Corporate social responsibility and working conditions

This report forms part of the research initiative taken by the Foundation into the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It aimed to investigate and describe corporate policies designed to instigate social responsibility in the field of working conditions and employment. Two specific issues highlighted in the study were restructuring and subcontracting. The study showed that the handling of the CSR aspects of restructuring tends to be organised in an increasingly formalised manner, both in terms of problem prevention and problem solving. In contrast with the body of regulatory measures that exists for restructuring, there has been little legal regulation of subcontracting relationships although they play a major part in CSR, particularly in terms of the job quality and working conditions of employees of subcontracting companies. A synthesis of the Foundation's research findings into CSR can be found in the report Towards a sustainable corporate social responsibility (EF0317).