By Melissa J. Anderson

• UK’s FRC Considers New Gender Diversity Initiative for Public Companies
  The UK’s Financial Reporting Council is considering new regulation requiring publicly listed companies to report on boardroom gender diversity policies.
• Ethnic Diversity on Boards Losing Ground
  In a recent Huffington Post article, Janelle Ross discusses a new report by the Alliance for Board Diversity, which indicates that corporate boards are getting whiter, while the US is becoming more diverse.
• Intel Announces 18 Schools of Distinction Award Finalists
  Intel provides the award to schools deemed to promote a “rich science curriculum incorporating hands-on investigative experiences which prepare students for 21st century jobs.”
• Tips for Hiring Recent College Graduates
  The HBR discusses common mistakes made when hiring recent college grads. The number one mistake? Looking at “past experience rather than potential and trainability.”
• Corporate Sustainability to Take on Greater Importance During Proxy Season
  According to GreenBiz, with proxy season upon us, corporate responsibility is poised to take on a larger role in influencing shareholders.

By Melissa J. Anderson

• New EU Initiatives on Board Gender Diversity Discussed at Brussels
  In Brussels recently, EU officials discussed steps to encourage better board governance, including measures to improve gender balance on boards.
• Diversity in Computing Event Discusses Ways to Improve Inclusion in Tech Industry
  Earlier this month, the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing brought together students and professionals from across the tech industry to discuss how it could be made more inclusive.
• IBM Encouraging Employee Volunteering for Centennial Anniversary
  IBM is celebrating its centennial by providing “hundreds of new service grants that support employees’ volunteer activities to build a smarter planet.”
• Improving Performance Reviews’ Effectiveness
  The WSJ’s Nishchae Suri discusses ways managers can make performance reviews more useful and actionable for employees – for example, setting goals and keeping appraisals fair and realistic.
• Can CSR Save the British Economy?
  The Sustainable Business Forum’s David Connor discusses a new report that suggests that employee volunteering programs and flexible work schemes could help improve the UK’s economy.

By Melissa J. Anderson

• Amex’s Kerrie Peraino Discusses “Gender Intelligence”
  Kerrie Periano, Amex’s SVP of HR, explains how gender intelligence means “both brains at the table, so you can move forward faster and better understand your customer base.”
• Study Shows Legal Profession Lagging on Diversity
  A new study by the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession shows that despite 20 years of work toward diversity and inclusion, corporate law offices and firms are failing to provide “career sustainability, viability and success for meaningful numbers of diverse lawyers”
• How to Determine Your Company’s Corporate Giving Plan
  Mashable shares a few tips on how to determine which charities your company should make donations to.
• How to Get Business Leaders to Focus on Employee Engagement
  The Boston Globe suggests that HR professionals can encourage companies to take employee engagement seriously by teaming up with senior leaders who do “get it.”
• New Report on Corporate Sustainability
  A new report by KPMG shows that 6 out of 10 companies have a strategy for sustainability… but hurdles for corporate sustainability include a lack of metrics, funding challenges, and inconsistent regulation.

By Melissa J. Anderson

Recently GlaxoSmithKline released its annual corporate responsibility report, which discusses the firms efforts regarding, among other things, ethical standards in sales and marketing.

The pharmaceuticals industry has long raised ethical concerns regarding its sales force, the patenting of life-saving drugs, cost structuring, etc. But what is refreshing is that GSK thought it fit to address the issues head on in its report.

On page 7 of the over-250 page report, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty writes:

“We are continuing to work towards resolving a number of long-standing legal matters. In light of these cases we have fundamentally changed our procedures for compliance, marketing and selling in the US. We now have far-reaching policies and procedures in place to guard against inappropriate promotion to healthcare professionals, and to seek to ensure that if breaches of regulations do occur they are reported to the US government.”

For example, he says, the company is changing the way its sales force is compensated – rather than purely based on prescription volume, they will be rewarded on a number of factors: “scientific and business knowledge, feedback from customers in their region, and the overall performance of their business unit.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

• Encouraging Gender Parity in Every Stage of Life
  The WSJ summarizes suggestions for improving gender parity “from kindergarten to the boardroom” from its recent conference on professional women.
• LGBT: The Invisible Minority
  The Guardian discusses the unique challenges LGBT workers face, and how companies can better respond to them.
• NASDAQ’s Favorite Corporate Philanthropists
  NASDAQ lists its top corporations by philanthropy and volunteerism. The top three? Spectra Energy, Procter & Gamble, and McGraw Hill.
• Stem Attrition of Your Top Employees
  Bnet contributor Wayne Turnell explains why companies are losing their best employees, and how they can turn things around.
• Why Corporate Governance Matters for CSR
  The Motley Fool explains why companies must show good corporate governance: “companies that do the right thing can not only lift your spirits, but also boost your portfolio.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

• Investors Can Influence Gender Diversity on Boards
  Joe Keefe and Jackie Zehner explain in The Huffington Post how investors can encourage more gender balanced boardrooms.
• EU Considers Board Diversity Disclosures
  The WSJ reports that the EU is taking a more serious look at boardroom diversity, regarding compensation, oversight, and recruitment policies.
• International Corporate Volunteer Programs Designed to Build Leadership Skills
  According to MarketWatch, international corporate volunteering programs are gaining popularity as a way to build the skills of high performing employees at top companies like IBM, Dow Corning, and Pfizer.
• Strenghs-Based Management Boost Employee Engagement
  A new Gallup study shows how companies that encourage management to focus on their employees’ strengths are likely to have higher employee engagement.
• Apple Continues to Lag in CSR Efforts
  TriplePundit questions if Apple’s employees will lead a change in the company’s comparative lack of corporate responsibility work, sustainability reporting, or philanthropy performance.

By Melissa J. Anderson

• Why Are There So Few Women on Boards?
  Forbes asks why there are so few women on the boards of the world’s top companies, even when research shows the gender diversity at the top outperform others.
• Wall Street Conference on LGBT Inclusion
  The Advocate covers last week’s Out on the Street conference.
• Corporations Donating to Education in Developing Regions
  A new study by the Center for Universal Education shows that corporations are donating almost half a billion dollars to non profits for education in developing countries.
• Research Shows Volunteering Improves Employee Engagement
  A German study from the University of Konstanz reveals that “volunteering helped to shrug off workplace concerns and gave opportunities to meet challenges.”
• How do Markets Respond to CSR
  According to GreenBiz, new research shows “share price drops when firms commit to voluntary emissions reductions. However, share price goes up when firms announce ISO 14001 certification or corporate donations to environmental causes.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

• 10 Steps Toward Gender Diversity
  The Financial News reveals the results of its new study of women in the financial services, and outlines what companies must do to achieve gender parity.
• Comcast Creates Diversity Council
  Comcast/NBC Universal has announced it will build a Joint External Diversity Advisory Council to include “four, nine-member Diversity Advisory Councils, representing the interests of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Women, respectively.”
• Operationalized Philanthropy Can End World Hunger
  In TriplePundit Bill Shore writes that today’s corporations must “operationalize philanthropy” by ensuring their “business practices, from the sourcing that goes into supply chain to product development and marketing strategies reflect their philanthropic values and actually advance them.”
• New Study Reveals Managers’ Impact on Employee Engagement
  The Globe and Mail reports on a new study of HR Managers that showed employees motivation (or lack thereof) is significantly related to managers’ engagement.
• CSR and Professional Sports
  Forbes explains how pro sports leagues are beginning to play ball in the CSR arena.
• Disney’s Broad Business Model Makes Sustainability Difficult
  According to SmartPlanet, because the Disney brand is spread across so many industries, diversity progress is difficult to achieve for the company.

By Melissa J. Anderson

• Ten Ways to Ensure Gender Equality
  The Financial News explains what companies must do to make sure women are given an equal shot at the top. Number one? “Demonstrate you are measuring performance consistently.”
• Military Recognizes Importance of Diversity Recruiting
  According to an independent report commissioned by Congress and released last week, the military should work harder to ensure its makeup more closely resembles that of the US.
• Corporate Giving in Response to Japan Earthquake
  USA Today rounds up how some companies are focusing their efforts following Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami last week.
• Are Enough Companies Measuring Employee Engagement?
  Forbes’ Aman Singh asks why more companies aren’t measuring the engagement level of their workforce.
• UPS Creates New Chief Sustainability Role
  UPS has designated Scott Wicker, its VP Corporate Plant Engineering, as its first CSO. Wicker has been active in sustainability issues for the company for some time.

By Melissa J. Anderson

• IWD – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
  Forbes‘s Jeanna Goudreau discusses the “cautious optimism” around women’s progress at today’s top global companies.
• DiversityInc Releases 2011 50 Best Places to Work list
  The top three spots went to Kaiser Permanente, Sodexo, and PwC.
• 7 Biggest Mistakes in Corporate Giving
  Environmental-Expertlists the biggest reasons corporate giving can go wrong. Number one? Assuming corporate and employee giving are aligned.
• Diversity of Thought in the Boardroom
  The New York Times discusses the need for skill set diversity in the boardroom, especially coming out of the recession.
• CSR Efforts in Response to Last Week’s Japan Earthquake
  JustMeans describes a few of the ways corporations are offering support after the devastating earthquake in Japan, and the tsunami following it.
• McDonald’s Sustainability Outlook
  SmartPlanet outlines how McDonald’s is moving forward with its new sustainability push – and why it matters.