Reuters has become the latest company to use the GoodCorporation social responsibility framework to help assess its ethical performance.
The international news agency has been using the 21-point GoodCorporation charter, which lays down standards on issues such as fairness to employees, customers and suppliers, as a tool to benchmark its performance on CSR. But because it has not formally signed up to the charter, it has not yet gone through the external verification process that signatories agree to.
The GoodCorporation was launched in 2000 with the help of the UK-based Institute of Business Ethics to offer small and medium-sized enterprises the opportunity to examine their environmental and social activities and work to certain standards. It is now also approaching large companies such as Reuters.
Two dozen organizations have now successfully completed the GoodCorporation verification process. Among them are the UK-based trampoline manufacturer Super Tramp, Carat Computer Systems, Ladbrokes, ARM Holdings and the Welsh training firm Jay Griffiths.
A further 16 businesses have registered to implement the GoodCorporation framework prior to verification, or are awaiting re-verification after having failed to meet the standards first time round.
Although most of the companies are from the UK, businesses based in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the US are also working towards or going through the verification process.
GoodCorporation was founded by four ex-KPMG executives.