ISO 26000 «Guidelines on Social Responsibility» – defines social responsibility, its recognition, the main topics and interaction with interested parties, as well as guidance on the end-to-end integration of social responsibility in the organization.
This standard is intended for all organizations, regardless of the size and scope of activity or location, the purpose of which is to improve performance in the field of social responsibility. Each organization is recommended to increase its level of social responsibility by applying this standard.
This standard provides recommendations and is not intended for certification purposes.
The development of the standard started in 2010 using an approach based on the participation of 500 experts representing various interested parties from more than 90 countries, and 40 international or regional organizations with a wide coverage involved in various aspects of social responsibility. These experts represented six different groups of interested parties:
- consumers;
- states;
- industry;
- workers;
- non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
- as well as organizations providing services, support or research in the field of social responsibility, and others.
ISO has developed a number of documents to support the implementation of ISO 26000:
- Communication protocol – which contains a description of the terminology that can be used by organizations implementing ISO 26000;
- educational materials;
- documents that link the ISO 26000 standard with the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises and the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals).
Implementation of corporate social responsibility in the activities of organizations in various industries
Social responsibility plays an important role in the activities of any company, since the socially responsible behavior of a company affects:
- its reputation,
- communication with customers, investors, partners, media, suppliers, government and society as a whole,
- competitive advantages of the company, as well as
- maintaining the psychological climate in the team.
The ISO 26000 standard provides guidance on the basic principles of building a company’s social responsibility strategy, involving employees in its development and adaptation.