“CSR WhitIndex”: Un nuovo strumento per trattare le responsabilità sociali d'azienda e la crisi del COVID-19

CSR WhitIndex is an evaluating tool capable of delivering a score to companies, based on the corporate social responsibility compliance of their employees. It can be used for a one-time evaluation, or harmonized with a CSR training, to maximize its efficiency. To explain on what it is based and why this could be useful and innovative, this study started from the origins of CSR, explained its definition, and illustrated the development of this theory. Then, it focuses on today: what is CSR today, which tools already exists, who are the actors and new challenges. From the history of this topic, its theories and from the existing tools, come the elements that explain the idea behind CSR WhitIndex. The 1980s “stakeholder theory” was re-applied to target a different stakeholder. From rating indexes comes the evaluating mechanism of companies, and from CSR certifications came the idea of a self-analysis on CSR. The main innovation is the source of the information from which this index gathers its scores, i.e. employees. Rating indexes use publicly available data to make their evaluation, while the utility of aiming to this new target is their ability to interpret, confirm, or deny that public data that firms disclose to the public. Also, a dedicated section explains how the covid-19 crisis management by corporate must be considered as a new responsibility itself that companies must face. CSR Whitindex analyzed what the employee's expectation were and how was their working experience in this period. But this part of the research has not just been a one-time evaluation on how work changed during this crisis. This evaluation in the context of an everchanging topic like CSR meant giving form to a new corporate responsibility and analyzing the capacity of a company to face shocks, because during crisis times the already unstable balance between profit, people and planet is challenged the most. The purpose of this study was to build a “prototype”, that could be re-applied to any company that it is interest in an internal self-evaluation of its CSR compliance. The methodology that was chosen is simple and easily understandable, while it provides valuable information for a CSR training. Eventually, some of the employees will be promoted to managerial positions, they will make group-decisions, or they will take part in developing some projects, so it is in corporate interest to re-consider this stakeholder. This is a small, simple yet potentially far-reaching index. It is a humble attempt to join the people who try to push corporate's life in a direction from which everyone could gain. Investing in tool related to education and information about CSR, will create more aware consumers, that will ask for more products and services made in respect of CSR. And this will lead to new business opportunities, aiming to a CSR-driven breakthrough capitalism.