Geraldine Guillemot began her career in operational marketing, communications and product development. Subsequently, she immersed herself, for a dozen years, in the world of retail where she held the position of International Director of concept, product assortment and visual identity of stores for the Yves Rocher brand.
She then wanted to move towards a more global role within the company. Which led her to the CSR function. For 4 years now, Géraldine has been working on topics related to CSR impact and performance, the management of CSR initiatives as well as awareness, training and employee engagement.
🎙️ Today, Géraldine shares her advice, best practices and in-depth expertise to strengthen employee engagement through CSR.
Why did you move towards CSR?
Firstly because it was in perfect harmony with my personal life. With a more sober lifestyle and closer to nature.
Then there was a transformation within the company where I worked. CSR has become structured and has taken on much more importance. Including, in particular, preparation for B Corp regulations, which also led to the opening of new positions.
It is therefore thanks to this double conjunction – personal motivation and opportunities for development within the company – that I was able to train and devote myself to CSR functions.
Why is it so important to involve the field in CSR initiatives?
In a company with a very developed network of stores, like the one I worked for, salespeople are in direct contact with customers. This population embodies the company's values et represents the brand, making them the first ambassadors.
It is therefore essential that these ambassadors understand and adhere to the company's overall project. In particular to CSR objectives, because They are key stakeholders.employee engagement towards CSR plays a fundamental role. Whether it is in the company's image, its coherence but also in reducing the risks of Greenwashing.
How did you balance the expectations of local communities with the company's goals?
In fact, an international company generally works with subsidiaries, branches. The idea is to create relays, ambassadors in each unit to form a local community. This will carry out CSR initiatives. For me, this involves strong sponsorship from the branch manager and the central managementThis involves appointing a voluntary employee with a clear job description, defining that part of their mission, although it is not their main task initially, will be dedicated to CSR.
Once this structure is in place and the community created, it is crucial toanimate this community. One of the keys to animation is to maintain an 50/50 balance between top-down and bottom-up. This means providing top-down information on the evolution of the company's overall missions and objectives, while collecting local feedback. It is necessary listen to what is happening on the ground, collect feedback on specific projects carried out locally, and make sure that what we do makes sense and is well relayed.
CSR objectives must be integrated and adopted by all employees. It is therefore necessary to bring these objectives to life within each department. It is essential to have one or more relays, depending on the structure of the company. And ideally, these relays should be completely integrated into the company's various businesses. This is the best way to change practices.
[Read also: Implementing a CSR approach in your company with your employees]
Do you have any good practices to share for mobilizing employees around CSR initiatives?
To mobilize employees around CSR initiatives in a sustainable manner and generate enthusiasm from the start, I advise having a program and a clear plan. As an editorial plan over a defined period with highlights to relaunch the dynamic. Successes should be celebrated and feedback provided on past events and initiatives.
Listen to employees is also essential. Make regular calls for initiatives et value them. Engagement rate metrics and internal surveys show that Employees need their voices to be heardThis means giving them time and space to express themselves and take local action.
A key point is to integrate CSR into employees' missions and job descriptions. Or at least in their annual objectives, both individual and collective. And for managers, it is also necessary to include in their job description the responsibility to lead the CSR component in their department. And this, with clear indicators and an evaluation at the end of the year.
The first bearer of this vision must be the CEO. It must set the course and explain the importance of CSR in the company's purpose. This vision must be reflected at all levels of the company. And this so that managers feel invested and carrying this mission. Then they in turn convince and motivate their teams. Employees must see their contribution to CSR as an essential part of their role. This level of employee engagement not only leads to the success of CSR initiatives but also to the construction of a sustainable and responsible corporate culture.
Can you share an example where employee engagement made a significant difference in a CSR project?
I can give an example at Yves Rocher, where the brand took the time to define and write its impact and CSR program. Once this program was validated by the highest authorities of the company, it was a question of to make known, raise awareness and train employees so that they can take ownership of it and feel involved.
To move away from traditional PowerPoint presentations and information meetings, a fun game was created in the form of cards. CSR ambassadors were trained in this game so that they could deploy it within their teams in an engaging way. The objective was clear: onboard 100% of employees thanks to this game, available in physical and online versions.
The success was total. All employees participated enthusiastically, and the ambassadors managed to reach the goal of 100% participation.This collective commitment has made it possible to widely and effectively disseminate the CSR program within the company.
How do you measure the impact of employee engagement in CSR initiatives?
As previously stated, One of the first keys is to have a clear program and a well-defined policy, with major objectives and sub-objectives for the company.. Then, each manager must have specific objectives, with clearly defined performance indicators. For example, the percentage of employees made aware of a CSR program. Once these indicators are in place, it is crucial to have company shareholders. Depending on the structure of the company, this can be either the CSR department or the HR functions. Personally, I strongly believe in the ability of HR functions to ensure the monitoring of these indicators.. Especially when it comes to employee engagement.
For monitoring, the company can use digital tools or collective intelligence platforms like Beeshake. Otherwise, these performance indicators must be integrated into existing internal tools.
For longer term indicators like employee engagement, it may be useful to set up a regular questionnaire or surveyThis makes it possible to measure the evolution of this engagement rate year after year. But to start, it is effective to focus on specific projects.For example, the company can create a questionnaire for all employees after a speech or an event.
Each company has a different level of CSR maturity. Even a company that is just beginning to become aware of these issues can start with a diagnosis, or a working group of volunteer employees, to think about the actions to be implemented. This is a good way to engage employees from the start. CSR covers both the evolution of the company's deep practices. For example, the improvement of its production system or the overall reduction of its production waste. These are longer-term actions.
But also more immediate actions, such as reducing daily waste in the life of the company. Or organizing events with low environmental impact. There are many ways to start implementing CSR practices on a daily basis until moving towards practices that will engage real extreme investment reflections to limit its impact.
What do you think about the CSRD regulation, and in particular the issue of stakeholder engagement?
All companies should be interested in this because they will inevitably be affected in the long term.
For companies already engaged in a strong CSR approach, the CSRD Directive going to be a accelerator of their transformation. They already have a CSR department in place and will need to strengthen the role of CSR managers as well as CSR ambassadors. And this, while involving the management committee more. In this case, it is mainly about strengthen communication and share good practices already underway.
On the other hand, for companies that are approaching these CSR topics for the first time and discovering CSRD, It takes a lot of teaching. It is to demystify and explain what the CSRD represents, by emphasizing the idea that perfection is not required from the start. Companies are instead committed to a process of progress, by identifying priority areas to work on progressively. Questioning your practices and transforming your business towards greater sustainability is essential and makes sense.
In this context, employees become even more important as stakeholders. It is all the more crucial to bring them on board and actively involve them.
In your opinion, how will employee engagement around CSR evolve in the coming years?
I see the evolution of employee engagement and CSR in the coming years as an increasingly deep integration within companies. My wish is that CSR is omnipresent and automatically integrated into every key mission and every objective of the company, or even in its very reason for being. This is the direction we should take to build a sustainable world that respects planetary boundaries. Of course, this is still a matter of responsible idealism to which we must all aspire.
While waiting for this ideal vision, CSR is already very present through dedicated departments within companies. It is essential to place it at the highest level of the company to ensure its integration and maximum impact.
The final word
While waiting for this ideal world and to return to a more realistic approach, I would advise a business leader to place CSR at the heart of the strategy. And this, by integrating it into the annual objectives. It is necessary to deploy these CSR objectives at each level of management, so that they are understood and implemented by all employees.
It is also very important to give employees the power to influence and develop this approach. Because they are the ones who master their profession and are the first to be able to think about improving their practices. By involving them as key stakeholders, companies strengthen employee engagement and maximize the impact of CSR within the company.
Do you also want to strengthen employee engagement through CSR?
