Corporate Social Responsibility in the Hospitality Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Hospitality Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a serious issue that mainly affects organizations. CSR makes a company socially accountable for its business processes. Companies often have to look at the economic, environmental, and social impact they have on the community. CSR affects different types of companies in all the industries because it is something that significantly affects the community. An example of CSR is a company changing its packaging to adopt a more environmentally friendly packaging of their product. Another example is designing vehicles with fewer emissions. Vehicle emissions often pollute the environment, and if an automotive company can find a way to develop cars with less emission, then they would have improved on their CSR.

Also, when an organization awards scholarships to the needy but bright students seeking an education, then it shows that the organization has a social impact. Lastly, if an organization implements a program where it visits needy communities and teaches women skills such as weaving which they can use as a source of income, then the company is said to have had an economic impact on the community since it helped the women become economically independent thereby reducing unemployment and improving their quality of life. CSR is a hefty thing that organizations partake in to help build their brand and to uplift the people in the community genuinely. Although it affects organizations across all the industries, this discussion will mainly focus on the hospitality industry and what it means for this particular industry

The hospitality industry

The hospitality industry is vast; it incorporates many aspects. Many people confuse the hospitality industry with the service industry, but these are two different sectors. The hospitality industry is mainly concerned with customers having fun. When someone packs and goes for a vacation, all the facilities they visit on their adventures are somehow related to the hospitality industry. If, for example, a person decides to travel to Kenya to see certain wild animal species they have never seen, their experiences will determine whether the country is hospitable. The hospitality industry is made up of different divisions. There is an accommodation section. The hotel or any other place the tourist heading to Kenya will stay is part of the hospitality industry. The hotel will go out of their way to ensure that the visitor enjoys their stay at the hotel. The hotel can make checking into the hotel comfortable and make it easy for their visitor to get assisted in case they encounter a problem.

Instead of a hotel, the individual can decide to stay at a motel, bed, and breakfast, hostel, Airbnb, or resort, among others. Apart from accommodation, there is the food and drinks segment. The tourist will need to eat and drink or even go out dancing once to experience the entertainment scene of Kenya or the Kenyan food. Under food drinks, there are restaurants, bars and cafes, night clubs, catering, and tea and coffee shops. Finally, there is the travel and tourism segment. Once the person is in Kenya, they will visit the parks that house these animals, such as Amboseli National Park. Under travel and tourism, there are tour agents, tour operators, and travel agencies, among others. The hospitality industry has developed over the years and has even incorporated technology that makes it easy for people to have fun. The hospitality industry is also expected to incorporate CSR into its business operations, and some entities have made significant strides to ensure that they have a strong CSR.

CSR in the hospitality industry

Where

CSR mainly affects the internal and external stakeholders of the organizations. Internal stakeholders that get affected are the employees. Entities with good CSR often ensure that the employees are comfortable and happy. External stakeholders that get affected are the clients and the suppliers, as well as the general public. CSR mainly focuses on improving the quality of life by preserving the environment, improving the economy, and the life of the people in the community and organization.

What

CSR in the hospitality industry mainly involves protecting the environment, improving the quality of life of the people, and having a significant impact on the country’s economy. Protecting the environment means that the waste from hotels and other entities in the hospitality industry has to be disposed appropriately of. Having a significant impact on the country’s economy involves taking steps in reducing unemployment and other challenges facing the country’s economy. For example, offering jobs to the jobless individuals in the community and promoting the local economy by using resources found within the locality. Improving people’s lives is done through charitable acts such as donations to a worthy cause.

How

CSR in the hospitality industry gets applied in a variety of ways. Hotel and restaurants often have to outsource the ingredients used for preparing the meals sold to the customers. Some restaurants prefer to get these ingredients from other regions leaving the farmers in their area struggling to sell their farm produce. CSR comes in to ensure that these hotels and restaurants, as well as other places selling foods and drinks, promote the local farmers and traders. Instead of ordering the ingredients from farmers in other regions, these restaurants and hotels should source these resources locally unless what they are looking for is not available locally.

Hotels are also known to underpay their workers. CSR ensures that the employees get a good compensation plan. In most of the hotels, the workers are always temporary workers. Hotels that take their CSR policies seriously often try and have fewer temporary workers and more permanent employees. They also ensure that these employees get a good compensation plan. Ethical treatment of the employees also falls under this category. The employees need to be allowed to work flexible hours and shifts. Some hotels provide transportation to the employees whose shifts end in the middle of the night. Instead of letting the employees walk home in the dark, thereby compromising their security, the hotels offer buses that drive them to their area of residence. Doing so helps the workers feel secure.

Sometimes, the food cooked in hotels is often more than the guests can consume, or when the hotel is catering for an event, there is food that remains after everyone has eaten. Some hotels often throw this food away, but some donate the food to the less fortunate. For example, the hotel distributes the food to the homeless living in the streets, in homeless shelters, in hospitals sometimes, and even to group homes. Some people may feel that doing so is not an act of kindness because they have left overs, but this food is always in good condition, and giving it to the needy instead of throwing it away is the decent thing to do.

Finally, hotels need to ensure that the food they serve and the ingredients they use come from sustainable sources. For example, hotels should not buy fish from overfished stocks and fish farms or fisheries that are poorly managed. Information on the overfished stocks and the fish farms as well as fisheries that are poorly maintained can be found on the “fish to avoid” list by the Marine Conservation Society. The Marine Conservation Society has a list of retailers that also sell fish from sustainable sources.

Sustainable sources also include farms that use environmentally friendly methods to grow crops. It also includes farming schemes that use sustainable methods to grow plants. It is not enough for hotels to purchase their ingredients from local farms or traders, but they also need to ensure that these farmers are not degrading the environment through the methods they use. If the farmers seem untrustworthy, then the hotel should purchase these ingredients from other regions. Some farmers overly use pesticides and artificial fertilizers that degrade the quality of the soil. Goof farmers often try and develop healthy and fertile soil and also try to plant a variety of crops. The bottom line is, hotels must build a relationship with a few trusted farmers who will supply them with the resources they need. When choosing these farmers, they should try and get more information from the boards that offer a list of certified organic farmers. In the UK, for example, there are standards that farmers need to meet to get the certification. These standards ensure the fertility and health of the soil by promoting environment-friendly farming.

Why?

CSR is voluntary in some cases. For example, charitable giving is entirely voluntary. Hotels and other institutions in the hospitality industry can choose to donate food or anything else like beddings to the poor or decide not to donate. Empowering the community by purchasing local produce and from farmers who use sustainable methods is also a utterly voluntary undertaking. The only thing about CSR that is not voluntary is ensuring their business operations do not harm the environment. Entities with an excellent CSR policy often attract and retain customers. Customers often feel like they are playing a significant contribution to the initiatives undertaken by the hotel. If the hotel usually distributes free food to the homeless and the poor from time to time, customers will feel that the money they pay for the food, no matter how high, gets utilized for a worthy coarse and this will make them return to the hotel over and over again and also recommend it to someone else.

Also, customers and the general public are often willing to forgive an organization if it makes an error or a mistake. The people and the customers often concentrate on the mission of the company and the impact it has on society. The excellent reputation it builds for itself by the good deeds it does tends to help the company during its difficult times. For example, if a customer loses their luggage at the hotel or is rudely treated by the service professionals working there, the people will somehow find a reasonable explanation for the situation. They will defend the organization instead of rebuking it, and even if it turns out that the hotel was in the wrong, people will still rally behind it because they understand that if the hotel were to go under, the community would be hugely affected. If an entity does nothing to support the community, the people will rarely come out in large numbers to support it.

A good CSR will also guarantee satisfied employees. CSR does not only make a company socially responsible to the community/public, but it also makes it socially responsible to its employees and stakeholders. For example, a company with a good CSR policy will ensure that its employees get compensated well for the work that they do. The working conditions also get improved. These changes translate to highly satisfied and motivated employees. Employees who are highly motivated tend to be more productive. In a hotel setting, for example, where the employees interact a lot with the client, the employees will deliver excellent service. The employees will be courteous and friendly to the clients. They will remain polite even when the client is extremely rude. In settings where employees are dissatisfied with their work and are not motivated, they tend to be less productive, meaning that they may be rude when interacting with customers, and this will, in turn, translate to a low return customer rate. Apart from high employee productivity, the entity will enjoy high employee retention. A high turnover rate is often associated with low compensation and poor working conditions. Still, when these get corrected, employees often get comfortable and mainly focus on helping the organization attain its set goals.

Conclusion

As can be seen, CSR is critical in the hospitality industry. To answer the four questions, how, where, what, and why one needs to look at the application and importance of this concept. In terms of how entities in the hospitality industry can engage in charitable activities, improve employee working conditions, and promote the environment through its operations and dealing with suppliers, which are also conscious about the environment in their dealings. In terms of where it affects the internal and external stakeholders of the organization, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders. In terms of the way, it helps build a positive image of the company, improve employee productivity, and retention. Lastly, in terms of the what, it deals with the social, environmental, and economic aspects of the organization and the strides it takes to ensure that it has a positive impact on the community, environment, and the economy.