(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-14 10:59

Being responsible to its employees and the environment should be the focus of development of Chinese enterprises in the future, says an article in Workers' Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Last weekend, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued a directive on the implementation of social responsibility by State-owned enterprises (SOEs), which gained wide public attention.

In recent years many multinational companies have released reports on social responsibility. A worldwide campaign on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has taken shape.

The new directive can be seen as a step forward by China in economic globalization and following the trend of other businesses in developed countries.

What does CSR mean? Most importantly, it means that an enterprise should be accountable to its employees - what kind of responsibilities it should shoulder and what kind of employees it wants to cultivate.

It is a common knowledge that employees are the most important asset of an enterprise. Employees are the main bearer and deliverer of CSR. If an enterprise wants to move the market and society, it must first of all move its employees.

If it wants to achieve CSR, the enterprise should offer long-term, stable jobs for its employees. Moreover, it should fully respect the rights of its workers by providing safe, healthy workplaces.

The enterprise also should protect the economic and democratic rights of its employees. It should establish a mechanism to increase their salaries regularly and pay social insurance for them. And it should eliminate discrimination, boost in-service training, and create more equal opportunities for career development.

SOEs are the backbone of China's economy and the symbol of Chinese enterprises. Thus, they should take the lead in implementing CSR.