How to ensure authenticity in the quest to make business better

The push for companies to take better care of their employees and monitor their impact on society has accelerated in light of COVID-19 and the protests in the summer of 2020. It has also demanded corporate leaders take on many new skills and responsibilities.

Different companies are rethinking their role in social responsibility in ways that vary depending on their industry and geography. However their CSR initiatives are often best executed when they can also benefit the company’s bottom line, by attracting job candidates, keeping existing employees, or simply getting some good PR.

“Our board chair constantly reminds us that it is not only the right thing to do but it’s also right for business, and both those can be true at the same time,” Kavitha Prabhakar, chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at Deloitte, said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Lead Up Conversation on September 30th.

At Levi Strauss, senior vice president Kelly McGinnis shared that this mandate meant putting the health and safety of their front-line employees at the center of their pandemic response. The company expanded paid sick leave to retail and distribution center employees who worked in-person in the early months of the pandemic.

McGinnis emphasized that while the company is tracking metrics and impact on key issues relating to diversity and social responsibility, they’re still “going for the home runs” by being active on issues “that are way bigger than any one company,” such as voting rights or gun violence prevention.

“I’m still hopeful that we’re someday going to get smarter gun laws in this country,” McGinnis said at the Fortune MPW Lead Up Conversation. “Not only do you have to hold yourself and your executives and your internal measurements accountable, but you’ve got to reach and be ambitious.”

As the president of Google.org, Jacqueline Fuller leads the technology giant’s nonprofit efforts. Though she directs a lot of philanthropic spending, she mentioned the importance of employee involvement in social initiatives, highlighting employer match programs for charitable donations, and pro bono consulting as examples.

“This is something that’s going to help you in recruiting and retention,” Fuller said. “It’s going to help you with that important issue of creating a sense of inclusion and belonging.”

Dalana Brand, vice president of people experience and head of diversity and inclusion at Twitter, addresses the issue of authenticity by making sure social initiatives are connected to employees’ individual purpose as well as the company’s purpose.

“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation,” Brand said. “Our company needs to reflect our service… Just as diverse and wide-ranging as our services are, so should be our company.”

She went on to explain that Twitter leadership is constantly thinking about the responsibility it has to monitor the voices its platform amplifies and to improve the accessibility of the platform. Brand also pointed out that diverse, inclusive teams will be able to drive progress on those matters.

Paula Santilli, CEO of PepsiCo, Latin America, said proof of authenticity can be found in the magnitude of socially responsible investments. She noted that electric trucks cost 60% more for her business unit and building water-saving technologies can incur significant costs, but the companies that are sincere about the environment are spending more than they need to at key points in their supply chain to make sure they are more environmentally-friendly.

“Something’s happened in the last three years,” McGinnis said. “Particularly from an ESG perspective, stakeholders from so many other places and particularly from the financial lens are asking very hard, very specific questions, and looking for accountability across fronts… Before, it was nice to do. Now it’s a must do.”

While the business imperatives are enough to spark or boost efforts on social responsibility and equity, it’s not going to be enough on the “home run issues” as McGinnis earlier described it. Brand acknowledges the value of investors and the public creating a business case for equity, but believes that framing it as a moral issue is a better way to approach these matters authentically.

“I do not like having the conversation about DEI as a business issue. I think we have evolved beyond that and we really should be thinking about this, as our CEO says, as a moral issue,” Brand explained. “If we’re still at a place where we’re trying to convince people that this is good for the business I think we all know that at this point in time, those businesses are going to be left behind.”