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CSR AND THE ENEMY WITHIN

 In the course of my HR Practice, I was involved directly in one successful CSR project which exposed the selfishness of people who should know better.

I worked in this company that was a part of a bigger company. While I was in the company guest house which was a walking distance from the office, on a few occasions, I went to the office at night to see what the gatekeepers were doing and what I saw made yours truly to ask for approval for a CSR Project which was a Group Head Office (GHO) Activity that must be reported to the shareholders of the company.

This company was located in a community with very little fresh water.

The gatekeepers we employed were using the opportunity to extort the habitants of the community to have access to the abundant fresh water in the company at unholy hours.

The company main gate was always opened at a fee for people to come in to fetch water or on the alternative, people came in by canoes at night to equally fetch water.

To stop these illegal access to the company's premises and show empathy to our Host community, I applied and got approval to provide water for the Host community outside the fence of the company.

I got the Personnel/Admin Manager to get a quotation for the project after my approval it was sent to the Profit Center Head (PCH) for endorsement which did not come out in two months until something happened.

I had to take an IOU to execute the project directly and water became available to the community. It was after all these, that I got to know that the deals by the gatekeepers did not only involved the Personnel/Admin Manager but also the PCH.

When the PCH was compulsorily retired with immediate effect on something else and could not clear his desk in four days and I was ordered by GHO to clear the desk that I discovered the quotation I had approved three and half months previously.

What played out was while the company was after the welfare of our Host community, there were people within the company who felt the company was taking away their illegal income and tried very hard to frustrate the good intentions of the company.

Next week, let us discuss HR Management and cultural hindrances.

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