Case 1
ANSTO-the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation-is Australia's centre of nuclear science expertise. It hosts the country's only nuclear reactor, a 10 megawatt research reactor. ANSTO is situated on the southern edge of residential Sydney.
For the past few years, there has been concern about the impact of ANSTO's activities on human health and the environment; about the safety of its operations; and about the organisation's willingness to disclose information about its activities. As ANSTO is 70% funded by Australian taxpayers through Federal Government appropriations, its relationships with the Australian community and all levels of government and the media are vitally important to its well-being.
As part of its communication strategy, ANSTO introduced corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting to reflect its consistent surpassing of environmental, safety and employee relations benchmarks, and to enhance knowledge of and perceptions towards the organisation. Corporate social responsibility is an area of business now being more widely reported in the media, so it has a specific interest to media relations practitioners.
Building relationships (with the Federal Government in particular) is extremely important to the organisation. Poor relationships could lead to lower funding levels, and hence reduced capability to undertake its work.
ANSTO's public relations manager, Mr Craig Pearce, says the organisation had not been completely successful in the past in communicating its excellent performance in key CSR areas or shining a light on the underlying culture that delivered this performance. ‘The goal of the CSR reporting was to enhance stakeholder knowledge of and perceptions towards ANSTO by providing balanced, scientifically valid information on the organisation's environmental, social and safety performance, and employee relations', said Mr Pearce.
For the past few years, there has been concern about the impact of ANSTO's activities on human health and the environment; about the safety of its operations; and about the organisation's willingness to disclose information about its activities. As ANSTO is 70% funded by Australian taxpayers through Federal Government appropriations, its relationships with the Australian community and all levels of government and the media are vitally important to its well-being.
As part of its communication strategy, ANSTO introduced corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting to reflect its consistent surpassing of environmental, safety and employee relations benchmarks, and to enhance knowledge of and perceptions towards the organisation. Corporate social responsibility is an area of business now being more widely reported in the media, so it has a specific interest to media relations practitioners.
Building relationships (with the Federal Government in particular) is extremely important to the organisation. Poor relationships could lead to lower funding levels, and hence reduced capability to undertake its work.
ANSTO's public relations manager, Mr Craig Pearce, says the organisation had not been completely successful in the past in communicating its excellent performance in key CSR areas or shining a light on the underlying culture that delivered this performance. ‘The goal of the CSR reporting was to enhance stakeholder knowledge of and perceptions towards ANSTO by providing balanced, scientifically valid information on the organisation's environmental, social and safety performance, and employee relations', said Mr Pearce.
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Research
Market research undertaken by ANSTO in 2003 determined that, to improve knowledge of and perceptions towards the organisation, it needed to, among other things:
Additionally, extensive ‘desktop' research highlighted the effectiveness of CSR behaviour and reporting. This research included interviews with Worsley Alumina, Westpac, Roche Mining, Alcoa and Telstra, and examination of the following international studies:
Based on all this research, ANSTO decided that CSR reporting would be an effective communication strategy.
Research
Market research undertaken by ANSTO in 2003 determined that, to improve knowledge of and perceptions towards the organisation, it needed to, among other things:
- use a diverse range of communication strategies and tactics
- be less secretive
- be more proactive and reassuring in its communications
- increase public understanding and be more involved with the local community
- better inform staff of potential career paths and directions.
Additionally, extensive ‘desktop' research highlighted the effectiveness of CSR behaviour and reporting. This research included interviews with Worsley Alumina, Westpac, Roche Mining, Alcoa and Telstra, and examination of the following international studies:
- the Millennium Poll, sponsored in 1999 by The Conference Board and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum
- a study for the United Nations Environmental Program in 2001
- Ashridge Business School research in 2001
- the USA Conference Board research in 1999.
Based on all this research, ANSTO decided that CSR reporting would be an effective communication strategy.
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Planning
The CSR reporting had to meet the needs of four separate target stakeholders groups:
The key strategic themes of the CSR reporting were that it:
When starting the reporting ANSTO planned to later conduct a thorough evaluation of it to see whether it could better meet stakeholders needs (especially through customisation of content, including benchmarking), whether digital means of information dissemination would be effective, and whether external auditing of the CSR information would enhance ANSTO's credibility.
Planning
The CSR reporting had to meet the needs of four separate target stakeholders groups:
- ANSTO staff
- the Australian community
- business
- government.
The key strategic themes of the CSR reporting were that it:
- reflected ANSTO's consistent surpassing of environmental, safety and staff-commitment benchmarks, and the established culture of achieving these benchmarks
- addressed contentious issues (e.g. unusually high radiation emissions from a building and radioactive waste storage and transport), including information that portrayed operational failings as well as effective responses
- was honest and transparent
- included comments from other relevant parties, including those both positively and negatively disposed towards ANSTO (e.g. nuclear medicine physicians and patients; customers; regulators; scientific collaborators; Greenpeace; and unions)
- reflected ANSTO's belief that it did not perceive itself to be perfect and is constantly working to improve its operations
- emphasised the relevance of the organisation's work to every Australian
- was not profligate in its graphic design or in the amounts printed, and used online or recycled materials wherever possible
- was concise and did not indulge in statistical ‘overkill'
- featured benchmarks that illustrated performance in key areas over time.
When starting the reporting ANSTO planned to later conduct a thorough evaluation of it to see whether it could better meet stakeholders needs (especially through customisation of content, including benchmarking), whether digital means of information dissemination would be effective, and whether external auditing of the CSR information would enhance ANSTO's credibility.
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Execution
The report addressed performance in six areas:
The key areas of safety, environment, employee relations and community relations each included:
Extensive internal consultation took place to collect appropriate information for all aspects of reporting. ‘ANSTO thought of CSR as a constant process of improvement and reporting. All key "scorecard" data were continuously collected. They were often needed for regulatory reasons, so data were captured with great attention to detail', Mr Pearce said. ‘One report was made available to the community, government and business stakeholders, with a customised CSR-edition of the organisation's staff newsletter also being produced.' Copies of the report were mailed to key stakeholders. A second-tier group of stakeholders was emailed notification of report online availability (hard copies available on request).
Execution
The report addressed performance in six areas:
- corporate governance
- environment
- employee relations
- community relations
- science.
The key areas of safety, environment, employee relations and community relations each included:
- an overview
- two case studies
- performance commitments
- a scorecard that noted performance in key areas.
Extensive internal consultation took place to collect appropriate information for all aspects of reporting. ‘ANSTO thought of CSR as a constant process of improvement and reporting. All key "scorecard" data were continuously collected. They were often needed for regulatory reasons, so data were captured with great attention to detail', Mr Pearce said. ‘One report was made available to the community, government and business stakeholders, with a customised CSR-edition of the organisation's staff newsletter also being produced.' Copies of the report were mailed to key stakeholders. A second-tier group of stakeholders was emailed notification of report online availability (hard copies available on request).
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Evaluation
Campaign outcomes indicate objectives were met.
Further information was identified through the evaluation that will impact on:
The overall research concluded that objectives were achieved.
CSR reporting objectives were to enhance:
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Case 1: Nuclear Science in Society
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Evaluation
Campaign outcomes indicate objectives were met.
Further information was identified through the evaluation that will impact on:
- customisation and distribution of information
- the forming of a CSR reporting advisory committee
- the amount of information it is appropriate to include.
The overall research concluded that objectives were achieved.
CSR reporting objectives were to enhance:
- 70% of stakeholders' knowledge of ANSTO (86% agreement)
- 50% of stakeholders' perceptions towards ANSTO (49% agreement)
- 60% of stakeholders' perceptions of ANSTO acting in a socially responsible way (97% agreement)
- 60% of stakeholders' perceptions of ANSTO being environmentally responsible (97% agreement)
- 60% of stakeholders' perceptions of ANSTO operating safely (96% agreement)
- 60% of staff's perceptions of ANSTO offering a great place to build a career (89% agreement).
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Case 1: Nuclear Science in Society
Select this link to download the case as a PDF Document.
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