K&H: companies pay less attention to social responsibility

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 07. 22. 11:05

The commitment of companies to social responsibility has decreased in both large and small companies – it is clear from the research of the first half of the K&H sustainability index 2024. Business managers can now only pay attention to honest marketing communication and ethical business behavior, solving all other social problems has been pushed into the background for the time being.

Many questions are raised by the K&H sustainability index and the comprehensive research on which it is based, which is now in its fifth semester and provides an accurate reflection of the sustainability-related efforts of Hungarian companies. The main index stands at 38 points, which means a drop of one point compared to the previous period. The researchers assessed a number of topics, from the creation of the strategy to the preparation of the sustainability report and its audit. The various indicators indicate smaller or larger shifts, but the truly surprising results were achieved in the area of social sustainability.

In this area, the CSR sub-index of the K&H sustainability index shows a significant decline, falling from 46 points to 30 points in one year. This is the lowest score since the first semester of 2022, the beginning of the measurements due every six months. The significant decline is primarily due to the fact that smaller companies – with a turnover of between HUF 300 million and HUF 1 billion – seem to be turning away from the topic of social sustainability. A similarly drastic decline (from 54 points to 43) was registered by K&H’s sustainability index for large companies – with a turnover of more than 4 billion – half a year earlier.

We arrive at interesting results if we examine the attitudes of companies based on content aspects. The importance of the expectation that the sexes participate equally in company management fell by more than half (from 30 points to 14). The commitment to creating a diverse workplace halved (from 58 points to 28 points), and the pursuit of work-life balance fell (from 65 points to 48 points). Social responsibility and the management of socially responsible investments also decreased by 9-10 points. The decline in fair treatment of employees is smaller (by 5 points). In practice, only ethical business behavior remained at the same level (at 57 points), as well as honest marketing communication (although 34 points cannot be called really high either).