Our major social impact is indirect, and delivered via our services. Our consulting projects and workshops enable organisations to create value through CSR and individuals to succeed in their CSR careers. These impacts are described in the section ‘Our Stakeholders’. Our direct impacts are described in this section.
Our People
We had five permanent employees as at the end of June 2009 and hired eight contractors during the reporting period to help us cope with peak workloads.
We are committed to ensuring that the workplace is free from discrimination and harassment and that all employees are treated with dignity, courtesy and respect, regardless of their race, sex, religion, marital status or age. There were no incidents of discrimination in the reporting period.
There were no workplace injuries, lost days due to injury or work-related fatalities in the reporting period. In 2009, employees were offered ergonomic work space assessments.
We comply with statutory obligations regarding superannuation. Our default superannuation fund is VicSuper.
Training and Retaining Employees
ACCSR is a small and highly specialised business. One of our main challenges is attracting and retaining the right people. During the reporting period, one employee left to seek a career in a larger organisation, two did not progress from their probationary period to permanent employment and we had two involuntary departures. We are continually working to improve our capacity to attract and retain skilled staff by, for example, offering more training and professional development opportunities.
The average number of hours spent on training and professional development totalled 10.2 days per annum per employee, compared to 6.25 days per annum per employee in FY06 and FY07. All employees receive semi-annual performance reviews.
Community Investment
Donations in the reporting period totalled $1,635. This includes $755 in employee and company donations to the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal. No financial or in-kind contributions to political parties were made by ACCSR.
We contributed over $15,000 hours in pro bono work, mainly by providing advice to students and CSR job-seekers.
We also provided a 12-week practicum placement in 2007-2008 for a student completing the Master of Psychology (Industrial and Organisational) at Deakin University.
Kiva is a person-to-person micro-lending website, which enables individuals to lend directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world. Our first loan was to an entrepreneur in Cambodia. Half the loan was repaid within six months and we reinvested the money to support another entrepreneur in Africa.
Through the Kiva website and via email journal updates we are able to keep up-to-date with the progress of the entrepreneurs we are supporting.
Research and Marketing Practices
In our relationship with clients, and anyone else who provides personal information to ACCSR, such as registered users of ACCSR’s website, respect for privacy issues is paramount. We have no recorded complaints for breaches of privacy in the reporting period.
Our research practices follow the ethical guidelines published by the Australian Council for Research. Strategies for marketing and communicating ACCSR’s services also adhere to all regulatory and other standards for best practice and protecting privacy.