ISO 26000

Guidance on Social Responsibility

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What is Social
Responsibility?
Social responsibility in business, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR),
pertains to people and organizations behaving and conducting business ethically and
with sensitivity towards social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues.
 According to Sun (2022):
Why 75% of consumers are likely to take negative
action against companies that behave
Corporate irresponsibly.
Companies that are perceived as
Social irresponsible stand to lose as much as 39%

Responsibility of their potential customer base.

83% of professional investors say they are
(CSR) Matters more likely to invest in companies known for
their social responsibility.

02
 03
What is ISO
26000?
ISO 26000 is the international standard developed to help organizations effectively assess and
address social responsibilities that are relevant and significant to their mission and vision;
operations and processes; customers, employees, communities, and other stakeholders; and
environmental impact.
04
 The ISO 26000 standard provides guidance on:
Recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders
Ways to integrate socially responsible behavior into the organization

The seven key underlying The seven core subjects and issues
principles of social responsibility: pertaining to social responsibility:

Accountability Organizational governance

Transparency Human rights
Ethical behavior Labor practices
Respect for stakeholder interests The environment
Respect for the rule of law Fair operating practices
Respect for international norms Consumer issues
of behavior Community involvement and
Respect for human rights development

05
 The seven key underlying principles of social responsibility:

Management takes responsibility for the social and environmental

Accountability
impacts of its operations, supply chain, products/services, and behavior.

The organisation shares information about social and environmental

Transparency
performance with all stakeholders.

The organisation shows respect for human rights and ensures that its workforce
Ethical
operates in a safe environment. It also ensures that it is not complicit in human
Behaviour
rights abuses of others, such as forced labor, by business partners or suppliers.

06
 The seven key underlying principles of social responsibility: 07

Respect for
The organisation shows consideration for the interests and expectations of all
stakeholder
stakeholders and manages any negative impacts on their legitimate interests.
interests

Respect for the The organisation works within the local and national laws of each country
rule of law in which it operates.

Respect for international The organisation operates with integrity and transparency beyond
norms of behavior national boundaries.

Respect for The organisation ensures that it is not complicit in human rights abuses of others,
human rights such as forced or slave labor, by business partners or suppliers.
 The 7 core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility:

08
 Organizational governance 09
1 ISO 26000 encourages organizations to consider accountability, transparency, and ethics in their
decision-making process and governing practices, including formal and informal processes as well as
the organization’s norms and values.

Human rights
2 ISO 26000 provides guidance for companies to support human rights, particularly by:
Allowing free organization and collective negotiation
Providing equal employment opportunities
Preventing all forms of discrimination
Resolving grievances
Seeking ways to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts, including child labour

Labor practices
3 Responsible labour practices should address employment and contractual relationships, working conditions and
social protection, social dialogue, health and safety at work, and human development and training in the workplace

The environment
4 Organizations are urged to embrace initiatives to prevent pollution, use resources sustainably, mitigate and
adapt to climate change, protect the environment, biodiversity, and the restoration of natural habitats.
 Fair operating practices 10
5 ISO 26000 calls for organizations to deal ethically with customers, partners, suppliers,
contractors, competitors, and government agencies to bring about positive results.

Consumer issues
6 A responsible approach to consumer issues includes:
Protection of health and safety
Sustainable consumption
Consumer education
Data and privacy protection
Ensuring inclusive products and services

Community involvement and development

7 ISO 26000 offers guidance on:
Active community involvement
Support for civil institutions
Promotion of education and culture
Job creation and skills development
Technology development and access
Income and wealth creation
Health promotion
Social investment
 11
What does ISO 26000 accomplish?

Assist organizations in addressing their social responsibilities

while respecting cultural, societal, environmental, and legal
differences and economic development conditions
Provide practical guidance related to making social responsibility
operational
Assist with identifying and engaging with stakeholders and
enhancing credibility of reports and claims made about social
responsibility
Emphasize performance results and improvement
Increase confidence and satisfaction in organizations among
their customers and other stakeholders
Achieve consistency with existing documents, international
treaties and conventions, and existing ISO standards
Promote common terminology in the social responsibility field
Broaden awareness of social responsibility

This standard is not intended to reduce government’s authority to address the

social responsibility of organizations.
 12
What benefits can be achieved by
implementing ISO 26000?

An organization’s performance on social responsibility can influence,

among other things:
Competitive advantage
Reputation
The ability to attract and retain workers or members, customers, clients
and users
The maintenance of employee morale, commitment and productivity
The perception of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the financial
community
Relationships with companies, governments, the media, suppliers,
peers, customers and the community in which it operates
 13
What tools are related to the ISO 26000 standard?

Communication Protocol Training Materials Documents Linking ISO 26000

This document ISO has developed These materials

provides organizations training materials, establish connections
with appropriate including PowerPoint between ISO 26000 and
wording to effectively presentations and other important
communicate about training structures in frameworks, such as the
their ISO 26000 PDF format, to OECD Guidelines for
implementation. facilitate knowledge Multinational Enterprises
transfer and skill and the UN 2030
development related to Sustainable
ISO 26000. Development Agenda.
 14
Different types of
organisations using ISO 26000

Organisations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, whether large or small, and whether
operating in developed or developing countries, use ISO 26000. ISO 26000 can be used for example by:
large multinational corporations
small and medium-sized enterprises
the public sector (hospitals, schools or others)
foundations, charities and NGOs
extractive industries, such as mining and fossil fuel companies
service and financial industries (banks, IT, insurance)
municipal governments
farmers and agribusiness
consultancies
 15

How to use
ISO 26000
standard?
1. OVERVIEW AND TIMELINE
16
2. IMPLEMENTATION
17

Fully understand the Conduct situational Identify the

ISO 26000 standard diagnostic/landscape relevant
and framework! analysis issues

Identify and
Public Improvement
engage the
reporting plans
stakeholders

Communicate with
Claiming
transparency about
credit
social responsibility
CSR REPORTING: Integrating ISO 18
26000 and GRI Reporting Guidance

ISO 26000 and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) are two distinct frameworks that organizations
often use for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting.

BRIEF INFO ON GRI:

Overview: GRI is a nonprofit organization that has developed a widely used framework for
sustainability reporting.
Structure: GRI Standards consist of a set of disclosures organized into topic-specific standards,
covering various aspects such as economic performance, environmental impacts, social aspects,
and governance.
Application: Organizations can use GRI Standards to prepare sustainability reports that
communicate their sustainability impacts, performance, and related policies.
ISO and GRI Guidance on the reporting process 19

Determining which
Topics to Report
Identifying Performance
Indicators and Other
Emphasize on the inclusion Specific Disclosures
Ensuring the Quality of
of stakeholders in the
Reported Information
reporting process.
Materiality assessments To be credible, a social
help organizations identify responsibility report must
and prioritize the most measure performance with
indicators. Indicators require Organizations are advised to
significant economic,
specific qualitative or ensure the accuracy,
environmental, and social
quantitative information. completeness, and reliability
aspects for reporting
GRI offers widely-used specific of the information disclosed
based on their impact on
indicators dealing with a range in their reports. This involves
stakeholders and the
of economic, social and internal and, where
organization.
environmental topics. appropriate, external
assurance processes.
 20

Case Study: Cairo Chamber of

Commerce, Egypt

Project Goal: To contribute to achieving sustainable development through effective

integration of social responsibility principles and practices (ISO 26000) in the MENA
region, using the national standards body (NSB) as the central pivot

Project Purpose: To build capacity in the MENA region through the creation of pool of
national expertise supporting selected pilot organizations to implement social
responsibility principles and practices (ISO 26000).
 How Cairo Chamber of Commerce used ISO 26000:2010

The chairman decree to form the Sustainable Business Committee issued in May 2013 , to include an equal
representation of all departments and genders in the chamber. The main role of the committee is to act
as the ISO 26000 SR developing team, Headed by the Chamber’s Chief Executive and Directed by the
Chamber’s Chairman to facilitate its mission.

In Feb 2014, a Sustainable Business Work Group was formed

Created the work group themes that involves participants from discussion issue related departments
as well as business sectors and related stakeholders for in focus discussion to specific issues.

We committed to stakeholders roundtables discussions to involve our stakeholders in all related actions to
develop the ISO 26000 SR implementation in the chamber

Assigned social responsibility page in our website reflecting informations about the Chamber SR activities.
 Cairo Chamber of Commerce: 22
Main steps of integrating ISO 26000

FOCUS ON:

revised measurements,
governance, monitoring and sphere of training and SR related
systems and reporting of SR influence communication initiatives
procedures performance
EXAMPLE OF THE STEPS: 23

Measurements,
Revised governance,
monitoring and reporting Sphere of influence
systems and procedures
of SR performance

Developed a framework Regular surveys to Awareness raising

determining the vision, measure the level of our session for traders by
mission and practices of practices and its impact sector
the Chamber that commits Enable online Roundtables for large
solely to the SR commenting tool for our traders to gain
Commit the transparency stakeholders to take part commitment and
as a core value in all through their comments develop the awareness
communications and on our services and related to ISO 26000
practices in the chamber quality as well Creating integrated on
Enforced the commitment Committing to report SR line page in our website
to the human rights and sustainability focusing on SR
principles, labour rights and annually in our website
gender diversity at work as well as a printed copy
EXAMPLE OF THE STEPS: 24

Internal External
SR related initiatives
training/communication training/communication

Developing awareness
Jointly with other partners Developed agreement
sessions to University
we developed info with partners for more
student on Social
sessions in focus on some Socially responsible
Responsibility and ISO
of the main subjects of initiatives
26000
the ISO 26000 (consumer Acting as a middle man in
Raising the awareness of all
rights, labour rights, Child reaching tax accounting
chamber’s employee
labour…..) agreements
through information
Provide printed materials Participating in the social
session conducted
on SR in our events and efforts to support victims
internally
other partner events to of natural crises
Created a platform of
share increasing Developing the poultry
communication through
awareness raising of ISO shops by offering loans to
email system and online
26000 enhance their situations
website
REFERENCES
Apiday. (2023, December 29). The implications of ISO 26000 for companies. Apiday.
https://www.apiday.com/blog-posts/the-implications-of-iso-26000-for-companies
ISO. (2021) Discovering ISO 26000: Guidance on Social Responsibility. International
Organization for Standardization. Iso.org.
Robichaud, F. (2023, September 6). ISO 26000: 7 Core subjects of Corporate Social
Responsibility: How do you measure up? Boréalis. https://www.boreal-is.com/blog/iso-
26000-social-responsibility/
Sun. (2022, November 11). What benefits implementing CSR Program by ISO 26000? -
SUN. SUN. https://senyumnegeri.id/what-benefits-implementing-csr-program-by-iso-
26000/
 THANK YOU

Student: Mazaya Dhiya Haniifah

Lecturer: Amir Hamzah Sharaai

E-mail: [email protected]

Department of Environment
Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Universiti Putra
Malaysia