Corporate Social Responsibility of Wesfarmers-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Review the companys corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in its annual reports for 2017 and 2015. 2.Visit the companys website and review its CSR reporting on the website. Answers: 1.Wesfarmers does their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in a well-structured way. In the annual report, Wesfarmers reported about four major dimensions of their CSR activities; they are Development of People, Waste and Water use, Ethical Sourcing and Human Rights, and Climate Change Resilience (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). These four factors have been the major aspects of reporting for Wesfarmers. Under people development, one major concern of the company is to ensure the safety of their employees. In this part, Wesfarmers uses to publish rate of total recoded injury frequency against lost time injury frequency rate (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). Other aspects of reporting were employee training and development program, workplace relation, diversity and others. Under ethical resourcing and human rights, Wesfarmers reported about their ethical sourcing audit programs. Under climate change reliance, Wesfarmers reported about their different activities for fighting with the issue of climate change. In addition, the annual report of Wesfarmers also includes details about their initiatives towards development of community, reduction in waste and water use (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). The theme of CSR reporting for Wesfarners is to create value for their customers, shareholders, employees and communities with the help of various CSR and sustainability initiatives. Wesfarmers considers that value creation is only possible by serving the people of community and environment (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). Many similarities and differences can be observed in Wesfarmerss CSR reporting from 2017 to 2015. The theme of CSR reporting has been the same from 2015 to 2017 that is value creation. In 2017, Wesfarmers provided their sustainability achievements in tabular form at the starting of CSR reporting that is not there in 2016 and 2015 (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). In 2017, 2016 and 2015, same four CSR dimensions can be seen that are Development of People, Waste and Water use, Ethical Sourcing and Human Rights, and Climate Change Resilience. However, overall basis, the provided base of CSR information is same across the three years . 2.From observing the CSR reporting of Wesfarmers from their websites, it can be observed that the company did report about some major CSR factors; they are people, sourcing, community, environment, indigenous engagement and others. Under people, Wesfarmers reported about safety of their employees, various development programs to enhance their career opportunities and diversity in workplace (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). After that, Wesfarmers also reported about their business sourcing that includes the relation of Wesfarmers with their suppliers. In addition, Wesfarmers also provided information about the development of their working condition and supply chain in this section. Apart from this, Wesfarmers also reported about their different community partnership programs under CSR reporting in their website. On the other hand, Wesfarmers reported about their initiatives to challenge the climate change issue along with other environmental initiatives. Wesfarmers also reported about their i nitiatives to provide equal opportunities at workplace (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). The theme of CSR reporting of Wesfarmers in website is to create long-term values for their customers, employees, stakeholders and communities. According to Wesfarmers, it can be done by engaging with local communities. In addition, long-term value can be created by taking initiatives to minimize the impact of their business on the environment (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). There is not any major difference between the CSR reporting of Wesfarmers in annual report and in website. In case of the theme of CSR reporting, it is same in both annual reports and websites that is value creation by various CSR initiatives (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). However, the amount of information in website is more than that of in annual reports. Various dimensions of CSR reporting in annual reports are mentioned in details in website CSR reporting of Wesfarmers (wesfarmers.com.au 2017). However, in both of the cases, the motive of Wesfarmers is same that is to report about their various CSR initiatives. References Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).2016 Annual Report. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/reports/2016-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=4 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Annual Report 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/reports/2015-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=4 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Annual Report 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2017-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=0 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Community. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-impact/community [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Environment. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-impact/environment [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Our impact. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-impact/our-impact [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).People. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-impact/people [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017).Sourcing. [online] Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-impact/sourcing [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017].