Best practices for structuring corporate responsibility programs.

• Author: Martinez, Sarah
• Position: GUEST [column]

As we have all seen in recent years, being a good corporate citizen has become more and more important on companies' agendas, and many corporate leaders are seeking to integrate corporate responsibility programs into their core business practices.

But in practice, it can sometimes be a struggle to implement successful programs with both internal and external engagement. In our experience, CR programs must be incorporated in a wide array of company activities, both internally and externally. Otherwise, the value in partaking in these initiatives is greatly diminished.

Without cohesive senior executive support and employee engagement, CR efforts would fail at nearly every organization. The lack of these components is a missed opportunity for employers, as stated in a recent report issued by the Center for Creative Leadership (www.ccl.org), which confirms that corporate responsibility programs are linked to how committed an employee is to an employer.

It is therefore crucial to engage and communicate with employees regarding CR initiatives and plans. At ProLogis, we take both a top-down and a bottom-up approach to CR, which has helped us gain the internal support needed to grow our program.

For example, at the highest level of our organization, on the board of trustees, we created a corporate responsibility committee. Three members preside on this committee and take an active role in setting the CR strategy, establishing company goals and benchmarking performance.

We also have a chief sustainability officer, who, at the executive level, makes decisions related to our day-to-day CR programs and manages our in-house CR team. This team comprises dedicated associates whose primary focus is on managing our programs and furthering ProLogis' corporate responsibility efforts.

For instance, we have a vice president of corporate responsibility who manages all aspects of our CR program, including tracking and managing ProLogis' carbon footprint, coordinating our community engagement efforts and managing our Corporate Responsibility Champion program.

We developed this program to tap into our employees' energy and ideas at a grass-roots level. It involved identifying one person in each of our more than 100 offices worldwide to volunteer to help further the company's CR efforts on a local level. Specifically, this includes minimizing each individual field office's impact on the environment and contributing to the local communities in which we operate.

These...