CSRHub Blog Research on ESG metrics and comments on sustainability best practice

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability metrics site CSRHub recently updated its ratings on Microsoft Corporation and the 304 companies in the Software and Internet industry.  Microsoft’s overall rating is now 65 according to their CSRHub page.[csrhubwidget company="Microsoft-Corporation" size="650x100" hash="c9c0f7"]
Click “Software & Internet” in the CSRHub Sustainability Ratings widget above to see all the companies in this industry. Please note, the Sustainability Ratings widget will continually update and show the latest ratings on CSRHub.
The average rating for the other companies in the Software and Internet industry maintained a rating of 55.  This has allowed Microsoft to move up fourteen points to 6^th place on the list, using the CSRHub average user profile. Also see information about Microsoft at their CSRHub page here.

Microsoft has a particularly strong score in the Employees area of 77.  This is due to a high score in Compensation and Benefits of 82 —well above the average for this industry of 57.  The area with the greatest opportunity for improvement for Microsoft is the Transparency & Reporting subcategory.  Here, Microsoft gets a 50 —below the average for this industry which is 48.

See Microsoft Corporation’s Corporate Social Responsibility website, here.

CSRHub ratings are on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest. To see more on how CSRHub creates a score and the CSRHub rating rules, visit here.

CSRHub provides access to corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings and information on 8,900 companies from 135 industries in 102 countries. By aggregating and normalizing the information from 325+ data sources, CSRHub has created a broad, consistent rating system and a searchable database that links millions of rating elements back to their source. Managers, researchers and activists use CSRHub to benchmark company performance, learn how stakeholders evaluate company CSR practices and seek ways to change the world.

By Cynthia Figge

Fast Company recently named Apple #1 in its ranking of the world’s most innovative companies. But when it comes to corporate social responsibility, Apple falls short of its innovative reputation.  (Full disclosure: I own an iPhone and also have iPad 2 envy.) Yet despite Apple’s lack of a corporate level sustainability report (they do offer environmental information on selected products), transparency of social actions, despite their non-reported charitable contributions – nothing available on their website or reported to The Chronicle of Philanthropy-- and despite their below average corporate social responsibility (CSR) rating, millions of us keep buying their products.

When one thinks about product companies that consistently delight their customers, certainly Apple comes to mind. Assuming many Apple customers care about sustainability, is it realistic to think that they (we) could influence the company by demanding greater corporate responsibility beyond the economic benefits to Apple and other companies in their ecosystem? Of course they have an obligation to be continually financially successfully, but do they also have an obligation to improve their CSR performance, and be more open about their progress?  How might customers exert influence?  This is an open question that I will leave to the marketplace.

However, there is another potential source of powerful influence – Apple’s thousands of employees. It is hard to know as an outside observer how employees value sustainability at Apple and whether they could or would influence policy.

Microsoft, on the other hand, seems to have more integration of employees and CSR policy. At a Net Impact Seattle event on February 17^th, I heard Dan Bross, VP of Citizenship at Apple’s competitor in Redmond, discuss Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility work. Yes, it’s an uphill battle, but they are making progress. Dan said that Microsoft’s annual employee survey covers a range of issues, including the question: “Are you aware of and do you agree with Microsoft’s work in CSR?” A staggering 93% of employees are aware of and agree with Microsoft’s CSR work, the highest rating of any question in the survey.

Here are Apple and Microsoft ratings on CSRHUB:

If Microsoft employees have anything to say about it, and I believe they do, it is likely that Microsoft’s sustainability performance will continue to improve. Dan Bross defines CSR as a set of corporate activities that add business value while addressing social issues. This bodes well for us all.  Perhaps Apple’s internal stakeholders can help exert similar influence to improve company sustainability performance. When employees get involved in driving CSR, they provide leverage not only internally, but impact customers through a virtuous circle.