"Corporate Conscience" is a hot topic these days. How much do you know about it? "Corporate Conscience" actually is part of the well known term "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)". We are pleased to welcome Dr Edmond Cheng, Managing Director of Urban Group, to share his view about CSR and how the Group promotes the concept among staff as well as in the community.

Hong Kong's Premier Community Manager

Becoming Hong Kong's Premier Community Manager is the ultimate goal of Urban Group, the Group always tries its best to fulfil its corporate social responsibility. Dr Cheng related how Urban Group started serving the community in 1965. Mei Foo Sun Chuen, the first project undertaken by the group, consists of 13,110 units including shopping malls, residential units, and car parks. "The project is so huge that we regard it as a community rather than simply a property. We not only provide management services such as security, cleaning and maintenance to the residents, but also create cohesion within the community. This is the reason why being a Premier Community Manager is our goal." Dr Cheng recalled.

Promoting CSR from the Top

What is their CSR? Dr Cheng explained, "Of course, we need to care about the interests of our stakeholders when making business decisions. However, since CSR is one of the elements to be considered in our corporate strategic planning, therefore, what we do and how we operate the business must bring a positive impact to the society and the environment. We promote the concept from the senior staff to the junior, from the Group itself to the community. First of all, we provide the best working environment for our staff. Once our staff share the same vision with us, they would definitely work harder in serving our customers. This win-win situation finally results in building a comprehensive social service network so as to help the needy of the society."

Dr Cheng also emphasized the importance of senior staff's participation in spreading CSR within the Group. "All our managing staff are the members of our corporate volunteers team. Their active participation in social services would surely encourage the junior staff to follow. As a result, more and more staff would have the intention to create a harmonious society which may benefit the public."

Developing a long term social partnership

2005 was the "Caring Hong Kong Year" of Urban, Group which is determined to excel in CSR, and massive social service projects have been launched. "The announcement of Urban Caring Year not only helps to promote our determination in fulfilling social responsibility, but also enhances our CSR concept among the staff and our customers. In fact, our staff and clients start to participate in the social service activities at that time; all of their efforts contribute to a better society of Hong Kong.

Apart from active participation in social service activities, Urban Group is also keen to establish a long term partnership with its "Quality Partners" the customers and various voluntary organizations, its aim is to consolidate resources from all parties to create a caring and harmonious community. In 2005/06, the Group established a CSR partnership and signed the "Quality Social Partnership Charter" with Hong Kong's oldest serving charitable organizationPo Leung Kuk (PLK)together they launched a series of joint ventures. "Those joint venture projects were so meaningful that could bring the warmest blessing to the needy. Although we could not gain great benefits from the social activities, the image and reputation of our company have been enhanced. Other than that, our staff and customers may also experience great satisfaction from helping the others. This is a win-win situation. " Dr Cheng said.

Taking Care of the Elderly

Dr Cheng told us that another reason behind for choosing PLK as a CSR partner was PLK has massive elderly service programs. "Let's take property management as an example. For those properties which have been built for a long time, extra care and maintenance are needed to make it long lasting. They just like the elderly in our society. They have made contributions to the society, and are getting old; they need our care and attention too." Dr Cheng explained.

The Creation of a Social Service Network

We all know that promoting CSR among staff and customers involves a lot of resources. However, Dr Cheng determined to build a social service network in order to consolidate their powers. "We started to promote CSR by taking very good care of staff. And then they would feel our passion in fulfilling our social responsibility so that they would also follow. Besides, we launched a "Community Care Alliance" with the joint forces of 200 properties under management, this finally becomes an effective platform to promote CSR among the residents. With this strategy, more and more staff and customers are willing to participate in social service activities, and a comprehensive social network has been finally built," Dr Cheng said. Nowadays, Urban Group has successfully helped establish 33 Properties Volunteer Teams, together with a central Corporate Volunteer Team established in 2002. "I believe that the happiness of our staff would contribute to our excellent service standard to our customers. It helps strengthening the powers from our staff and the residents to participate in social services,"Dr Cheng smiled.

Dr Cheng also shared with us how Urban Group motivates its internal staff to get involved in CSR. "We provide long term career developments with the employees and, we hope they can share the same vision and mission of the company. The attendance in the social service activities is one of the assessment criteria in their appraisals. With the company's continuous encouragement, participation in voluntary service has become a habit to many staff. They might be upset if the chance is taken away!"Dr Cheng said, with pride.

CSR An irresistible general trend

Many corporations are reducing daily operations costs because of the economic tsunami. However, Dr Cheng believes that the commitment to fulfilling CSR will be even better. "Maximizing the profit is always the ultimate goal for many companies, but due to the economic tsunami, this concept is no longer the only objective when running a business. People including the stakeholders and the general public expect more commitment from businesses CSR. They started to realize that companies should contribute more, especially during the economic downturn. Apart from the expectation of the general public, the HKSAR Government also aims to promote Corporate Conscience, a legislation has been adopted such as the Antitrust Law and the Competition Law. With the government's support, CSR is definitely an irresistible trend in Hong Kong."

As for Urban Group, Dr Cheng reiterated that CSR is still a main strategic focus. The Group is determined to devote to a social network, as well as their human capital, to the society in the future. "We have 3,000 employees, by converging the efforts from each of us, a huge network will be formed to serve the needy people in Hong Kong. Therefore, we will continue to work with our "Quality Partners" in organizing social services."

Epilogue

No doubt that Urban Group has given back a great deal to the community through CSR, this can be clearly shown by its achievements such as the Best Employers in Asia in 2003 and 2005 and the "HKIM-Brand-with-a-Conscience Award 2008Work Environment Care Silver Award". Its belief on being a Premier Community Manager, contributing to a better society makes it a role model in Hong Kong. We sincerely hope that other companies will take Urban Group as a good example to fulfill their corporate social responsibility and to spread hope in the community.

Acknowledgment :

Dr Edmond Cheng

Managing Director, Urban Group & information provided from Urban Group

(HK Edition 07/30/2009 page3)