
 their organizations’ corporate responsibility activities increase their overall
 job satisfaction. This is particularly true for those in upper and middle
 management roles and this knowledge can be a key tool in helping organizations
 achieve their retention targets.
 

 
Herman continued, “Despite the recession, organizations are still engaging in 
building socially responsible businesses. In fact, since 2008 there has been a
 slight increase in the number of organizations who can be described as having a
 strong corporate responsibility climate. For example, in the financial
 industry, three in four businesses reportedly operate with a strong corporate
 responsibility climate. In the case of financial services firms this may be in
 response to negative backlash to the activities that have occurred in recent
 years.”