April 11, 2008 - Corporate social responsibility should form the basis for human resources initiatives - because "Americans don’t care if businesses are recycling if they treat their own people like trash,” according to CSR expert Will Marre. Speaking yesterday at gathering of human resource executives in Southern California, Marre cautioned HR execs about the "Wal-Mart Effect" by which no amount of environmental do-gooding can offset negative perceptions of a company's employment practices.

“It doesn’t seem to matter that Wal-Mart is the world’s largest seller of organic food and clothing, nor do consumers give them much credit for converting their trucks to biodiesel or reducing packaging waste because Wal-Mart’s brand has been deeply tarnished by the widely held perceptions of poor pay and benefits offered to their employees,” Marre said. “In fact people’s perception of Wal-Mart in regard to their people practices seems like their Exxon-Valdez. Their brand is going to carry that baggage for an awfully long time.”

Numerous studies suggest that, beyond benefit to brand, strong CSR performance helps attract and retain employees - a point frequently overlooked by employers. A recent survey, for example, found that three-quarters of top MBA students say corporate reputation will play a critical role in deciding where to work.