Employees Want to Work for Environmentally Responsible CEOs

Almost three-quarters of Americans — 71 percent — want to work for a company whose CEO is actively involved in corporate responsibility and/or environmental issues, according to Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine’s annual corporate reputation survey.

The results of the survey, which polled more than 1,000 employed and unemployed Americans and was conducted in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions, will be presented at CR Magazine’s COMMIT!Forum on Oct. 8.

Seventy-six percent of Americans would not take a job with a company that had a bad reputation, even if unemployed. This is a 5 percent increase from 2013.

According to respondents, the bad behaviors most harmful to a company’s culture and reputation include public exposure of criminal acts (36 percent), failure to recall defective products (31 percent), public disclosure of workplace discrimination (19 percent), and public disclosure of environmental scandal (14 percent).

Of the employed Americans surveyed, only 70 percent would take a job with a company that had a bad reputation if they were offered more money. That number has increased by 3 percent year-over-year and 7 percent since 2012. Of that group, 48 percent would need a pay increase of 50 percent or more to consider moving to a company with an unfavorable reputation.

Year-over-year findings also indicate that certain demographics affect Americans’ decisions to move to a company with a bad corporate reputation. According to this year’s findings, more affluent individuals with a household income in excess of $100,000 are more likely to take jobs at companies with bad reputations (77 percent) than individuals with a household income of $35,000 to $50,000 (64 percent). Women were more sensitive to corporate reputation than men with 37 percent saying they would turn down an offer from a company with a bad reputation versus 24 percent for men.

Young people in the 18- to 34-year age range were less likely to decline an offer from a company with a bad reputation (21 percent) versus older workers in the 45 to 64 year old range at 44 percent. This is the third year older workers were more sensitive to company reputation than younger workers.

In contrast, 93 percent would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation. Similar to both 2013 and 2012 findings, most individuals would require a salary increase of 52 percent less to consider working for a company with an good reputation than a bad one.

According to CR Magazine’s annual list, Bristol-Myers Squibb is the best corporate citizen of 2014.

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