Corporate Social Responsibility

Join Hillary Rodham Clinton at the 2018 Shared Value Leadership Summit where she'll be engaging in dialogue on the role of business to drive scalable solutions to societal challenges, and on broader trends in the socio-political conditions that make now the time for business to innovate for shared value.

CBRE hosted its 2018 CBRE Women’s Networking Forum, the largest company gathering of women, March 14-16 in Chicago. The conference theme this year was “Impact,” recognizing the positive impact of women in the company and the commercial real estate industry.

“The Women’s Networking Forum has been an important business development opportunity for our members for 18 years,” said Lisa Konieczka, Women’s Network chairperson and executive vice president in the company’s Chicago office. “The environment is collaborative and focused on success. We meet, share best practices, explore new ideas, improve our business skills, and recognize and celebrate the positive impact of women to our organization and CBRE.”

Bacardi Ltd. cited the 500 million estimate when it became one of the first spirits makers to take a stand against plastic straws and swizzle sticks, banning them two years ago from its events. A Bacardi spokeswoman says the initiative spares more than 1 million straws a year.

CBRE Group, Inc. announced that it has been named to Center for Companies That Care’s Honor Roll for the 11th consecutive year. Center for Companies that Care recognizes employers for outstanding workplace practices and active community involvement.

Honor Roll employers are selected for their adherence to all 10 Characteristics of socially responsible employers. Each consistently makes meaningful investments in its employees and in society through community service.

“Respect, integrity, service and excellence are the foundations of our company values, and it shows in our dedication to our clients and in the way we volunteer our time and resources in the communities we serve,” said Jennifer Ashley, Global Director of Human Resources.

The topic of human rights in the context of businesses has been on the rise the past 20 years, initiated by the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. In this blog post, GRI's Chief Executive Tim Mohin sits with Caroline Rees, President and Co-founder of Shift (a non-profit organization working to help governments and companies implement the UNGPs) about how businesses should manage their human rights impacts, sustainability reporting, the SDGs and more.

Taco Bell today announced that it’s partnering with Guild Education to provide education support for all 210,000 team members in its system of 7,000 restaurants in the U.S. As one of Guild’s largest partners to offer education benefits across its entire system, Taco Bell team members will have access to personalized college advisors and tuition discounts for thousands of classes, certificates and degrees from day one of their career at Taco Bell.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, last week JetBlue’s Women in Flight crewmember resource group, in partnership with the airline’s diversity & inclusion teams and the JetBlue Foundation, hosted its signature Fly Like a Girl event, bringing aspiring and youth from local organizations to JetBlue’s Hangar at New York’s JFK Airport. For the fourth year in a row, participants heard what it’s like to run an airline from female crewmembers representing careers below the wing, above the wing and everywhere in between.

At the event, the attendees participated in sessions throughout the day which included a crewmember Q&A, an airplane engine “show and tell,” and an opportunity to board an aircraft and sit in the Captain’s seat and a meet-and-greet with women pilots and inflight crewmembers.

This year, the conversation around diversity has been amplified. While progress is being made in the area of diversity and inclusion (D&I) from Hollywood to the C-suite, company diversity report releases alone won’t move the needle in our communities. Conversation – and action – need to take place every day.