Leading by example

May 29th, 2010

In a world where corporate bad behaviour crackles like wildfire around the web and big business is often deemed socially and environmentally careless, it has become vitally important for companies to demonstrate corporate responsibility. For design groups, particularly those in corporate communications, this is good news: businesses commission consultancies to help present their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to various stakeholders, including the public, both in print and online. But how does the design industry itself square up on CSR – is it relevant to design businesses and, if so, what can and should they do?

Design consultancies are mostly small and their social and environmental impact is usually relatively low. As the middlemen in a supply chain with ‘producer’ clients on one side and end users on the other, the major impact of designers’ work seldom comes directly from the studio, but elsewhere in the chain. So designers tend to focus on advising clients on sustainable design processes to help minimise environmental impact and wastage across that chain. According to Design Council research, almost 60 per cent of designers feel either very well or quite well equipped to advise their clients on sustainable design.

But according to Sophie Thomas, founder of sustainable communications group Thomas Matthews, consultancies should have their own houses in order if they are to promote sustainable design to clients. ‘For me the issue about CSR is that a lot of designers are promoting it but there are very few who know what to do in terms of managing their own studios because there are so many inputs and outputs. You see places with four water coolers, using bad couriers and putting loads of paper through the photocopier, for example, and these are the things that are easy to fix. Our main outputs are paper and digital, so this is where our main impact is. We should be looking at our supply chains, where we procure our materials, what materials we use and so on. If you’re not doing this for your studio you can’t do it properly for your clients. Designers aren’t thinking holistically like they should be; they are being reactive to clients,’ claims Thomas.

Whilst Thomas Mattthews was founded twelve years ago on principles of ‘systemic sustainability’, few other groups are quite so squeaky green. ‘I don’t want to generalise too much, but I suspect the overall picture is that the industry isn’t doing a huge amount; SMEs in general often don’t see it as relevant,’ says Nigel Salter, director of communications consultancy Salterbaxter. ‘But then many consultancies have a lot of restraints: they are often in rented buildings and can’t control energy and water supplies, for example. A lot of groups will still just be doing the absolute basics – 10 year old schoolboy things like turning computers off. ’

With its push for greater diversity in the design industry (a major social issue for Salter), membership of the United Nations Global Compact ethical commitment (see links below), a community-based programme of employee development and a careful monitoring of its environmental footprint, Salterbaxter is pretty progressive on CSR. It also publishes the results of its various measures and targets online.

‘As a business, a number of our key performance indicators are CR-related,’ adds Salter. ‘It’s not actually that complicated to measure and monitor your impact in different areas, but I don’t think small, ten-person groups should be measuring how much water they use in cups of tea and reporting that sort of thing. If a design business’ impact is low it may be better to get involved in bigger campaigns such as [the energy reduction initiative] 10:10, whilst also trying to influence the supply chain.’

So what might motivate a design business to consider its ‘corporate citizenship’? Is the case for CSR based on conscience or hard-headed business sense? WPP has been reporting its group-wide CSR programme for eight years after clients started demanding more information about its practices. According to WPP head of corporate responsibility Vanessa Edwards, WPP is the only marketing services network to produce a dedicated CSR report, but this is ‘not about doing good, it’s about managing risk to the business,’ she says. Salter agrees: ‘You don’t often hear people say this, but CSR is about the business. If you talk to CEOs about their CSR initiatives they will say that it means improving effectiveness, profitability and long-term sustainability of the business – it’s self-interest.’

WPP businesses are able to draw on CSR policies and guidelines created by the holding company, while independent design groups may have to create their own. ‘I think a lot of people feel they should be doing something, but they are not quite sure what,’ says James Brock, client director at WPP-owned corporate communications specialist Addison. ‘You need to ask what might be a useful set of policies and initiatives that will not impede your business and will be appropriate to you and your clients. I think consultancies need to make a response that is proportionate and relevant to the size and type of business they are running. CSR is often a blend of lofty ideals and some slightly more base ones, but it is motivated by a genuine desire to improve.’

Looking ahead, for design groups which haven’t yet considered their CSR position some converging factors might make it unavoidable. Tighter regulations or taxes around energy and resource usage look likely, some obligating large corporations initially, but rippling down through the supply chain too; procurement teams are demanding certain standards from their design suppliers and clients and investors generally are asking more CSR-related questions. At the same time, guidelines on sustainable design may be in the offing following a consultation between the Design Council, the Department for Business Innovation & Skills and BSI.

For Thomas, such guidelines have the potential to expand into an accreditation of a design business’ environmental and social responsibility, as well as its sustainable design expertise. ‘If I were a client I would want some statistics and info to back up the advice being given to me by designers,’ she says. ‘Consumers go looking for external accreditation of brands, products and services because they need something from an external marking system. As a design group we should be able to offer the same to clients.’

This article was written for Design Week’s Top 100 Consultancy Survey, May 2010.

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