ISO 26000

Guidance on social responsibility

ABOUT THE STANDARD

Organizations around the world, as well as interested parties, are becoming increasingly aware of the need for socially responsible behavior and the benefits that arise from it.

By using this standard, every organization is encouraged to become more socially responsible.

The ISO 26000 standard provides guidance on the basic principles of social responsibility, recognition of social responsibility, involvement of interested parties, basic topics and issues related to social responsibility and ways to integrate socially responsible behavior into the organization. This standard emphasizes the importance of results and improving the performance of social responsibility.

The purpose of this standard is to be useful to all types of organizations in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, whether organizations are small or large. The standard establishes seven key themes related to social responsibility, and all key themes cover several issues. Each organization is individually responsible for identifying what is relevant through its own consideration and through dialogue with interested parties.

Corporate social responsibility refers to the way in which organizations manage their business processes in order to achieve a positive impact on society. More precisely, it refers to taking responsibility of organization for the impact of its activities on society and the environment, where these activities must be in accordance with the interests of society. Corporate social responsibility is based on ethical behavior and must be in accordance with law and other legal regulations.

Organizations that promote corporate social responsibility most often present their activities in that part of the business to the general public as part of their annual business report or as a stand-alone report. Reporting helps the organization to clearly set goals, and measure the impact and success of changes, and the results provide data on the impact of the organization on environment, society and economy. Internationally established data and benchmarks make the information contained in the reports available and understandable to all interested parties.

BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTATION

Every company or organization that can say for itself that it is socially responsible, as a result, realizes numerous benefits and advantages, and some of the most basic advantages that the ISO 26000 standard brings are:

  • improving competitive advantage;
  • better reputation;
  • ability to attract and retain employees, customers, clients or users;
  • maintaining morale, commitment and productivity of employees;
  • better positioning of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the financial community;
  • better relationships with companies, governments, media, suppliers, colleagues, customers and the community in which the organization operates.

Links