Just when does a Social Responsibility initiative become material? In my view, it’s when it can be measured. If real performance on social issues is to become the norm for all mainstream corporations, then we need to fill out our success stories with clear measures of success.

Companies have some great stories about advancing human rights. I was at a sustainability conference in Chicago recently and I heard impressive stories from two companies (making chocolate and home products respectively) who had each engaged strongly with their suppliers in Africa. In both cases their teams had gone to the territory and over a sustained period started a real dialogue with the communities around their supply chains to understand the challenges they faced. They heard from the next generation farmers with no incentive to follow their parents, they heard about unscrupulous middle-men cutting out their profits, and they saw uncontrolled mining activities encroaching on prime farming land. By tackling these issues together with their suppliers they strengthened the capacity of their suppliers to sustain their communities, to advance their rights, and to be more productive.

The companies gained a host of benefits including maintaining long term security of supply, developing their people, and building their corporate reputation. Success stories like these are compelling, at least to a conference audience, because people can relate strongly to a simple human story with challenges and victories. But is it enough to influence mainstream senior management teams in less progressive companies?

I was struck by the contrast between these narrative accounts and the many presentations from those focussing on the environmental side. These speakers had more numbers than a maths class flowing from their presentations. This many millions of tonnes of carbon were saved by moving from air-freight to shipping, that many percent more items were shipped by redesigning packaging and that many tonnes of waste were saved by reduction initiatives. The conference audience certainly appreciated the insights, the innovations and the achievements. Moreover you got the sense that within these companies the senior teams had quickly appreciated the financial benefits of these projects as carbon or waste savings translated straight into cash savings albeit often with some capital investment. These environmental initiatives were ‘no brainer’ best practices available and applicable to all, whereas the social initiatives, without the compelling numbers behind them, started to look like the more risky, ‘pioneering’ moves of the few.

Also the environmental performance improvements could quickly be reckoned as percentages of overall business activity and therefore the materiality of the improvements demonstrated to any sceptics. In contrast the unmeasured social initiatives, although in these particular cases large in scale, had no way of differentiating from token initiatives or occasional philanthropy. So, just when does a social initiative become material?

The triple bottom line says that the three pillars of economic, environmental and social performance are all vital to a sustainable business. Environmental managers are mastering the measurement tools to submit the business cases, mobilise resources and deliver measured benefits. But what about those who are trying to champion social benefits? Where they are part of a receptive culture they get support from the leaders of their companies who often act because ‘it’s the right thing to do’. But if progress on social issues is to be achieved within mainstream corporations, then success stories need to be made more tangible, and that can only happen by applying clear measures of success.

I would like to hear your views and experiences on the measurement of human rights and social responsibility performance. Please comment…