ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on social responsibility is an international standard providing guidelines for social responsibility (SR, often CSR – corporate social responsibility). It was released by the International Organization for Standardization on 1 November 2010 and its goal is to contribute to global sustainable development by encouraging business and other organizations to practice social responsibility to improve their impacts on their workers, their natural environments and their communities.
The ISO 26000 standard provides guidance on:
- Recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders
- Ways to integrate socially responsible behavior into the organization
- The seven key underlying principles of social responsibility:
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Ethical behavior
- Respect for stakeholder interests
- Respect for the rule of law
- Respect for international norms of behavior
- Respect for human rights
- The seven core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility:
- Organizational governance
- Human rights
- Labor practices
- The environment
- Fair operating practices
- Consumer issues
- Community involvement and development
In addition to providing definitions and information to help organizations understand and address social responsibility, ISO 26000-2010 emphasizes the importance of results and improvements in performance on social responsibility.
Benefits of ISO 26000
According to the ‘international organization for standardization’, a good organizational performance on social responsibility can have a positive impact in:
- HR, as it attracts and retains workers, members, clients, and users;
- Marketing and customer engagement, since it improves brand reputation;
- Increasing the commitment and productivity of employees;
- The relationships with stakeholders such as governments, the media, other companies and communities and their perceptions on the organization’s performances and commitments.