Corporate Social Responsibility is the idea that a company should hold itself socially accountable. This could be in the realms of sustainability, human rights, ethical supply chains, fair wages or others. Our speaker this week will discuss her experience in CSR.

Here's a little of what she has to say:

"

When I began working on projects related to 'CSR' and supply chain transparency several years ago, the context was about ensuring human rights, supporting historically marginalized populations and making institutional commitments to support fair wages. As I transitioned into the corporate world, phrases like 'risk management' and 'labor compliance' dominated the conversation. Now, what companies are increasingly seeing, particularly when it comes to manufacturing supply chains, is that improvements in workplace conditions in factories often lead to improvements in productivity and ultimately profitability.

The work that I do now involves surveying factory workers to better understand the challenges they face at work and the changes they'd like to see in their workplace. My team and I analyze the data and provide recommendations for factories to improve based on statistically significant findings from each survey and data set. When any company engages with their employees, analyzes the data and creates an improvement plan, they can usually see results fairly easily. When it comes to doing this work in factories, the global economic climate and traditional business models pose challenges. "

Join us this Friday, November 9, as we invite Alana Strassfield, Impact and Analytics associate at ELEVATE to discuss overall trends in engaging with factory workers, innovations in technology that help bridge the gap between workers and employers, and challenges in scaling change.

Fresh Start Rotary Club of Shanghai is a member club of a global network of 1.2 million who envision a world where people unite to create lasting change. We support social enterprise and help empower entrepreneurs with a social purpose.

We warmly welcome all to attend, listen, and ask questions.