DOHA: A whopping 95 percent of employees in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, including Qatar, have expressed their desire to participate in community services as part of 'Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but a substantial 41 percent of respondents do not know where to begin from, according to a latest survey by Bayt.com, the Middle East's leading job website.
The respondents from across the Mena region are eager to dedicate themselves to CSR activities, with 73 percent preferring to give time and effort towards charitable causes rather than merely donating money (mostly because 62.2 percent cannot afford to contribute financially, while a fifth (22.6 percent) of respondents believe that donated money will not be used properly.
Seven out of 10 (67.4 percent) respondents frequently participate in charity or community service work, with 95.3 percent saying they would like to do more.
Nearly 41 percent do not know where to start, and over 15 percent state that they are held back because their company doesn't engage in CSR activities.
To the majority of respondents (76.8 percent), working for a socially-responsible company is very important to them, with 89.8 percent stating that they believe the corporate sector has a moral responsibility to engage in CSR work. In fact, nine out of 10 (88 percent) would favour products and services from a socially responsible company.
According to the survey, the most common types of CSR activities that companies in the Mena region involved are feeding, housing or clothing the poor (25 percent) and working with orphans and underprivileged children (13.2 percent). And 14.4 percent of respondents state that their company participates in the above and more, such as aiding refugees, providing education and scholarships, sponsoring people with disabilities, medical research and aid, and environmental causes.
Asked why they believe companies should engage in CSR work, the respondents said the main reasons are: promote corporate image (17 percent), ethical motivation of the company's top management (15.1 percent), or improve relationships with the community (13.1 percent).
Respondents also believe that the biggest obstacles stopping companies from integrating CSR activities into the corporate strategy are lack of know-how and institution assistance (29.9 percent), no support from the top management (11.2 percent), and lack of specific legislation on CSR (10 percent).
A fifth (22.1 percent) claims all of the above, in addition to other obstacles.
"There is clearly the need for more companies to consider developing CSR programmes, or to enhance their existing ones. Not only is there a desire from employees to participate in more activities that will benefit the community, but respondents have shown that they feel more warmly towards companies that engage in CSR, giving companies the potential to benefit in return for their community work," said Suhail Masri, VP of Sales at Bayt.com.
© The Peninsula 2013
