When going on the Body Shop home page, their CSR information is readily found by clicking on “Values & Campaigns” on top of the page next to the logo. Their “Values & Campaigns” section is so overwhelmed with information that it is evident that the Body Shop is concerned about being responsible and is very upfront with their consumers.

The Body Shop was founded by Anita Riddick in 1976 in England on a strong model of being socially responsible, long before the concept of CSR became the norm, as the goal was to be a natural, environmentally minded cosmetics shop.

The company is one of the first cosmetic company to introduce fair trade ingredients to their industry.  The Body Shop calls this initiative “Community Trade,” which means that they purchase ingredients and other products from marginalized communities to give them the opportunity to have access to the global market and provide fair income.  The company is providing over 25,000 underprivileged farmers and producers access to the global market.

Blue corn from the US, cactus mitts from Mexico, organic bergamot oil and organic olive oil from Italy, and organic babassu oil and organic soya oil from Brazil are all examples of natural ingredients the Body Shop uses from all over the world.  They obtain their ingredients from small farms such as El Guabo in Ecuador where they get bananas that supermarkets won’t buy because they’re in the wrong shape and size.

Click here to see their interactive page on ingredients that are used in their products. Their interactive page is so detailed with information explaining from where the ingredients exactly originated.

The Body Shop has a strong policy not to allow their cosmetic products be tested on animals and even insist their suppliers not to test their ingredients on animals for cosmetic purposes too.

The company also ensure and verify that its supply chain has no forced labor and child labor and has a document providing the details.

The Body Shop even has a global volunteering policy for their employees, giving at least three paid volunteering days a year.  They work with charities that help people with learning difficulties and support the rights of children around the world.

Click here to read more details about their extraordinary CSR program.

As Invup believes in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and employee engagement, we are profiling companies that are committed to being responsible.

Timberland provides incredibly accessible CSR report and information about their CSR program.  When entering the website, Timberland Responsibility, the wealth of information can overwhelm one person, as some terminologies may be unfamiliar to a person with little to no knowledge in CSR.  There are also many pages covering four broad categories: Climate, Product, Factories and Service.  The fact that it takes at least a few hours to read the entire website shows that Timberland is really concerned about being transparent by ensuring the consumers are very well aware of their actions.

Many articles under each categories do not only include text, but also graphs presenting their progress in improving their social responsibilities.

It is evident that Timberland sets ambitious and aggressive goals, as they show what they want to achieve by 2015.  For instance, the graph for Greenhouse Gas Emissions shows 16,482 metric tons of carbon was released to the atmosphere in 2011, and Timberland has set to release no more than 12,775 metric tons of carbon by 2015.

Timberland aims to improve in protecting the outdoors by not only releasing fewer tons of carbon, but also increasing the use of renewable energy, in particular in Europe.[1. Click Here]  Timberland even reaches out to the stores by replacing less efficient incandescent spotlights with LED spotlights in almost all of North American stores.

To improve the environmental performances in the leather manufacturing industry, Timberland along with other brands formed a coalition, Leather Working Group (LWG).  Timberland aims to source leather only from tanneries that are rated silver or higher, which is a very difficult task and shows another example of Timberland setting aggressive goals.

Timberland provides their factory workers more than just food, shelter, clean water, and access to quality health care and education.  They also assist in stress management, parenting and managing relationships and marriage.

Timberland partners with Verite, “an independent nonprofit social auditing, training, and research organization to ensure that working conditions around the world are fair, legal and safe.”[2. Click Here]

For the past 20 years, the company has been giving their “employees 40 hours of paid time off to serve in their communities.”[3. Click Here]  The company completed over 800,000 hours of service across the globe as of 2012.  Also, at Timberland Taiwan, consumers are given opportunities to volunteer by participating in Timberland events and even receive rewards by giving a free t-shirt for volunteering 24 hours throughout the year or free Earthkeepr boots and a teddy bear for 40 hours.

These facts are just a glimpse of Timberland’s thick stack of information on social responsibility.  Click here to read more about their responsibility program.