Knew Foundations Incorporated
Knew Foundations was founded in 2012 by Yvette Chandler. Shortly after being started Ms. Chandler hired Latoya Johnson as director of finance and reporting. These two visionaries left corporate America and together helped Knew Foundations flourish. The company is a technology and finance consulting firm. They specialize in using technology to streamline financial reporting. There are also a few things that Knew Foundations outsources for its clients. That includes creating reports and analysis of trends and data. The company recently signed various 4 year contracts with 3 separate companies. With the new workload that begins January 2015 the company has begun a massive hiring launch. I was recently hired as Associate Director of Finance and Administration as a part of the expansion goal. The goal is to hire 12-20 new employees and get them trained before the work begins January 2015. The company previously never had many formal policies as there were only 2 employees and 3 smaller clients. Now as they are growing the management would benefit from having more formal policies in place before they bring all the new employees on board. One of those policies should be a corporate social responsibility policy.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Defined as the understanding that a “corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment”, corporate social responsibility tells companies that they should be concerned with more than making profits.
In order for a company to successfully incorporate a corporate social responsibility policy, it is important to note that while management may create the policy every employee will have to do their part to make sure the policy is successful. While there can be many things a CSR policy can discuss this paper will outline ways Knew Foundations can apply the concept of CSR to the planet, the people and the profits.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Planet
Current Situation:
Currently Knew Foundations of Georgia is a business located primarily out of a home. The company recently just moved into an actual commercial building. There is no recycling at all in the company. Because they only have 2 or 3 small individual clients a lot of items are sent by paper mail. The company currently only has two small office ink printers as the larger printers have not been delivered yet. With the current expansion that is taking place, the office will be completely furnished within the next two weeks. The number of employees is projected to reach 20 by the end of January. With the new clients a lot of marketing and general materials will be published as these new relationships are started.
Solutions:
1) Reduce paper printing. The new copier machines in the KF office should automatically be set to two side printing. Every employee should minimize printing to only things that are mandatory. Reducing the printing to only mandatory printing and two sided printing will help reduce the amount of paper the company will use. This effort to reduce paper printing the environment would benefit tremendously.
2) Introduce a recycling program at the new location. Now that Knew Foundations is moving to a new building, they are more opportunities to introduce a full complete recycling program. This program can have various components. This includes Knew foundations promoting the office buying recycled materials when possible. Not only will this save the company money, but will also mean the company is doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint. The program will also include having recycling bins throughout the entire building. This includes placing large recycling bins in each break room with guidance on what is recyclable. Also smaller recyclable bins or boxes could be placed in each office and cube. This can encourage the