CSR Audit - JPMorgan Chase & Co. Philippines

As I was reviewing my short presentation for the CSR Audit I made for my company, I am happy to realize that my Company is able to contribute a lot to the society. At the moment we have tie ups with several non profit institutions. Below is an excerpt from the CSR audit paper I made to highlight the existing CSR programs we have:

Good Works - The CSR Program

JPMorgan Chase in the Philippines has been actively engaged in doing good works in targeted communities partnering with different non-profit organizations locally for community development, education, culture and arts. Its social initiatives locally ranges from providing literacy programs for underprivileged children to improving health and nutrition habits in children and adults, and training local residents to become entrepreneurs.

JPMorgan Chase Philippines is also a founding donor to The Mind Museum, which provides grants for the construction of the. Partnering with Ayala Foundation, the Firm also works to improve the public school system by providing teacher-training programs under the Center for Excellence in Public Elementary Education (CENTEX) schools.

JPMorgan Chase Philippines has also partnered with World Vision. At present, some 500 children are benefiting from the Firm’s community development program in Baseco, Tondo by providing these children access to education, health and nutrition as well as livelihood projects for the families.

The Firm has also engaged with ABS-CBN Bayan Academy for “Entrep-Eskwela,” a social entrepreneurship education program that includes training programs for grassroots entrepreneurship and management. A unique feature of the program involves JPMorgan Chase employees mentoring community residents on growing their livelihood projects to become real enterprises. JPMorgan Chase also has an active participation on Gawad Kalinga’s projects. On several occasions JPMorgan Chase employees get invitations to participate on GK’s community building projects on several locations within and around Metro Manila.

Apart from these tie-ups and partnerships with non-profit organizations, JPMorgan Chase Philippines also initiates its own CSR programs. Regular CSR programs include:

a.     Book drive

b.     Back to school program

c.      Sole for souls

d.     Donation drive and fund raising for calamity victims.

e.     Tree planting

Book drive and back to school programs are usually initiated before school year starts. The committee solicits used text books and school supplies to be given to underprivileged school children and assist them on their basic need to start the school year. Sole for souls is a program which intends to provide slippers, a basic foot ware, to the needy children on remote areas of the country. Lastly, tree planting activities are done once in a while in selected areas to address environmental concerns. To further promote the CSR program of the Firm, a committee is being maintained to drive the different advocacies. Employees are asked to regularly update their profile on the web portal which asks them to indicate their areas of interest, schedule and availability to see which activities they can fit in and contribute to. Participation on the different activities is voluntary.

Though we are actively performing CSR activities along with other organizations, I believe we can still do better by having our own program which will have more impact to the society by making them more self sufficient and improve their living. This can be done by giving them livelihood programs. We can adopt a number of baranggays around the site and each department can be in charge of one baranggay. Another improvement that our Company can consider is taking better care of the environment. Free drinks and coffee are given to employees and we have vendo machines on every floor of the building. Vendo machines make use of paper cups. I thought of why not make use of reusable tumblers instead? We can ask employees to bring their own tumblers and this will reduce the amount of garbage produced. At the same time, trees can be saved. This is a very simple initiative yet, would impact the environment a lot.

Glass Ceiling - Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Discrimination has been an issue for quite a while especially in the workplace. It is defined the "action that denies social participation or human rights to categories of people based on prejudice". Discrimination can be in different forms: Age, Gender, Race, Religion, Disability, etc. One of the most common discrimination issue and a common debate topic is gender. Men are normally preferred for top rank positions. In the earlier years, male dominates the work place and often times high ranking officials are also men. In the recent time, women have become more empowered and has began to rise to success. Equal gender rights is becoming more popular and has gained support from a lot of sectors. However, there seems to be a "glass ceiling" which prevents women from rising up on some instances. Glass ceiling is defined as "the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements". In the Philippines, this is still happening however a number of female executives have been successful in breaking the glass ceiling. Recently, an article was published in a broad sheet featuring a top female executive in the Business Process Outsourcing industry. Marife Zamora was recently appointed as Chairman of Convergys Philippines. Prior to that she was the Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East Operations of Convergys Corp. She was employee number 2 of Convergys Philippines and played a vital role in expanding the business in the country since it started back in 2013. I was a witness of her success as I used to work for Convergys. She is admired by all employees and everyone can feel her passion to work with people and make us successful. I guess Marife is a perfect example of a woman to prove that they can successfully rule the workplace if given the chance. She serves as an inspiration to so many women out there working that they too can rise up. Lastly, this should be a wake up call to everyone that equal opportunities must be given regardless of who or what ever a person is. After all, everyone is created by God equally.

Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired

Today, our group reported the case of Lamoiyan Corp. I would say that the case is actually a good read and heart warming. Dr Cecilio K. Pedro, the CEO started with an aluminum container manufacturing business and successfully ran the business by supplying key toothpaste manufacturers in the country. However, challenges came in the 1980s and he needed to close the company as his suppliers shifted to a different packaging material. Despite of the misfortune, Dr Pedro saw an opportunity to build another business and that is to start his own toothpaste manufacturing company and brand. Thus, Lamoiyan Corp was established, and the brand "Hapee" was born. What made things better for Dr Pedro's business is that he took the effort in providing the deaf and hearing impaired with job opportunities in his company. These people would often times have difficulty finding jobs because of their condition. But Dr. Pedro believed in providing equal opportunity and saw this as a way of giving back to the community and serving God as well. The deaf and mute employees are assigned to production lines. 

Dr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro - CEO and President, Lamoiyan Corp.

The deaf and mute employees of Lamoiyan Corp.

Modern business trend seems to be threatening this initiative as perceived by Dr. Perdo. Most companies now are outsourcing certain business processes like production operations, accounting, and marketing. Dr. Pedro is worried that such trends may potentially eliminate the need for jobs that the deaf and mute can do thereby displacing them. This is a future challenge Lamoiyan Corp. must prepare for. On our analysis of the case, we recommended that Lamoiyan should ultimately explore expanding its market reach to other countries apart from the Philippines. This is their primary way to expand the business and provide more jobs and opportunities for the deaf and mute. In addition, Lamoiyan can explore the possibility of training the deaf and mute to perform other office based jobs and not just the production line job. This way, the impact of outsourcing can be lessened. At the same time, morale, dignity, and self esteem of these people will be uplifted as they will be doing jobs that can be considered as a level higher on what they currently have.

To sum up, no matter how committed a person is to his mission and vision, challenges will come to test us. Dr. Pedro is a good example of a person who is so focused that despite of challenges, he is able to overcome them and still manage to attain his goals. The future challenges faced by Lamoiyan and its deaf and mute employees is something that Dr. Pedro and his team should prepare and plan out for. 

PNOC EDC Case

Yesterday, one group has presented and discussed the case of PNOC EDC. At first I was shocked to learn that some people tend to question CSR initiatives done by an Organization. I guess we can't blame some people not understanding the reason why such activities are done. Or probably, some employees of PNOC EDC do not see the value of the Energy Camps because they do not get involved on such activities. After learning about this case, I realized that though CSR activities are an important part of an Organization, it is also equally important that employees get involved too. That way, the employees can get a feel of the activities and probably see for themselves the community being served which hopefully will make them understand of the need. Maybe PNOC EDC has a short coming too in terms of making the employees aware of the CSR activities such as Energy Camp why is it being done and who benefits from it. 

For me the key take away from this case is "communication" and "involvement". The Organization must be able to communicate its plans and initiatives including CSR projects to its employees and explain the relevance as to why it is important to give back. Probably it would be good if they can solicit feedback and inputs from the employees. Everyone needs to be encouraged to get involved. After communication, the CSR leads must now encourage participation from the employees. Participation from the employees will add more value on the activities in such a way that they will understand further the rationale behind what is being done and this will promote the initiative to the rest of the Organization population. 

Planning for our Service Learning

Today, we are on the stage of finalizing our Service Learning activity. We have selected Bethany House Sto. Nino, an orphanage based in Bulacan and is run by nuns and the Diocese of Malolos. They have around 35-40 children housed on the orphanage with 4 on their high school. I had the chance of speaking to Sister Anna, one of the in charge in Bethany. She gladly accommodated our group on the 17th of August. We prefer an earlier date however, there are other groups scheduled before hand to visit the orphanage. More importantly, our group needed to identify what needs to be done for us to help the children. A number of good ideas came up during initial discussion of the group - health orientation, catechism, how to make loom bands and turn them into simple income source. I asked Sister Anna what she thinks is needed by the children. She recommended that we do a painting class. According to her, there was a group who went to the orphanage and taught the children basic painting. The children enjoyed the activity and they wanted more of it. The group told her that they will come back for another activity. However, up until now, they have not come back. I went back to the group and asked if there is any who knows how to paint. Good thing we have 1 in the group who knows how to! So, we have confirmed our Service Learning with Sister Anna on the 17th and our group is so looking forward to that day. At the moment we are sourcing out resources needed for the activity and hopefully we would be able to have a very effective session.

Ford - Firestone Case (Tire Controversy)

The case of Ford and Firestone is something I would consider a good eye opener for many businesses. Two important keywords that popped in my mind after the group presented the case - accountability and ownership. On this case, a lot of lives were lost yet the two companies involved seemed to point fingers as to who should take accountability. No one wants to take the responsibility. A key learning point on this case is businesses no matter how big and good they are must recognize the fact that they are responsible to all stakeholders most especially the consumers. A lot of lives were lost because of accidents involving Firestone tires and Ford Explorers. At the first few instance, both Companies should have met and took partnership in resolving the issue instead of pointing fingers and giving reasons to the public and the government. Should they have sat down early on, further accidents and deaths could have been avoided. 

On a CSR viewpoint, companies and businesses must take good care of its consumers even after the sales stage. They must protect the welfare of their customers by ensuring that the products and services purchased from them will not give any harm. I hope that all companies would have the same thinking. I guess taking good care of customer welfare is already a basic CSR initiative a company can carry out. A company might be regularly conducting outreach activities to its community but if it fails to take good care of its customer welfare, then I guess it still fails on the area of CSR. 

Brian's Franchise

I would say that this is the most unique case study I have encountered. The case of Brian's Franchise highlights one businessman's action towards the restrictions imposed by the Government on marijuana farming mainly due to the its effect to users. It is a very lucrative business and I guess any businessman would not hesitate to venture and invest. Science has proven that marijuana had medical benefits however, excessive use lead to addiction which triggered Government to regulate and ban it at a certain point. Brian, profited with his marijuana business and had to face regulations which potentially means a decline or loss on his earnings. Instead of complying with the Government, Brian resorted to finding other means to continue doing his business without him getting affected by the regulation. He was able to continue a profitable business however, it seemed that it became an underground. I guess this case is a good example of a business that is highly profitable but unethical. Some businessmen would often say that they are just doing business and making money and there is nothing bad about it. Similar to the case, Brian had the same objective but he did not see the value of complying to the regulations and the ethical implications of his actions. He may be satisfying his own objectives but on the other hand, unknowingly, he is starting to become an instrument to others' addiction and potentially ruin lives and families. I guess the main lesson on this case is that as businessman and as business leaders, we should be able to look onto how our actions affect the bigger picture. More than profit and revenue, we should be able to examine if what we do would have a positive impact to the stakeholders and even to the environment.