Recycling of waste materials, preventive measures to mitigate occupational risks, the fight against discrimination... More than half (56%) of French companies employing more than 20 employees say they have implemented actions that show that they have taken into account their impact on their direct environment. Yet all are not aware of acting in this way, according to a paper published by the institute of French statistics on Thursday. For the simple reason that they are not all familiar with the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a concept that wants that, beyond its role in the economy of production, the company undertakes vis-à-vis its trading partners, its employees and the environment.

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More than 40% of structures with 20 or more employees have to say also never have heard of it. This does not prevent 11% of them have the sense to act to offset their impact through concrete actions. "CSR is a concept that the practice exceeds the theory: the companies are involved in actions under the CSR without knowing formally this concept, others feel that they do not undertake action in the framework of the CSR and yet implement some of the actions that fit in this field", explains Insee. At the same time, "there remains a relatively large proportion of companies who say they know (more or less) the CSR but don't put actions into practice," states the note.

"The knowledge and implementation of CSR activities mainly depend on the size of the company, of its belonging to a group and to certain sectors of activity", explains Insee. Thus, in 2016, when 96% of companies with 500 or more employees claimed to be aware of what is CSR, this was not the case that half of the companies with 20 to 49 employees. The business sector also plays a lot on the degree of involvement of the companies.

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Those who work in the field of energy and environment "are significantly more committed," especially because they "have long been concerned by the environmental aspect of CSR, including through regulation" provides the details of the Insee, which also says that, often backed by large international companies, these companies are also aware of the social aspects and societal. The other sectors most engaged in CSR policies are the real estate (including hirers and agencies HLM), the activities of the administrative services but also the business and scientific communication.

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Among the designs offered by the institute of statistics to justify the mobilization, "the respect for man and the environment" is massively adopted by the companies (59%)... without the Insee to define whether it is a real priority, or simply that the other proposals were not. A third of companies also refer to the improvement of its external image as a primary objective, and a fourth, the reduction of production costs.

* Study carried out among 11009 businesses of 20 employees or more.