BT has had a disappointing response from the public to its first social report.
Chris Tuppen, BT’s corporate manager for social and environmental programmes, said the landmark document, published in July, had attracted little response from ‘real stakeholders’ (defined as ‘ordinary members of the public’) as opposed to ‘professional stakeholders’ (who make it their job to push companies on corporate responsibility issues).
‘We’ve had some small amounts of feedback, and some of that has been useful and encouraging,’ he said. ‘But a significant proportion of those people wanted to know the purpose of producing the report and some thought it was a total waste of shareholders’ money.’
Real stakeholders were as yet unconvinced by the process of social reporting, he concluded, but added: ‘If we are to become a more successful company, I’m convinced public reporting is an important part of achieving that. Real stakeholders are less interested in social reporting and more concerned about how the company is actually performing.
‘Social reporting is still worth doing as a response to the professional stakeholders, who clearly have an influence over how the company is perceived.’