Heightening CSR Impact through a Culture of Purpose

Today’s workforce is full of employees who expect to make a difference through their daily work. They want to work for inclusive, diverse and collaborative companies that value their contributions and help them to create positive change in the world. It’s one reason so many organizations today are implementing dedicated CSR programs to manage their most important societal impacts.

But what’s next? At BNY Mellon, we see the future of CSR as fostering a purpose-driven culture that motivates all leaders and employees to positively impact the world in their day-to-day work. Purpose should be integrated into everything the company does, completely permeating its people, processes, products and solutions.

It starts with instituting a shared language and perspective. At BNY Mellon, our purpose is “Improving Lives through Investing.” It is the vision that our leaders have set for the company, and one that all employees know and live out.

Next, a company must align its CSR strategy with its broader purpose. At BNY Mellon, we focus on three strategic pillars, “Our Markets, Our People, and Our World” that integrate with our business strategies to create greater positive impact than they can generate on their own.

Third, the strategy must be supported by a robust governance structure that starts at the top. At BNY Mellon, we set ambitious goals that drive us forward, and we have powerful ownership at the highest levels of our organization. Our Executive Committee meets twice annually to review progress against our CSR goals, which are embedded into their performance plans. We also have a dedicated CSR Committee of the Board of Directors that meets three to four times per year to discuss and evaluate our key CSR initiatives. This oversight and ownership has been invaluable to our ability to advance CSR progress at the company.

The last step toward driving a purpose-driven culture is ensuring that all employees are aware of CSR and how their daily work connects, and giving them tangible opportunities to engage. At BNY Mellon, we’ve done much to integrate CSR into the management of the company, but in the next several years, we will be focusing much more on infusing our culture with pride in the work we all do for individuals around the world. By building a true culture of purpose, we see enormous potential to work together with our employees to make an even greater positive impact, delivering results for our clients, investors, communities and society at large.