This past Tuesday, Alfa Consulting attended a panel discussion on Best Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) organized by the Universitat de Barcelona and the NGO Cáritas Barcelona.

The conference took place at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitat de Barcelona and, as in previous years, a couple of “Companies with Heart” participated. On this occasion the invited companies were SDG and Alfa Consulting, the latter represented by Ignacio Guerra, CEO.

The panel was introduced by Fernando Portas, volunteer from Cáritas, who explained the importance of RSC as well as all the work Cáritas does. He talked about the program “Empresas con corazón” (Companies with heart) created 16 years ago. Since 2002, Cáritas Barcelona has been developing an innovative program of collaboration with companies, foundations, sports clubs and universities called “Entities with heart”, which “Companies with Heart” is a part of.

Ignacio Guerra, CEO of Alfa Consulting, was next with his presentation. He talked about the beginnings of Alfa and how even from the start a company can implement CSR just by properly managing the company with fair salaries and conditions to the employees. “Offering the possibility of advancing the employees career within the company it’s also corporate social responsibility ” said Guerra. He then continued to explain the program Alfa Solidaria.

About Alfa Solidaria

Alfa’s own commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goes back over two decades, when the program “Alfa Solidaria” was created. Each year, the company has allocated approximately 2% of the income to this program, dedicated to promoting solidarity projects. During his presentation, Ignacio Guerra, also explained a few of the collaborations that Alfa Consulting has been doing since its foundation in 1996 through this program. Some of these collaborations include: labor counselling and job placement projects, economical collaboration with the Financial Aid Service of Cáritas Barcelona, financial support to one of the Aldeas Infantiles SOS villages, preparation of a social balance of the activity of Talita Foundation, economic support to Abrigo Reviver in Sao Paulo, and many more. (You can click here to read more about Alfa Solidaria)

The benefits of CSR

He also talked about the benefits of CSR that lead to direct or indirect profitability. According to Guerra being a responsible business can help you in the following:

• Branding. Not only we are helping others but also the image of our company.
• Talent. It has a great impact attracting talent as well as helping employees feel proud of the company they are working for ( therefore retaining the talent as well).
• Clients. From the commercial point of view, it also helps establish new collaborations. Companies like collaborating with companies involved in this kind of initiatives.

Guerra then ended his speech by encouraging the students to lead solidarity initiatives: “Being a responsible company depends on the management, since they are the ones makings the decisions. So I want to encourage you to, once you are in a managing position, to further and promote charitable initiatives.”