The BBC is to draw up a corporate social responsibility framework as part of a drive to become a leader in the field over the next few years.
The corporation has handed the task to its community affairs department, which is considering the establishment of an internal co-ordinating centre for its various community initiatives.
Community affairs manager Yogesh Chauhan said the intention was to develop an approach to CSR that would allow the BBC ‘to become the leading non-plc organization on CSR by 2005’, while acknowledging its responsibilities as a public broadcaster reliant on the payment of £2.3billion ($3.3bn) in licence fees each year.
‘CSR is important for non-commercial organizations, and we are taking it seriously,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it is that different for us, but there are some special things we have to take account of. We are a public broadcaster and there’s a question about using the scarce resources raised through licence fees to pay for CSR work.’
Chauhan said the BBC hoped to share its experiences with other non-plcs, and intends to work with the Corporate Citizenship Company on developing a framework ‘that’s more appropriate for non-profit companies’.
He added: ‘We’d like a few of us non-commercials to come together to develop a position on CSR, and we’ve been putting some initial feelers out.’
CSR has moved up the BBC’s agenda since the appointment of Greg Dyke as director general in 2000. He has asked Michael Hastings, head of political and parliamentary affairs, to act as CSR champion at the corporation. ‘We’ve got very senior level commitment to develop this plan, but it’s also about beginning to generate ground-level interest over and above employee volunteering,’ said Chauhan. ‘Naturally we still have sceptics to win over, especially given the BBC’s special status.’
Chauhan said the BBC, which employs almost 25,000 people in the UK and several hundred internationally, has a number of initiatives that could be brought within the planned CSR framework. These include:
‘open learning centres’ such as internet cafes for the public at new BBC sites
a 12-strong BBC diversity centre charged with increasing the number of ethnic minority employees at the corporation from eight to ten per cent of the workforce by 2003
an employee volunteering programme that allows time off work for staff at the discretion of their managers.
One of the main motivations for becoming more deeply involved in CSR is to maintain the BBC’s strong reputation. A 1999 survey by the Future Foundation found that of 30 well-known UK organizations, the BBC had the best image, with 78 per cent of respondents agreeing that it takes its responsibility to society and the community seriously.
‘As a broadcaster we need to be connected to local communities and we don’t want to be accused of being a distant, impenetrable organization that is out of date,’ said Chauhan. ‘CSR is one of a range of policies we need to foster to make sure that doesn’t happen.’